FIA GT ZOLDER
ZOLDER
MAY 18 - May 20
Weather:
Sunday dawned bright and sunny, bringing the spectators out in force to watch the race, but clouding over before the race began.
Result of the race suspended
After the exclusion of the winning car, and an appeal from Lister Storm Racing, the results of the race have been suspended. Laurence Pearce has 48 hours to confirm his appeal, in which case the result of the race will be suspended until the next meeting of the FIA Court of Appeal.
Third win for Bouchut and Belloc
Christophe Bouchut and Jean-Philippe Belloc were quite happy to have maintained their Championship lead after crossing the line second after today's race. However, shortly afterwards it was made known that the Lister Storm had failed post-race scrutineering, and Bouchut and Belloc claimed their third win of the season at the wheel of the #7 Chrysler Viper GTS-R. "Zolder always gives me incredible weekends, but this was a really amazing situation. I'm very happy for the whole team, although I'm sad for Lister, a team I appreciate a lot. This result really simplifies my life, as I can spend the six weeks between now and the next race counting my nineteen point lead in the Championship !" Bouchut exclaimed. Despite their weight disadvantage, Belloc was not surprised with their good performance in the race "Our strategy was to stay on the track, and I think today that was very important. I tried to lap very carefully, maybe losing too much time overtaking back-markers, but our objective was to finish the race and score points."
N-GT win for Babini and Moccia
Having been among the frontrunners in the N-GT category all weekend, Fabio Babini and Luigi Moccia gave Art Engineering their second win in the FIA GT Championship this weekend, inheriting the first place after Riccitelli and Boldrini's #77 RWS Red Bull Racing Porsche 996 GT3-R was given a time penalty.
Babini led for much of his first stint, and overtook Ortelli on the final lap when the Freisinger Motorsport car began to run out of fuel. "It was a very good race with not very easy driving conditions," Fabio Babini explained. "It was very hard for us, and a hard race, but we are very pleased with the result."
The GT Race
Although there was a high rate of attrition around the tight, dusty Zolder circuit, today saw one of the closest and most exciting finishes to a race in the FIA GT Championship. Naspetti made a good start from pole, but he was immediately under pressure from Mike Hezemans, who took the lead on the second lap. The Ferrari 550 Maranello dropped down to fifth, and went out shortly afterwards with accident damage. Hezemans continued to lead for the first stint, followed closely by Jamie Campbell-Walter in the #1 Lister Storm, who took the lead on lap 30 and began to pull away. After the Lister's first stop, Tom Coronel set the fastest lap of the race as he overtook Bleekemolen for the lead. He pulled away comfortably, followed by the Carsport Holland and Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper GTS-Rs and the #6 Rafanelli Ferrari 550 Maranello. When Jamie Campbell-Walter took over the car for the final stint, the Lister Storm developed an oil pressure problem, meaning two extra pit-stops. The Carsport Holland was awarded a 10 second stop-and-go penalty for starting the engine while the car was still on the jacks, giving the #7 Larbre Competition Chéreau Chrysler Viper the lead on lap 99. With less than sixteen minutes to go, the first four cars were within ten seconds of each other. Bouchut was leading in the #7 Chrysler Viper, struggling with 100 kg penalty weight and worn tyres. Jamie Campbell-Walter was chasing him in the Lister Storm. Marc Duez, in the #6 Rafanelli Ferrari, was under attack from Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #3 Carsport Holland. The Duez/Bleekemolen duel was the first to be resolved, with the young Dutchman finally getting past Marc Duez at the end of the straight on lap 108. But the battle between Bouchut and Campbell-Walter continued until the finish line, with Jamie taking advantage of Christophe's slight mistake on the final corner and crossing the line just ahead of the Frenchman. After the Lister's exclusion, Carsport Holland were second, with Duez/Blieninger third. Fourth place went to Belmondo and Gosselin in the #10 Paul Belmondo Competition Chrysler Viper GTS-R with Lafon and Jarier fifth for ART. Cappellari and Matteuzzi finished sixth in the Racing Box Chrysler Viper, with new team PSI Motorsport finishing a fine seventh place in GT after their first race with the new Porsche 996 GT2 turbo car.
The N-GT Race
Once again, the pole-sitting JMB Competition Ferrari 360 Modena had a hard start, with the Porsche 996 GT3-R cars pulling away ahead of Pescatori, who was fifth after the first lap. Luca Riccitelli took the lead in his RWS Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-R, chased by the #52 EMKA Racing car, with Fabio Babini third in the #54 Art Engineering Porsche. As the EMKA car dropped back with engine problems, Babini caught up with Riccitelli and began to push for the lead. The #62 JMB Ferrari 360 Modena' s race came to an abrupt end on lap 19, when Christian Pescatori went wide just past the first chicane, sending the car into the barriers. This same corner later claimed the #69 Redolfi Orlando and the #50 Larbre Competition Chéreau Porsches. Babini continued to chase Riccitelli, and took the lead on lap 26. After the first pit-stops, Boldrini moved into the lead in the #77 RWS car. He handed the car back over to Riccitelli with a healthy lead. The N-GT leader crossed the line in fifth place overall, but having driven too long, was demoted to third. This gave the #54 Art Engineering Porsche 996 GT3-R the win. Kaufmann and Ortelli inherited second for the #57 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-R, stopping just past the finish line after making only one pit-stop. The second Art Engineering car, driven by Radaelli and Bertolini, was fifth, behind the fourth placed #55 Perspective Racing Porsche 996 GT3-R, with Haberthur Racing's Noel Sylvain and Laurent Cazenave taking their first FIA GT point in sixth place.
Second place for Carsport Holland
After two races suffering from serious fuel pressure problems, Carsport Holland's leading car of Mike Hezemans and Jeroen Bleekemolen finished third and inherited second place today. But it was not an easy race for the Chrysler Viper GTS-R, despite leading for much of the first hour. "The car didn't work properly at all," Mike said. "After 50 litres of fuel had gone, it started to hiccup, so we had to come back in. It's a shame, because with the problems that the Lister had, we could have won today. After Jeroen came in, we didn't have a clutch any more and we started the engine a bit too early, and got a ten second penalty. And that was it." Jeroen had an incredible fight with Marc Duez in the closing laps. "That was very hard because I had no clutch any more, the brakes were getting worse, and with the fuel pressure problem as well, I really had to push. He made a mistake and I took him, but it was very close."
Third place for Team Rafanelli
After the exclusion of the Lister Storm, the #6 Team Rafanelli Ferrari 550 Maranello inherited third place. After another rapid rise up the field in the first laps, Marc Duez was running in third place before handing over to Günther Blieninger. "I wanted to set up a good rhythm as we wanted to only change the tyres once. In the end we had brake and tyre problems, so I could not resist Bleekemolen's attack. It was our first time in Zolder, so we had no previous data on the cars. The result is very good for us, and I'm optimistic for Budapest." Günther Blieninger explained that their strategy had been correct. "It was right not to change the tyres again, despite the dirty track and some oversteer, because otherwise we would have lost 30 seconds. We had new shock absorbers for this race, and they worked well - we're improving all the time." Naspetti, who had started from pole, retired from the race when a Porsche 996 GT3-R shut the door in front of him. "I had been running easily, with no problems, and it was looking good," a disappointed Naspetti commented.
First podium for Kaufmann and Ortelli
After a difficult season so far, Wolfgang Kaufmann and Stéphane Ortelli finally stepped onto the podium today. "Wolfgang started very well because we did not qualify well," Ortelli explained. "We recovered to a very decent place at the end. We decided right from the beginning to save fuel, and I have to say that it was working. Unfortunately it was just one lap too much, and I lost out to Babini because I was running out of fuel and I had to stop. We did as strong a race as we could, and I am very happy for the team, and happy to be on the podium." But Kaufmann thinks there is still work to be done. "This is a good start but we still have plenty of work on the car and especially on the tyres. We hope for the next race at Hungary that we can make a big step and to be really competitive in qualifying and in the race again."
RWS demoted to third after time penalty
Luca Riccitelli and Andrea Boldrini crossed the line in fifth place overall today, to apparently win the N-GT class. However, the car was later awarded a time penalty because one of the drivers had been in the car longer than the allowed time. With the additional time of 1:44.042, the #77 RWS Porsche 996 GT3-R was demoted to third, which still maintains Riccitelli in the lead of the N-GT category. "We'd had trouble since yesterday and we were not sure of correct strategy," Riccitelli explained. "We were wondering whether we could do just one stop. So I started the race thinking about the fuel consumption, but at the end of the first hour I said to myself it was not the right way, as the tyres were worn, so I decided to come in and change two tyres and push very hard. It was the right strategy. Andrea did a fantastic job, very fast and very consistent. Then I took over again, and to finish fifth overall is just fantastic." This was Andrea Boldrini's first time with the team. "It's my first race for two years, my first time in a Porsche, my first time at Zolder, so I am very happy."
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