GEBHARDT Motorsport experienced a rollercoaster ride of emotions at its home race in Hockenheim, with the team securing its first win of the season in the German LMP3 championship in the first race.
The Prototype Cup Germany held its second race weekend of the 2025 season as part of the ADAC Hockenheim Historic. The Sinsheim-based GEBHARDT Motorsport team fielded four LMP3 prototypes. In addition to three Duqueine D08, one of which was entered by the Badischer Motorsport Club and driven by reigning champion Valentino Catalano, the former Group C racing team fielded an exotic Ginetta G61-LT-P3. The Ginetta was driven by Jérémy Siffert, the grandson of Jo Siffert, and Jacob Erlbacher.
The first race at the Motodrom in Baden will go down in the history books of the Prototype Cup Germany as one of the most dramatic ever. And in the end, GEBHARDT Motorsport had reason to celebrate, as last year's champion Valentino Catalano from Westheim/Pfalz stood on the top step of the podium at the end of the race!
Oscar Tunjo, who shares his Duqueine with Mikkel C. Johansen, started the race from second place on the grid and took the lead on the fifth lap. The Colombian quickly pulled away from the field and built up a comfortable lead. After the Dane Johansen took over the car, the French LMP3 car developed misfires, meaning it could no longer keep up with the pace and the competition closed in. However, the car with start number #80 led the race until the last corner of the final lap, when the second-placed car made a desperate overtaking manoeuvre, hit Johansen and both cars spun. The driver in fourth place also spun while trying to avoid the accident. Only Catalano managed to slip through and secure an unexpected victory.
‘I've never experienced a race finish like that before,’ said Catalano, who was also best junior driver, after his triumph. ‘My speed got better and better towards the end and I was able to catch up with the two leaders. We were then in a group of four, where you have to think carefully about whether to attack the car in front of you. Because if you get it wrong, you can quickly lose a place. Now I'm definitely looking forward to finally celebrating my first victory at the Hockenheimring after coming close several times before.’
Oscar Tunjo and Mikkel C. Johansen were initially classified third, but were disqualified shortly after the race because they did not have the required amount of fuel in their tanks at the end of the race. Jérémy Siffert and Jacob Erlbacher finished sixth, just 0.3 seconds ahead of the fourth GEBHARDT Motorsport car, driven by local hero Michael Herich and Sweden's Alexzander Kristiansson. Herich thus secured his first victory of the season in the Prototype Cup Germany Trophy classification.
On Sunday, the managing director of a medium-sized company also won the Trophy classification. Together with his Swedish teammate Alexzander Kristiansson, he put in a good, error-free performance and deservedly secured his second triumph in front of 45,000 spectators in Hockenheim, which was not prevented by a spin in the last corner of the race after an attack by a competitor. Siffert and Erlbacher finished sixth, as they had done the day before. Oscar Tunjo and Mikkel C. Johansen retired shortly after the driver change when Tunjo slid off the track after a technical problem. Shortly afterwards, Catalano also had to retire his Duqueine with a defective drive shaft.
GEBHARDT Motorsport also brought a special lead car to Hockenheim, which thrilled fans of the Prototype Cup Germany: the Porsche 962, which the racing team used between 1989 and 1992. The vehicle, which has achieved cult status in its Momo design, was driven by Gianpiero Moretti, Derek Bell and Stanley Dickens. Legendary German racing driver Harald Grohs took his place in the cockpit for the ADAC Hockenheim Historic. Fritz Gebhardt bought back the original vehicle in 2022 and restored it extensively.
‘The weekend was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride for us, with overall victory on Saturday and the two trophy wins for Michael Herich, but also the retirements on Sunday,’ explains Fritz Gebhardt. ’It was a great event at Hockenheim and it was nice to see our efforts rewarded at a home race in front of an impressive crowd. It was also special for us to thrill Group C fans with our Porsche 962 and give them goose bumps!‘
The Prototype Cup Germany will continue in two weeks’ time, when the series will be hosted by the DEKRA Lausitzring in Brandenburg. The German LMP3 racing series will then make its debut in 2025 as part of the DTM support programme.
