GT sport: Great opportunity for Ricardo Feller
GT-SPORT 2017, young Ricardo Feller impressed with his performances in the GT3 sports car of the Audi Sport racing academy. These did not go unnoticed: This year, the talented Aargauer is driving in the ADAC GT Masters for the renowned Team Mücke Motorsport. At 16 years of age (born on June 1, 2000), Ricardo Feller was the youngest driver ever last year [...]
At 16 years of age (born on June 1, 2000), Ricardo Feller was the youngest driver ever in the history of the ADAC GT Masters last year. It was less due to him than to his teammate in the newly formed Audi Sport racing academy, Sweden's Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, that the talented driver from Aargau never finished in the top ten and had to settle for points in the junior classification.
Feller mastered the leap from Formula 4 to the GT3 car seemingly effortlessly, made no mistakes and attracted attention with astonishing lap times. "The results don't show what I could do," he said diplomatically at the end of the season.
His achievements have not gone unnoticed and are now already paying off. For 2018, Feller has signed with Berlin-based Team Mücke Motorsport, where he already raced in ADAC Formula 4 in 2016.
The clincher was his good performance at the Dubai 24 Hours in January. There, the commercial apprentice drove the Mücke Audi R8 LMS for the first time. The junior survived his first endurance race flawlessly and did not fall short in terms of lap times compared to teammates like Markus Winkelhock (2017 Intercontinental GT Champion). If the wiring harness had not been replaced in 20 minutes, more than fifth place overall as the best Audi team would have been possible.
Ricardo Feller: "This race was an incredible experience for me. I spent a lot of time behind the wheel, even at night. It was great to be able to show that I was on the same level as the others. I think that I have recommended myself for the 2018 ADAC GT Masters with this performance at Mücke."
A dream come true
In its first participation in the ADAC GT Masters, the longstanding DTM team fielded two Audi R8s and a Mercedes-AMG last year and took third place in the team standings. Who will be Feller's partner is still undetermined but should be a veteran from the Audi squad.
Ricardo Feller: "It was always my goal to be in a top team. This is a dream come true for me. Team boss Peter Mücke and I are convinced of each other. With a top driver as a partner, I can certainly continue to learn a lot."
The ADAC GT Masters has an impressive field of participants in 2018. So far, 23 teams with 37 GT3 sports cars from eight different manufacturers have signed up. The season kicks off on April 14/15 at Oschersleben.
