After sitting out most of the 2020 season and the start of 2021 due to travel restrictions to and from the Netherlands, I finally got back to the track in July, just in time for the VLN Nürburgring Endurance Series doubleheader. It was a fitting start to a very busy next three months in which I covered ten race weekends.
While this is not a set of 25 photos that I feel are my best ever, they certainly each are photos I’d love to have in big prints hanging on my wall.
Top photo:
NLS8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/250 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | 112mm
GT World Challenge Europe at the Nürburgring
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 50mm f/1.4 | 1/25 sec. | f/9 | ISO 100 | 50mm
NLS7 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 50mm f/1.4 | 1/8000 sec. | f/1.4 | ISO 100 | 50mm
NLS6 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x | 1/1250 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 800 | 400mm
GT World Challenge Europe at Barcelona | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/500 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | 70mm
NLS8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1250 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 320 | 112mm
DTM at TT Circuit Assen | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/800 sec. | f/6.3 | ISO 1000 | 200mm
DTM became a GT3 championship this year and that peaked my interest. Class One never really attracted me – preferring race cars with real-life counterparts, rather than silhouette cars. But with that changed for 2021, I got hooked after watching the exciting two-parter at the Lausitzring and was happy to cover a handful of races this year, which was also my first time back in the paddock properly since March 2020.
DTM at the Nürburgring | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/125 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 100 | 137mm
British GT at Spa-Francorchamps | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/100 sec. | f/7.1 | ISO 100 | 24mm
One of the first races I shot this year was the British GT overseas race at Spa-Francorchamps the week before the 24 Hours of Spa. With strict COVID rules in place, this was the toughest race of the year immediately. There were no shuttles so everything had to be done by foot. Now, Spa isn’t the shortest of circuits and to get a bit of a variety of shots decided to hike all the way to the other side of the track at Les Combes. For a two-hour race, that turned out to be the right decision as it allowed me to shoot the start at Les Combes and slowly make my way back to Pouhon.
DTM at Zolder | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/100 sec. | f/13 | ISO 320 | 200mm
NLS8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/400 sec. | f/4 | ISO 200 | 24mm
What to do when qualifying is postponed due to fog? Make the best of it with some still life shots of the Karussell at sunrise.
GT World Challenge Europe at Barcelona | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/3200 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 400 | 97mm
British GT at Spa-Francorchamps | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1000 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | 200mm
DTM at TT Circuit Assen | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 24mm f/1.4 | 1/320 sec. | f/2 | ISO 800 | 24mm
DTM at Zolder | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1250 sec. | f/2.8 | ISO 320 | 200mm
British GT at Spa-Francorchamps | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x | 1/800 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 800 | 400mm
The colour pink should not look good on race cars. And yet it does. Both the Balfe Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 and BWT’s Mercedes-AMG GT3s caught me by surprise this year, I really liked the looks of those cars. It must be the combination of pink with white – and in case of Haupt Racing Team blue as well.
DTM at TT Circuit Assen | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/80 sec. | f/9 | ISO 250 | 200mm
NLS8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1250 sec. | f/3.2 | ISO 800 | 70mm
DTM at Zolder | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x | 1/1250 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 1000 | 400mm
At Zolder I shot my first DTM race weekend. Seeing my friends at Walkenhorst Motorsport immediately take a win topped off a great weekend. This photo of Marco Wittmann leading the top three sums up everything that was great about the championship in 2021: close racing, spectacular and full of surprises. A BMW wasn’t supposed to win at Zolder, the M6 is not built for tracks like this. But, as team manager Nic Königbauer said, preparation is everything.
DTM at the Nürburgring | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x | 1/40 sec. | f/16 | ISO 100 | 287mm
GT World Challenge Europe at the Nürburgring
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/40 sec. | f/9 | ISO 100 | 147mm
NLS8 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x | 1/800 sec. | f/8 | ISO 800 | 400mm
GT World Challenge Europe at the Nürburgring
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/1600 sec. | f/4.5 | ISO 500 | 200mm
NLS7 | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x | 1/1600 sec. | f/5.6 | ISO 800 | 307mm
What I like about this photo is its simplicity. There is no spectacular framing, no trickery with the settings. It simply shows Tobias Müller navigating the Falken Porsche through Hatzenbach in a low September sun.
GT World Challenge Europe at Barcelona | GALLERY
Canon EOS 5D Mk. IV + 70-200mm f/2.8 | 1/80 sec. | f/4.5 | ISO 100 | 128mm
My racing season came to an end at Montmeló. I felt lucky to be able to get back to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after having to cancel my trip in 2020. It’s not just the race track with all its great vantage points for photography that I love, but also the Catalan country and culture itself. This photo shows the beautiful surroundings of the track with the mountains, the grassy hills. What you don’t see in the photo are the amazingly hospitable Catalan people.
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