With spring in the air and temperatures of around 15 degrees, the first qualifying session of the season began and was soon taken over by the ADAC GT Masters newcomer, Jonathan Aberdein (24, South Africa). Despite it being his first GT3 appearance, the former DTM driver kept his cool, achieving the solid starting position of fourth on the grid for the first race of the season. After a long winter break, Saturday afternoon could not come quickly enough: The 2022 racing season was heralded by the start of the first race in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben and the well-known words "Drivers, start your engines!" MANN-FILTER driver Jonathan Aberdein was impressive with his clean start to the race and his professional racing behaviour, staying out of the initial turmoil.
However, the pitfalls of the 3.667-kilometer race course quickly became apparent: The 14 tight corners leave very few opportunities for overtaking and, without taking any unnecessary risks, the South African handed over halfway through the race to his teammate Raffaele Marciello (27, Italy), who kept his position in fourth place and maneuverer the MANN-FILTER Mercedes across the finish line. With a deficit of only one second, the duo narrowly missed their first podium result.
Former DTM driver Jonathan Aberdein sums up his GT3 debut: "I am very pleased with qualifying in fourth place. It has put us in a strong position. My stint of the race was very difficult and completely different from previous tests. I don't think that we got the absolute most out of it, but we scored points straight away, which for me is a good start to the championship.“
