Sally Erdmann to race in German GTC-Race

19-year-old German driver Sally Erdmann will join GTC Race in 2023, in what will be her rookie season in GT4 machinery, after racing in the British Radical Cup. Erdmann aims to collect experience in a series that has become a competitive development stage for young drivers in sportscars.

Photo credits: Alexander Trienitz

GTC (Gran Turismo Cup) Race is one of the German stepping stones into professional sports cars, which offers opportunities to develop drivers in the GT3 and GT4 platforms. With a five weekend schedule in 2023 around Germany's top racing venues - from Hockenheimring to Nüburgring, Lausitzring, and Oschersleben - the young talents will have two sprint and one endurance race to collect experience and track time, both as a sole driver or as a duo. In 2022, Carrie Schreiner claimed the GT60 Pirelli title in the GT3 class.

This year, a new female talent will join the grid: Sally Erdmann is in fact set to race in the German championship.

But the young racer already has some racing resumé to rely on: aged five, Erdmann started on a quad and cross bike before she progressed from karting to a Radical S1.

In 2021, she started training in her own Radical, but her racing activity was slowed down by the Covid pandemic, as she couldn't join the Radical Cup in England.

Two years later, Erdmann finally entered the British series and had the chance to race on race tracks such as Donington Park, Brands Hatch, Snetterton and Silverstone.

It's now time to progress to GT4 machinery, and GTC Race offers a fitting opportunity to learn in a competitive environment.

"GTC Race is the perfect opportunity for me to get into the professional league," Sally Erdmann commented. “The series organization takes care of the young drivers. You will be seen here: in the live stream, by other teams and by potential sponsors and supporters."

The program emerged after she met Dominique Schaak (Vivien Schöllhorn's teammate in the 2022 GTC season) on a test day in Oschersleben last year. Schaak is in fact responsible for the GT4 junior program that will allow a promising young driver to potentially win a scholarship to advance to GT3, and offered Erdmann a chance to test the Mercedes AMG GT4 with the aim of exploring her options in GT racing.

Sally will now spend the upcoming season learning the car, the tracks and collect as much tracktime as possible. The plan is to reach the top spots in a second year in the series.

Her ultimate goals? "The DTM would be great and I would also like to start at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring", she says.

The first race of the season will take place at Hockenheimring from 28th to 30th April during the ADAC Racing Weekend.

UPDATE: On 18th February, Erdmann announced that she will drive the Audi R8 LMS GT4 operated by Seyffarth Motorsport.