The Gillet Vertigo had its best performance of the year in Brno
SRT
PK Carsport
CR Scuderia
Scuderia Ecosse
Gillet
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SRT
BRNO. Following on from difficult races in Spa en Bucharest SRT in a brilliant and sporting manner got their revenge during the seventh round of the FIA GT in Brno. The Xavier Maassen - Christophe Bouchut duo, following a fast but strategic race finished in a perfect third place and with this result the Belgian newcomer in FIA GT remains in the running for a podium place in the FIA GT championship.
The free practice sessions went smoothly and SRT, together with the drivers, found the ideal set-up for both the qualifying sessions as also the race. "I spend a great deal of time talking to the drivers and they have their input in what we do", Patrick Selleslagh explained. "This creates a perfect harmony between the drivers and the team members, and good results ensue. In this light Christophe Bouchut opted for his own set- up during the qualifying sessions, resulting in an excellent fourth best time. However he did admit afterwards that the initial set-up was even better", Patrick Selleslagh continued, with a wink. Christophe Bouchut finally stranded less than two tenths from the front row. Christophe Bouchut: "It's a good result and we have a perfectly balanced car for the race. On top of that Michelin has once more offered great service, which emphasizes the importance of technical partners."
For the race Xavier Maassen took the start and the Dutchman gives his comments as from the start: "I was well away, but immediately after the start I was nudged by another GT1, obviously some colleagues are somewhat too 'keen'... and I lost two places, which I soon made up during the initial laps. After that lap after lap I reduced my backlog on the top-3. I was able to reduce it by some five seconds, which at this level is quite a performance. After an hour's stint I then handed over the drive in fourth place to Christophe."
What Christophe Bouchut then conjured from out of his sleeve was pretty powerful. The Frenchman clocked up one fast lap after another without making a single mistake. Seeing the FIA GT regulations foresee two compulsory pit stops the Frenchman rushed into the pitlane two laps from the end for a driver change.
"That was a tricky moment-", Maassen admitted from the podium. "I went back on track not warmed up with two other Corvette C6.Rs in my mirrors. To my great annoyance I had to let one competitor through, whilst I was able to hold off the other one and defend my third spot."
Patrick Selleslagh was highly delighted with the result, which has now put an end to a difficult series of misfortunes. "It speaks for itself, I'm fully conscious of the fact that my team have placed enormous energy into these last races without achieving any great result and this a double compensation for something we have been looking forward to for weeks. I want to thank the entire team for their efforts and dedicate this podium to all of them."
SRT's following assignment is the eighth race of the FIA GT being held at Nogaro on 4th and 5th October 2008.
PK Carsport
PK-Carsport Saleen hit off.
BRNO. PK-Carsport has had a very tragical weekend in Brno, Czech Republic, where the seventh round of the FIA GT Championship took place. After a magnificent qualifying, with Anthony Kumpen finishing as high as third, the young Belgian driver was hit off in a race incident right after the start, which put an end to the race of the Saleen SR7.
The free practice sessions were excellent and the team was very confident for the qualifying on Saturday evening. In qualifying, Kumpen was indeed very quick and set the Saleen on an excellent third place and proved his team right.
"The work of the team and Pirelli is starting to pay off", explained the driver after the session. "We are on a good way and after a difficult start of the season, we prove to be a strong team. Bucharest was already good, with a result that could have been a podium and this time I'm sure we'll make our way to the top."
"My start was good even if Muller got past me. The car was feeling all right and I knew my time would come", explained a bitterly disappointed Anthony Kumpen after the race. "Some corners later, Muller tried to overtake Hezemans and he didn't succeed. Both cars touched and the car of Hezemans touched mine very badly. My suspension was hit and my race was over, due to a unnecessary move of Muller."
"We've had a bitter year so far and I guess we'll have to except this as well", explains Bert Longin. "But let's not forget all the good work and we'll be very strong at Nogaro in three weeks time."
CR Scuderia
The CR Scuderia team was left frustrated at Brno today when the pole position no.56 CRS Ferrari was forced into retirement on the first lap of the two-hour race. Dirk Mueller was left with nowhere to go when a Maserati span in front of him and the front-end damage sustained was enough to finish the race for him and Andrew Kirkaldy.
"Wrong place, wrong time!" said Dirk. "I got a good start but as I went into turn one I had Collard's Porsche on the inside and Bruni's Ferrari in the outside. That was okay but suddenly I had a spinning Maserati in front of me; I had nowhere left to go so I had no choice but to t-bone it pretty hard and that was effectively the end of my race. I made it back to the pits but there was too much damage to continue. It's very disappointing to retire from a race when it is not your fault. Sometimes this happens in motorsport and it is a shame as we should have been on for a g ood result. I would like to thank the team for the weekend; I believe we had the car and the team to win the race today."
During the lap one melee, Tim Mullen managed to make his way up from fourth to second, behind Championship leader, Gimmi Bruni. By the end of his stint he was fifth though, as Tim explains:
"Collard took a lunge at me at the last corner," said Tim. "Then, while we were battling, the two cars behind us got through and I ended up slipping to fifth when we went four abreast into turn one."
Thirty minutes into the race Mullen pitted to hand the no.55 car over to Chris Niarchos in fifth place. Once the first pit-stops were complete Niarchos found himself in ninth place and enjoying a great battle with Jamie Davies in the Ecosse Ferrari. The more experienced Davies was unable to find a way by the on-form Niarchos and had to follow him until Chris pitted with 50 minutes to go.
"I enjoyed my battle with Jamie," said Chris. "But the end result was a bit of a strange one. We were strong during the first two stints but fell back at the end. We finished on the same lap as the leader but we'll have to look into why we were struggling for pace at the end.
"Coming here after Bucharest we were expecting a much better result," continued Niarchos. "Dirk's retirement was unfortunate but it was nothing to do with him; he did a fantastic job for the team and these things just happen in motorsport."
The next round of the FIA GT Championship takes place in three weeks time at Nogaro in France.
Scuderia Ecosse
Car 62 in the hands of Fabio Babini crossed the line to end a tough and challenging race weekend for the Scuderia Ecosse team. Race day temperatures plummeted in stark contrast to the recent Romanian heat.
After a crash during Saturday's first pre qualifying session and an intermittent engine power problem the team were struggling. However, with some slick pit work and an aggressive race strategy 8th place and one point in the bag, was the best result achievable.
After the race Jamie said, "It is a shame we suffered from damage during first practice so 8th place here is the best we could do today. The pit stops were perfect but it is disappointing that we were not able to show the progress Pirelli have made with the tyres."
Post race Fabio Babini said, "It has been a difficult weekend with the engine down on power. The changes that the team made to the car for the race meant our pace was good and the new tyres were very consistent throughout both my stints. "
As the chequered flag dropped Scuderia Ecosse team principal Stewart Roden said, "Jamie's spin on Saturday set us back early on at Brno, coupled with the engine power issue we have struggled all weekend. The new tyres were very consistent and are a big step forward. After one and half hours running on the same set we managed our fastest lap time on the final lap of the race!"
Gillet
Best performance of the year for the Gillet Vertigo .5
Brno It was not the best overall result of the season but it was the most competitive performance this year. Brno is a circuit that suits the Gillet Vertigo, the corners are large and the track needs only medium downforce level. Free practice and qualifying went extremely well. The Belgian Racing car was always between the GT2 cars, considering that the Gillet Vertigo is running under GT3 regulations, the team can not expect much more. Starting from 23rd position, Bas Leinders made up some ground in the early stage of the race, keeping 3 GT2 cars behind him including reigning GT1 champion, Thomas Biaggi in the Ferrari AF Corse. Bas climbed up to 14th position when others went for fuel on a different strategy. Renaud Kuppens was behind the wheel in the second part of the race with Bas again to finish.
Bas Leinders:" It was a real pleasure to race in this fashion, we were able to fight with several Porsches and Ferrari's. Of course the track suits us really well but we have made some big improvements in the balance of the car." Renaud Kuppens: "I would like to thank the team, Pirelli and my teammate Bas for this excellent weekend. I hope we will have at least one more result like this this season, why not on our home track in Zolder."