Battling Bird Overcomes Oschersleben Odds
Cumbrian driver Frank Bird was back in race action this weekend when he contested the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters series held at Oschersleben in Germany.
Driving for the MANN-FILTER Team LANDGRAF organisation, Penrith-born Frank teamed up with 18-year-old Finnish driver Elias Seppanen for the first two races in the seriers in the Mercedes AMG-GT3.
Making his debut at the track, Frank, who was a two-times winner in the 2021 GT World Challenge Europe, sensibly familiarisied himself with the circuit, his new team and the car before gradually climbing the order during practice and qualifying, placing themselves 12th out of the 22 cars.
Sadly, an incident towards the end of qualifying for Saturday’s race meant the team couldn’t get the car ready
for the opening race so a frustrated Frank had to sit that one out whilst hoping for better luck in Sunday’s race two.
But it wasn’t plain sailing as Seppanen was involved in a collision in the early stages of race two which left Frank a more difficult job to do when he took over but despite the setback, he battled through to see the chequered flag in 18th position.
Frank Bird: “I’d never been to the track before and it was my first proper go in the car in a series I’d never raced in before so I didn’t underestimate the challenge. Unfortunately, we had an off in qualifying and couldn’t get out in the first race and then in race two, my teammate got hit by a Porsche and left us to battle back from the middle of the pack. The track was very technical and it was a hard race with a high fuel load and old tyres but I’m pelased to get a finish and look forward to the next round.”
