ZF brand ambassador Christian Engelhart reviews successful season

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Christian Engelhart, one of the highest-profile and most successful German GT3 drivers and brand ambassador for ZF since 2015, was once again able to celebrate some spectacular successes in the 2022 season.

Moritz Nöding,

Moritz Nöding spends much of his time at international race tracks. He is working as Press Officer for motorsports at ZF and is in charge of internal and external motorsport communications for the company.

The ADAC GT Masters kicked off its 16th season in April at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben near Magdeburg in front of more than 28,000 spectators on site. In the top-class, international field of the German GT Championship with super sports cars from five brands, Christian Engelhart and Ayhancan Güven in the Joos Sportwagentechnik team fought for top positions.

ZF brand ambassador Christian Engelhart reviews successful season

The season opener went well with a sixth place, but there was still room for improvement. But at the very next race weekend at the Red Bull Ring, Christian stood on the podium twice and made a big leap forward in the championship standings. After difficult races at the Nürburgring, another highlight followed: At the Lausitzring, Christian and teammate Güven not only clinched pole position, but also celebrated their first race win of the season. With another fourth place, Christian was able to claim second place in the championship standings. The Hockenheimring saw an exciting championship finale at the end of the season, as it has so many times before. With another victory from pole position and a total of 41 championship points, Christian and Ayhancan almost achieved the impossible. In the end, the duo from Joos Sportwagentechnik clinched the runner-up championship with this fantastic performance, only narrowly beaten by new champion Raffaele Marciello.

But Christian was also active outside of the ADAC GT Masters in 2022: He once again competed in the legendary 24h race at the Nürburgring, even though he was unfortunately unable to finish the race this year. Nevertheless, Christian actively supported the ZF Race Engineering team at the ZF exhibition stand at the Nordschleife.

Christian's start at the DTM season finale at Hockenheim was very pleasing. At Porsche customer team SSR Performance, with which he won the ADAC GT Masters championship in 2020, Christian made his series debut and replaced Porsche factory driver Laurens Vanthoor. In his first DTM appearance, Christian was particularly convincing in qualifying for the second race and started sensationally from eighth on the grid.

Next year promises to be exciting once again. Following the purchase of the DTM brand rights by ADAC, the German GT3 racing series will be reorganized. In the future, DTM and DTM Endurance (this is the name under which the ADAC GT Masters will start next year) will compete on joint race weekends, promising fans at the track even more spectacular action and highly attractive fields.