PK Carsport were close to a podium
PK Carsport
SRT
CR Scuderia
Belgian Racing
Michelin
Click a link to go directly to that story!
PK Carsport
PK-Carsport close to podium
Bucharest. The 2008 Bucharest City Challenge was the third street race held as part of the FIA GT Championship, after Helsinki in 1997 and Bucharest last year. However, it will go down as the first- ever event in the history to be run over a one-hour format, with a race on Saturday evening and a second race on Sunday. Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen performed very strongly in the streets around the palace of former Rumanian dictator Ceaucescu. Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin drove to sixth on Saturday and put in a fine performance on Sunday, to finish just off the podium, in fourth position, in their PK Carsport Saleen S7R.
"The pace was good throughout the weekend", smiles Anthony Kumpen after the second race. "This is a great relief for the team, we had a very difficult year so far and this performance should give us a boost for the upcoming months. But it also proves that PK Carsport never gives up, I would like to thank all the boys of the team for what they achieved here in Bucharest!"
Anthony Kumpen put the #4 PK Saleen in fifth position in qualifying, a fine performance, after Kumpen was topping the times early on. The first race was an open one and the PK squad was able to follow the frontrunners until a brake problem somewhat slowed down the Belgian drivers. But both drivers managed to keep up with the GT1's in front and finally finished in sixth overall, scoring 1 point as half points were rewarded after each one-hour race.
Bert Longin: "That performance was good, but it could have been better and what's more, the result of the race on Saturday was also the starting order of the second race. We finally finished fourth on Sunday, but with a better place on the grid a podium was certainly possible. On this street track, overtaking is not easy, so sixth on the grid was somewhat a handicap."
The next round of the FIA GT championship will take place in Brno on the 13th and 14th of September.
SRT
BUCHAREST. Following on from the dramatic sixtieth edition of the 24 Hours of Spa SRT had a three week reprieve in which to bring the Corvette C6.R back into optimum condition. This weekend was the sixth meeting of the FIA GT season, exceptionally comprised out of two races of one hour each, in contrast to the classic race over two hours. The venue for this meeting was the street circuit in the heart of Bucharest, around the palaces of the former Rumanian dictator Ceaucescu. SRT was able to score points twice, however a fifth and sixth place for the Maassen-Bouchut duo was not the result team manager Patrick Selleslagh had hoped for.
The sixth meeting of the FIA GT championship was held in Bucharest, the Rumanian capital. In the district around the palaces of the former Rumanian dictator Ceaucescu a circuit was drawn out, something quite unique for this championship. In addition the traditional pattern of a two hour race was altered, and the competitors were given the opportunity to compete in two races of one hour each, and this on the Saturday and Sunday. In both races half points were on offer, more specifically 5-4-3-2,5-2-1,5-1 and 0,5. The finishing order on the Saturday also determined the starting order for the Sunday race.
The free practice sessions left SRT full of hope for the weekend's outcome "however during the qualifying sessions it didn't work out as expected", Patrick Selleslagh explained. "Christophe did everything possible to be up front for the start, but eighth spot was the best he could achieve."
The first race started off strongly and "in all reality we should have scored a top-3 today. We drove a strong race, because starting from eighth place on the grid on this circuit and finishing in fifth is pretty good, however our changeover was our downfall. In fact Christophe wanted to hand over the wheel to me as quickly as possible, but in his rush forgot to lengthen the safety belts, which cost us twenty seconds. If it hadn't been for that we would have finished third..", Xavier Maassen told us after the race.
During the second race the Corvette C6.R's gearbox threw a spanner in the works.
Patrick Selleslagh: "We cannot as yet exactly say what went wrong, but the fact is that on the grid Xavier had the car temporarily in neutral and apparently when engaging gear the car's gearbox now and again went into safety mode. It was only after the compulsory stop, and when the engine was momentarily switched off that the problem disappeared. However by then the backlog on the top-3 had become too big in order for us to save the situation and achieve a top result. We played safe and remain in the running for a closely contended top place in the championship. I'm fully convinced that in Brno we'll come out on top once again.."
SRT's following race is the sixth round of the FFSA GT in Albi, held on 6th and 7th September, followed one week later with the seventh race of the FIA GT in Brno.
CR Scuderia
Andrew Kirkaldy and Rob Bell have done it again and taken victory in Bucharest, finishing off one of the best weekends yet for the CR Scuderia team. Taking both wins of the Bucharest meeting has got the team off and running in the chase for the runner up spot in the FIA GT Championship. The sister CRS Ferrari of Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen retired half way through with steering problems after a gentle brush with the wall, a timely reminder of how hard it is to race on street circuits.
Rob Bell started the race from pole position in the no.56 Ferrari and by the end of lap one when everyone had settled down he was in third place behind Vilander's Ferrari and Westbrook's Porsche. Bell brought the car in for Kirkaldy in third place just after the halfway mark of the race. A fantastic pit stop by the CRS mechanics got the Ferrari out in front of the Porsche and Kirkaldy was in second place, ready to hunt down race leader, Gimmi Bruni, hoping for a repeat of yesterday's race.
"Yesterday I was awake and I started the race from second and took the lead at the first corner," said Bell. "Today I think I was asleep as I started from pole but ended up third! After that I settled down and stayed behind the Porsche. All credit to the guys in the pits as their brilliant stop got us out ahead of the Porsche and Andrew just had Bruni to contend with. We practiced the pit stops this morning and it has paid dividends. I didn't think it could get any hotter than yesterday's race but it was!"
With less than three minutes to go Kirkaldy had done it again and passed Bruni for the lead. As he crossed the line the entire team were on the pit wall ready to greet the winner. CRS is now on a roll with five wins from the last five races: the last two Formula Renault races, the British GT race at Silverstone and two FIA GT races in Bucharest.
"So much has gone into us getting to this point," said Kirkaldy, who is a director of the team as well as one of the drivers. "It's not just this FIA team but the British GT team and the Renault team, so it is great for the guys that we are now getting results in FIA GT. It was very hard out there today, even harder than yesterday because of the heat but it was all worth it in the end."
"This has been a dream weekend for us," said Team Principal, Chris Niarchos. "It's a shame we had the issues with no.55 as my pace today was so much faster than yesterday. At the end of the day we are here as a team so to take two wins out of the weekend is fantastic as we are now right back in the team's championship race."
CR Scuderia had a successful weekend
Belgian Racing
Bucharest a spectacular city
Bucharest - Two times Belgian Racing has come to Romania and two times they return home with a trophy. The circuit of is extremely demanding for the cars and drivers, there are many bumps', many walls and an extreme heath...but the Gillet Vertigo .5 had no mechanical problems at all.
Tony Gillet: "After the 24hours we only revised the gearbox and the differential and we had no trouble all weekend."
In the first race Bas Leinders and Renaud Kuppens finished 19th and in the second race the Belgians finished 15th.
Next race in Brno the 14th of September.
Michelin
Victory at last for Fassler and Deletraz (Corvette/Michelin)!
Despite having qualified three times so far this season on pole-position, the No.5 Phoenix Racing Corvette/Michelin of Fassler/Deletraz) had yet to win a race, but that situation was rectified at last this weekend through the streets of Bucharest which was playing host to the sixth round of the 2008 FIA GT Championship. CR Scuderia/Michelin also profited from the trip to Romania to claim its first win of the year in GT2, with Michelin topping both categories round this unique circuit.
For once, the weekend's programme featured not just one, but two races on a course that took competitors round the immense Palace of the Parliament and through the streets of the sun-baked Romanian capital. Indeed, the weekend was split into two contests, beginning with Saturday evening's so-called one-hour 'qualifying race', the result of which dictated the start order for the second 60-minute showdown on Sunday afternoon, with half the usual championship points being dished out.
Specific tyre regulations meant that the teams were forced to change at least two tyres in the course of both races. Our partners chose to change just two of their four tyres, reports Gerard Bombled, the Manager of Michelin's Endurance and FIA GT Programmes. "In GT1, they changed the rears, while the GT2 runners preferred to swap the fronts. Given the short format, we naturally didn't have any problems with wear, despite the fact that the track temperature reached as high as 50o.C!"
Qualifying for the first race on Saturday evening saw the No.5 Corvette/Michelin of Fassler/Deletraz secure pole-position ahead of the No.33 Jetalliance Aston Martin/Michelin (Wendlinger/Sharp) which was withdrawn before the start for safety reasons. Running on soft compound Michelin tyres, the No.5 and No.6 Phoenix Racing Corvettes soon pulled clear of the pack and went on to take the chequered flag within a second of each other. Third across the line was the No.1 Maserati/Michelin of Bartels/Bertolini who bagged a surprise podium finish for Vitaphone Racing since their car was carrying 80kg of ballast, a huge handicap round this street circuit where overtaking was always likely to be a problem.
In GT2, the new CR Scuderia team picked up its first success with the No.56 Ferrari/Michelin of Bell/Kirkaldy following a fierce scrap with the category's pace-setting AF Corse Ferrari/Michelin (No.50, Vilander/Bruni) which was carrying 75kg of ballast.
Saturday's winners took the spoils in Sunday's clash, too, which took place in searing heat and which turned out to be a repeat of the previous day's scenario, at least for the No.5 Corvette and the No.56 Ferrari. An off saw the second Phoenix Racing car hand second place to the No.2 Maserati/Michelin of Negrao/Ramos, while the GT1 podium was rounded off by the second Vitaphone Racing Maserati. It was an all-Michelin podium in GT2 thanks to the two Ferrari F430s and the No.61 Porsche 997 of Collar d/Westbrook.