PROsport Performance has confirmed its first pair of drivers for the ADAC GT Masters 2019: Aston Martin works driver Maxime Martin and former champion Daniel Keilwitz will share an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Christoph Esser’s team in the seven rounds of the “League of Supercars”. As an official race partner of Aston Martin Racing (AMR), PROsport Performance based near the Nürburgring in Germany, will enter two of the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3s in the ADAC GT Masters and two Vantage GT4s in the new ADAC GT4 Germany as well as in the GT4 European Series.
“Maxime Martin and Daniel Keilwitz are a very strong driver pairing with a lot of experience both in GT3 race cars and in the ADAC GT Masters, which will certainly help us enormously in the first season of this highly competitive racing series. At least we are very much looking forward to Maxime and Daniel as well as to an exciting season with Aston Martin,” says Christoph Esser, Team Principal and Managing Director of PROsport Performance.
Maxime Martin, since 2018 works driver of Aston Martin Racing, among others in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), returns to Germany in 2019. The 32-year-old from Brussels competed for four years in the DTM, but Martin was also successful in the ADAC GT Masters: in 2012 he scored three victories, was on the podium five times and started twice from pole position. Daniel Keilwitz’s track record in the ADAC GT Masters is also impressive. The 29-year-old from Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, has celebrated not less than 22 wins in 124 races, in eight years he finished six times among the top three, including 2013 as champion.
David King, Aston Martin Racing president, says: “We’re excited about our new association with PROsport Performance in the ADAC GT Masters and looking ahead to it with a great deal of anticipation. Placing our works driver Maxime Martin in the team alongside Daniel Keilwitz is a strong signal that we take this programme very seriously indeed. Germany is an important market for Aston Martin and through the new Vantage GT3 we intend to clearly demonstrate the core sporting, endurance and performance principals that underpin our reputation as a manufacturer with a championship-winning pedigree.”
Maxime Martin also feels great anticipation: “I’m really looking forward to the 2019 season with PROsport Performance. They are a very well-respected team and the ADAC GT Masters is a very strong and competitive championship. So, it is great to be going back there with the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3. I think we will have a very strong line-up and we can look ahead with a view to fighting for the title. Being partnered with Daniel is exciting for the team because he is very experienced and knows how to win the championship, so I think we make a very competitive driver line-up. This is a perfect way to start the career of the new Vantage GT3, which showed very good potential at the Nürburgring and will be a strong package from the beginning of the championship. On a personal note, I’m really looking forward to going back to the GT Masters. I enjoyed it when I raced there in 2012 and I know all the tracks and I always love racing in Germany. This is going to be fun!”
Daniel Keilwitz is as well looking forward to the new season: “I’m really happy to be part of this new project. Aston Martin stands for success in motorsport, PROsport Performance is highly motivated, and Maxime Martin is an extremely fast GT3 driver – that’s a really strong package, and I cannot wait for the first race. After nine successful years in the same team, I am looking forward to this new challenge and to the opportunity to contribute my experience. The ADAC GT Masters is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful GT3 racing series in the world, which is further enriched with the new Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The races are super tight, but we will work very hard to be successful together.”
The 2019 season of the ADAC GT Masters starts on 27/28 April in Oschersleben (GER), other stations are Most (CZE) on 18/19 May, the Red Bull Ring (AUT) on 08/09 June, Zandvoort (NLD) on 10/11 August, the Nürburgring (GER) on 17/18 August and Hockenheim (GER)on 14/15 September, before on 28/29 September the final will be held at the Sachsenring (GER). All races of the ADAC GT Masters will be broadcasted live by the German TV channel SPORT1 and can be watched in the internet as well.
PROsport Performance, whose roots go back to the eighties, was already at the start of a support series of the ADAC GT Masters in 2017 and 2018 and captured the 2018 rookie title of the ADAC TCR Germany with Max Hesse (17). In addition, the team around Christoph Esser has won the team title in the 24h European Championship and furthermore the driver and team ranking in the “Championship of the Continents” of the 24h GT Series in their first GT3 season 2018.
