FIA GT Championship

FIA GT: Brno Race Report

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A close and exciting race at the Brno circuit set up an exciting finish to the season, with the main contenders now closer than ever. Three drivers share the lead, while the top nine are separated by just seven points. Brno saw Christian Montanari and Miguel Ramos take their first GT win, their Vitaphone Maserati MC 12 finishing ahead of the nr 33 Jetalliance Aston Martin and the nr 4 PK Carsport Corvette C5R, which overtook the nr 11 Scuderia Playteam Maserati on the last lap.

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GT2 saw another one-two for AF Corse Motorola, Vilander and Müller claiming their fifth win of the season in the nr 50 Ferrari 430 GT2. Their team-mates Bruni and Ortelli were second, with Scuderia Ecosse inheriting third for Mullen and Turner. With the season drawing to a close, the first titles were decided today : AF Corse Motorola sealed the 2007 GT2 Teams Championship, while Maserati and Ferrari moved out of reach of their rivals in the Manufacturers Cups.

The results are provisional only as to the gearbox on car 33

FIRST VICTORY FOR MONTANARI AND RAMOS
In his first season of GT racing, Christian Montanari has gone from strength to strength, and with Miguel Ramos they now form an extremely strong crew. In Brno, Montanari qualified second, and although he dropped back to fifth at the start, he moved back up to second after a racing incident between the nr 1 Maserati and the nr 5 Corvette, fighting for second. Both cars lost time, as did the nr 28 Lamborghini, which had been lying close behind in fourth. Catching early race leader Wendlinger, who had got the advantage over the two Maserati MC 12s preceding it on the grid on the first lap, Montanari took the lead on lap 18, and apart from a short period after the first pit stops, the nr 2 Maserati was ahead for the rest of the race. Montanari took the chequered flag after two hours, to claim his first win, and the first win of his team-mate Miguel Ramos. “For me this is fantastic,” Montanari said. “I’d just like to thank the team, Maserati and Michelin. We might have won the Manufacturer’s Cup as well, so that’s good! The Driver’s championship is a very strong championship, and I think we’re probably only 3 points different from the first driver. And with only two races left, the championship is really strong and that’s very good. “

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The nr 33 Jetalliance Aston Martin crossed the line second, 17.5 seconds behind the Vitaphone Maserati. “We’ve been competitive the whole weekend and we’re very happy about this result,” Wendlinger said .“I had a very good start and even managed to pull away a bit in the beginning, but I was missing some consistency this time - we had to change tyres twice, so maybe this was what made the difference between us and the winners.”

The nr 4 PK Carsport Corvette C5 finished an excellent third, having overtaken the nr 11 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati MC 12 of Bertolini and Piccini on the very last lap. “We were very slow all weekend, we didn’t find the right set-up,” Kumpen said. “But we did a good race, we had no problems, we were lucky and finished on the podium.”

Bertolini and Piccini took fourth, moving up to joint lead of the Championship with Biagi, who finished seventh today. “This was a fantastic race. We are now joint-leaders in the championship with 47 points,” Bertolini said. “It is great to see five cars so close in the Championship because the fight for the drivers’ Championship is reopened. The start was good and worked well. The car has been consistent all the race. It was really not easy to drive here with so much ballast.” The team’s second car, the nr 12 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati MC 12 of Pier Guidi and Giannoccaro was fifth.

Both Lamborghini Murciélago cars had a very strong race today. Although the nr 7 All-Inkl car of Bouchut and Mücke was sixth, and the nr 28 Reiter Lamborghini car was eighth, they were both running much higher, with the nr 28 looking certain of a podium until four laps from the end, when the car lost a tyre, and the nr 7 running second before the final pit stop. Newcomer RBImmo Racing Team had a difficult race for its FIA GT debut, retiring near the end with brake problems.

POINTS CLOSE UP IN GT1
The result could hardly have been better for the Championship fight. The top nine drivers are now separated by seven points with two races remaining.
Thomas Biagi, who has led the Championship since Monza this year, has been joined at the top by fellow Maserati drivers Andrea Bertolini and Andrea Piccini, who scored five points today in the nr 11 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati, all three having scored 47 points so far this season. Today’s winners Ramos and Montanari are lying second, on 44 points, with the second-placed team, Wendlinger and Sharp, a further point behind on 43 points. Spa winners Hezemans and Deletraz are fourth with 40 points. The next races look like being very interesting.
In the GT1 Teams Championship, Vitaphone Racing Team have a 34-point lead over Scuderia Playteam Sarafree, with 36 points remaining this season. Although not yet a mathematical certainty, Vitaphone looks like retaining the title they have held for the past two years. As for the GT1 Manufacturers Cup, this has been decided in favour of Maserati, who already won the Cup in 2005.{mospagebreak }FOURTH ONE-TWO FOR AF CORSE MOTOROLA SECURES TITLE
In GT2, another one-two for AF Corse Motorola saw the team claim its seventh win of the season, and the fifth for Dirk Müller and Toni Vilander. Second place for Gianmaria Bruni and Stephane Ortelli gives the team an unassailable lead in the Teams Classification, while Ferrari cannot now be caught in the GT2 Manufacturers Cup. Racing Team Edil Cris, with Paolo Ruberti and Maurizio Mediani, crossed the line third, but were excluded due to ride-height problems. Scuderia Ecosse therefore inherited the podium with the nr 62 car of Mullen and Turner, having recovered well from an early-race incident which saw them spin and fall to the back of the field.

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The nr 59 Advanced Engineering Ferrari made a good impression on its debut, finishing fourth after the exclusion of the nr 52. The best of the Porsches today was the nr 97 BMS Scuderia Italia car of Collard and Malucelli, scoring four points to remain within reach of the classification leaders Müller and Vilander. The Ebimotors Porsche of Zani and Malucelli was close behind in sixth, followed by the nr 53 Edil Cris Ferrari, which had started from the pit lane after gear box problems. The final point went to Scuderia Ecosse’s nr 63 car of Kutemann and Gosse.

In the GT2 points, thirteen points now separate the nr 97 Porsche drivers Collard and Malucelli from the leaders Müller and Vilander. Bruni and Ortelli are eleven points behind their team-mates. However, today’s full score for AF Corse Motorola put the team out of reach of its rivals in the GT2 Teams Classification, ensuring that it has retained the title it won last year. “This is the second season for AF Corse and to win a second title is great – I have no words,” AF Corse Motorola’s team manager Antonio Cazzago said. “We have done a great job all season with both cars. We’ve won all the races except for Spa, and finished first and second here and in Adria. So I think anyone could say that at the moment, in GT2, AF Corse is the best team. I’m proud of my guys. For me, personally, this is my second year in Motorsport and I’ve won two titles. Amato Ferrari is a great team principal as he is a great organiser and has a real eye for details. I am really proud to work with my guys. “

AUCOTT STRENGTHENS LEAD IN CITATION CUP
Alain Ferté and Ben Aucott won the Citation Cup in their JMB Racing Maserati MC 12, strengthening Aucott’s lead in the Cup. They finished ahead of their team-mates Kutemann and Gosse, with SRT third after a difficult race with their Corvette C5R, driven by Tom Cloet and Mauro Casadei, which was struggling with a loss of power. Aucott now has a lead of 10 points over Cloet, with two rounds remaining. “We had some problems with the gearbox in the warm-up, and it lasted through the race, so we had to back off,” Aucott said. “But apart from that it was good. Our sister car came second, so we have built up some margin in the Cup, which is really good.”

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ARC WINS G2 ON ITS RETURN TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP
G2 was won by Slovakian team ARC Bratislava, with the Saleen S7 driven by Miro Konopka and Miro Hornak. They finished a lap ahead of the nr 101 Gillet Vertigo, of Leinders and Kuppen. “I’m very glad to be back in the Championship,” Konopka said. “We withdrew last season, and this year we’ve only driven this race with the Saleen. I think it was a very good weekend for us, and we finished top of our category, and I’m glad. It’s perfect. I’ve also had a good time in the national championships this weekend. It’s been a very good, a very nice weekend for me.”

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ORTLIEB AND PEHAM WIN G3
G3 was won by the nr 178 G Private Racing Porsche 997 Cup of Jörg Peham and Patrick Ortlieb, the 1992 Olympic gold-medal winner in downhill skiing. They finished ahead of their team-mates Dragoun and Mair in the nr 177 car. “The race was a lot of fun. We had some problems, but I think we did a good job. It’s really great to be here. We’re thinking about organising something so that we can come back next year to race, and not only one race, maybe even the whole season, we’ll see.”
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