Högfeldt becomes 2022 ADAC GT Masters Esports champion after stewards review

Christopher Högfeldt has become the 2022 ADAC GT Masters Esports champion after stewards reviewed incidents from the Monza finale.

Dörr Esports – Ascher Racing driver Bence Bánki went into the final two races at the end of April in second place in the standings, the only driver with a realistic chance of overturning Högfeldt’s championship lead.

On the final evening, Bánki took both race wins to put the championship title firmly within grasp. Högfeldt finished second in the sprint race and third on track in the feature race which would have been enough to secure the title.

But, coming out of the pitlane after a mandatory pitstop, the Swedish driver crossed the white line heading down into Prima Variante. This resulted in a three-second time penalty, resulting in an eight-placed finish during the live broadcast.

This penalty remains in place. Alessandro Ottaviani was also judged to have crossed the same white line and also received a three-second penalty.

At the time, that meant the title went to Bánki, but the result remained provisional.

Now, the ADAC stewards have reviewed several race incidents and issued a post-race three-second penalty to Bánki for a speeding infringement – too quick – during the formation lap between Seconda Variante and the first Curva di Lesmo.

This followed a warning-worthly formation lap during the earlier sprint race for both Bánki and Högfeldt, where the former was judged to have driven below the speed threshold and the latter hit the barrier at Lesmo 1 causing drivers behind to slow down.

This pushed him down to second in the feature race results, handing Emre Cihan the race victory and Högfeldt the title by a slender one-point margin.

The new and final race results are below, along with the championship standings. It means that Högfeldt takes the €7,500 Drivers’ champion prize, while Bánki’s team earned the €5,500 Teams’ championship winnings.

ADAC GT MASTERS ESPORTS, ROUND 6, FEATURE RACE RESULTS

1. Emre Cihan – 33:05.901
2. Bence Bánki +3.260
3. Jakub Brzezinski +4.558
4. Leon Rüdinger +4.880
5. Max Pfeifer +5.326
6. Kevin Siggy +5.646
7. Tim Jarschel +6.173
8. Christopher Högfeldt +7.394
9. Leonard Krippner +7.483
10. Michael Rächl +7.572

All results are final and inclusive of the ADAC-applied penalties.

2022 ADAC GT MASTERS ESPORTS DRIVERS’ POINTS STANDINGS

1. Christopher Högfeldt – 353 points
2. Bence Bánki – 352 points
3. Jack Keithley – 244 points
4. Moritz Löhner – 232 points
5. Kevin Siggy – 217 points
6. Jakub Brzezinski – 213 points
7. Erhan Jajovski – 207 points
8. Emre Cihan – 199 points
9. Nikodem Wisniewski – 183 points
10. Leonard Krippner – 159 points