Bartels will again be driving to defend his title
“We have a lot of titles to defend this year, and we are coming to the Championship once again to give our maximum to reach our goals,” Michael Bartels commented. “It is never easy to continue winning after so much success. Vitaphone is the team that will be chased by everybody.
They have all worked hard over the winter to improve their level; the driver combinations are stronger than ever before, and more cars are possible winners. But the team has been working hard, with testing and fitness training to be ready for the new season. And now I want to know where we stand ! I really can’t wait to get on the plane for Silverstone. We will try to defend our titles, but it will be harder than ever before.
After missing two races last year due to surgery, I missed out on the title, so this year I am well prepared and ready to go. It is good to be racing with Andrea Bertolini again – it’s as if he had never been away. I have been really lucky with all my team-mates in the FIA GT Championship, with Uwe Alzen, Timo Scheider, Andrea Bertolini and Thomas Biagi. We have always had strong combinations and worked well from the beginning.
As for the second car, this will be Miguel’s second year, so we can expect more from him in terms of performance, as now he understands the car better. As for Xandi Negrao, he is going to bring some fresh blood into the team. He’s a really nice guy, a bit crazy, and it’s fantastic to have him with us, bringing down the average age of the team, as the rest of us are over 30 !
The Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy is very important to us. I will never forget winning in 2006, when we received it from Sir Stirling Moss. It was a very special moment. The team has won twice now, and it is one of the season’s most important races, so we’ll be trying hard to get a hat-trick. Also, the first race shows the tendancies for the whole season. We’ll be going to Silverstone to win, but we have to be realistic. It will not be easy, with strong competition. It is important to score points from the beginning – but Vitaphone will be there to try to win - that’s our goal for the first race !”