FIA GT Championship

Zakspeed wants to return to the top position of the FIA GT-table

© FIA GT

The Zakspeed-Saleen S7 R is well prepared for the 24h-race in Spa. The new team of drivers for the long-distance classic has been determined. The proven Saleen-driver duo of Sascha Bert (Ober-Ramstadt) and Jarek Janis (Prague) will be supplemented by an additional Czech driver and an experienced racing professional from Italy: Jan Charouz, the young fellow countryman and friend of Jarek Janis, and Andrea Montermini will support the successful Zakspeed-combination of Bert/Janis in Belgium during the only 24h-race within the 2006 FIA GT-racing series for super fast sports cars.

Here, although Jan Charouz is only 18 years old, he has experience from his racing in the Formula 3000-Championship as well as in competitions with an Ex-DTM Mercedes in his Czech homeland. Montermini, who has driven practically everything that is fast and spectacular during his long motor sports career, was able to drive the Zakspeed-Saleen extensively during a test in Dijon and made a very good impression. No wonder, as he has been familiar with this vehicle for some time now due to his racing in the Italian FIA GT-Championship, in which he competed with the same vehicle for the Italian racing team and Saleen importer "dr- group/sportequipe".

Zakspeed team manager, Andreas Leberle, is proud of this new driver combination, which will race in Spa in this form: "I have known Andrea for a long time now and worked with him in the USA. He is also an experienced driver, like our regular driver, Sascha Bert. Both are ideally complemented by the young Czech drivers, Janis and Charouz, and I am sure that this combination will be competitive in Spa."

In general, team director Peter Zakowski sees the Czech influence as positive for his team: "In the first three races of this year’s FIA GT-Championship, Jarek Janis pleasantly surprised us with his work with the Saleen S7 R. This was especially apparent with the overall win of my team during the second race in Brno/CZ. Jarek and Sascha impressively demonstrated on the Czech racetrack, how well our Zakspeed GT-program works this year ".

After impressively crossing the finish line in second place with the fast American car during the first race of this year’s international GT-racing series in Silverstone/UK, the Zakspeed-team in Brno was thrilled by its overall win with a clear lead over the competition just a few weeks later.

During the third race of the series in Oschersleben at the beginning of July 2006, however, the Zackspeed-team experienced a small setback due to heavy additional weights and shortened Saleen-rear wing that was required by the GT-organization. The team was still able to finish this race in fourth position, was able to accumulate a few championship points, and now had high hopes for Spa, as the additional weight could now finally be removed from the Saleen.

Unfortunately, this was a false hope, as the team discovered in the middle of July during the preparatory period for the famous Belgian long-distance race. Team director Peter Zakowski, who was appointed as a member of the FIA GT-commission this year, is disappointed about the fact that the organizers of the GT-series have once again mandated a handicap weight of 30 kilograms for the 24h-race in Spa. "We even briefly considered not racing in Spa with this handicap weight. Our entire race preparations and planning suffered, because we already have a clear disadvantage due to the shorter rear wing. But we are committed motor sports athletes, who want to promote international GT-sport with its great sports cars this year and in coming years and such a decision can therefore not be allowed to deter us. We will stay the course and definitely want to establish ourselves at the top of the table of the FIA GT-Championship", the Zakspeed-team director reports hopefully.

Both the experienced team from the Eifel and the interesting driver combination will support their boss with a great deal of commitment in Spa. And the American Saleen sports car seems to feel right at home in its role as the "fox in the henhouse". The initial GT-races have borne this out dramatically.