FIA GT Championship

Jos Menten FIA GT Monza review

© Jos Menten Racing

Following on from a successful 24 Hours of Le Mans, Jos Menten once again got behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT of the German All-Inkl.com Reiter Lamborghini-team. For the Monza race Hans Reiter had brought along a new aerodynamic package for Jos Menten and Peter Kox. Summer temperatures in the region of 30° Celsius greeted the FIA Championship. The ideal weather conditions to make full use of the Lambo’s potential, or so it appeared.
As per usual the Dutch duo completed the first training session in a steady manner: “The new aero-package worked as it should. The car is stable in the bends and we have a high top speed on the straights. During the second free practice session we pushed the car a bit harder, and at the end of the second session we were up in eighth place. The differences here are really minimal! Who knows we might even come up with a few surprises”, Jos Menten remarked just before the start of the qualifying session.

And the surprise soon appeared! During the twenty minute long qualifying session Peter Kox brings the number 8 Lamborghini up to a very competitive second best time. Thanks to this sensational lap a Lamborghini Murciélago would be on the front row of the grid on Sunday… however: “During scrutineering it appeared that the wing was fitted too far back”, a disappointed Jos Menten told us. “Vibrations were created when taking some of the curbstones, and this loosened the wing. This resulted in the wing no longer being in its correct position. Rules are rules. All the times are annulled. Tomorrow we’ll be starting from the back row, next to the other All-Inkl.com Lambo.”

But at all All-Inkl.com Reiter Lamborghini no one is giving up hope. During the warm-up Menten and Kox once again demonstrate the potential of the Murciélago R-GT: “We’re only giving away one tenth of a second against the fastest… and it’s a long race. We might still be able to score our first points of the season”, Menten remarks just before the race. As planned Peter Kox takes the start at 13:15hrs. The driver from Brabant confirms the top condition he was in on Saturday. After one lap he is already up in the top twenty. Kox carves his way through the pack and after thirty minutes of racing he’s up in the top ten.

Forty minutes into the race Jos Menten takes over the wheel. When exiting the pitlane the 26 year old Limburger is in ninth place: “I was building up speed when suddenly a transmission problem reared its head. When changing down a gear the clutch no longer worked, making it very difficult to race. That was also the reason why I skidded. The gearbox probably stuck momentarily when careering over the curbstones. Because the car was caught up in the gravel this skid lost us a couple of minutes”, a disappointed Jos Mentyen told us after his stint. At the end of an hour the Lambo #8 is running in thirteenth place. With forty minutes left to race Menten comes in for the last driver changeover.

Peter Kox finally still manages to finish in tenth spot. This still leaves the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT #8 with zero points to its name: “It just wasn’t allowed to be. Without that clutch problem we would have managed a sixth or seventh place, but once again Lady Luck wasn’t around”, the Dutchman from Haelen sighed.

Following meeting in two weeks time in Oschersleben!

_{(credit: Jos Menten Racing)}