MANN-FILTER celebrates the new 2022 ADAC GT Masters Champion: Raffaele Marciello

Ludwigsburg, October 24, 2022 – The final checkered flag of the 2022 motorsports season has waved, and 27-year-old MANN-FILTER driver Raffaele Marciello of Switzerland can claim the title of “ADAC GT Masters Champion 2022”. It was an unforgettable weekend at the home grounds of the premium filter brand, whose headquarters sit only about 100 kilometers from this grand finale at the Hockenheimring.

Besides the drivers’ title, won for the first time by a pilot in the yellow-green Mamba design, the MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF also took second place in the ADAC GT Masters Teams’ Championship. And the two MANN-FILTER junior drivers, Frank Bird (22, of Great Britain) and Elias Seppänen (18, Finland) rounded off the weekend with another top 10 success.

From pole position to the championship title

Raffaele Marciello headed into the weekend with his usual ambitious focus, highly motivated by the goal of bringing home the championship cup. As to who the future champion would be, he left no doubt already in Saturday morning’s qualifying: with a lap time of 1:37.944 minutes on the 4.574-kilometer Grand Prix track, the AMG driver secured the pole position and thus the optimum starting situation for the penultimate race.

A seventh-place finish would have sufficed to win the championship even before the final racing day. So, Raffaele and his 31-year-old team colleague, Daniel Juncadella of Spain had clearly defined mission to accomplish: stay calm, avoid any unnecessary mistakes, and don’t take any risks. Raffaele quickly switched to the MANN-FILTER Beast-Mode right from the starting gun, leaving the other drivers nothing to see but the Mamba’s taillights. He remained unbeatable through the first half of the race, leading the pack as he handed the wheel over to team colleague Daniel Juncadella. The second half of the race turned stressful for the Spaniard, forcing him to give way in a duel with the second-place car and a jostling, and give a pass to the third-place holder as well. To avoid any risk of dropping out, Juncadella let the gap open and lined up in the scramble in fifth place, which in the end scored the decisive points.

As the yellow-green MANN-FILTER Mamba crossed the finish line after 36 laps, the crowd in the stands roared and the entire team went wild with elation. Tumultuous clapping, embracing one another, and tears of joy reflected the emotions of the mechanics, engineers and everyone involved. They'd finally done it: Raffaele Marciello is the 2022 ADAC GT Masters Champion! 

"I'm so happy! Everyone knows how hard the ADAC GT Masters is," exclaimed the delighted, newly crowned German GT Champion. “The title means a lot to me, and I’m grateful to the whole team, particularly MANN-FILTER and my two colleagues Maro and Dani for their support throughout the entire season!”

Fellow pilot Daniel Juncadella, who shared the cockpit with Marciello the final three racing weekends, added: “I’m really happy that I was able to help Raffaele win the championship. This weekend by itself could have gone better. Saturday we could have taken third place, and Sunday we unfortunately didn’t have a good qualifying round, starting at 13th position. But the most important thing is that we have a new ADAC GT Masters Champion!" 

Vice-Championship for the MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF

Besides feting the new Champion of the “Super Sports Car League”, there was a second reason to celebrate this past weekend: for while they may have fallen just short of taking the gold cup, team head Klaus Landgraf proudly accepted the runner-up trophy in the Teams’ Championship. The well-practiced MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF worked together throughout the season, finely tuned, always highly motivated and perfectly prepared. The earnest skill needed on the race track combined with good fun in the paddock to ultimately ensure a professional team that can be proud of its performance.

Turbulent season finale for the Mamba Juniors

Both MANN-FILTER junior drivers Elias Seppänen and Frank Bird can look back on an exciting season full of highs and lows, yet mainly characterized by a steep learning curve. As the season drew to a close, the duo was once again put to the test. While Seppänen and Bird ended Saturday’s race in tenth place, in the final run the Junior Mamba never saw the finishing checkered flag.

“That’s not how we wanted to end the championship,” noted Frank Bird, venting his anger. “We demonstrated amazing progress from race to race, and would have gladly put our skills to the test once more in the finale as well. We’re grateful to the entire team for a fantastic season, and hearty congratulations to Raffaele on his championship victory.”

Team colleague Elias concurred: “It wasn’t a bad weekend, but while Saturday we at least landed in the top ten, things on Sunday unfortunately went poorly. We were in seventh place until Frank in the end was hit, and we were penalized. Ultimately, I really want to thank Team LANDGRAF and MANN-FILTER for their support."

A successful motorsports year comes to an end

Another motorsports season has ended, and MANN-FILTER together with regular driver Raffaele Marciello, writes itself into the ADAC GT Masters history books as the new champion. The grand finale was a hugely successful event for MANN-FILTER. Yet, behind every success is a lot of hard work, and a team that works together on a shared goal. MANN-FILTER would like to thank all of its partners and friends, without whose support such an achievement would not have been possible.

Having brought home the championship laurels, the MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF takes its leave for the winter break. Yet, as everyone knows, every post-season is also the next pre-season: it won’t be long until the Mamba switches back into BEAST MODE again, standing ready in the starting blocks to defend its title.