FIA GT3 Championship

Planetlemans weekend roundup (September 22/23)

© International GT Open

The International GT Open and FIA GT3 European Championship were the only two series to compete this weekend, apart from the FIA GT Championship. While the GT Open cars went to the United Kingdom the GT3 competitors followed their big brothers to the Czech Republic. The result? Four interesting races with lots of incidents and thrilling battles. Here is the Planetlemans weekend roundup of September 22/23.

© DPPI

International GT Open – Rounds 9 and 10 – Brands Hatch

Supporting the FIA WTCC at Brands Hatch the International GT Open championship made its first ever visit to the UK. On Friday it was Max Busnelli in the Playteam Ferrari who took pole position for the Pro-Am race on Saturday. The race itself was a thriller. At the front Busnelli’s Ferrari fought a great battle with the Sun Red of Peter Terting and the Ferrari of Pasini. On lap 10 Pasini passed the German and the two Ferrari 430s were fighting each other. Just after the mandatory driver changes had been completed by the top teams the safety car was deployed after a shunt of Cor Euser in the Marcos. Euser got out of the car unhurt, but the Marcos came to halt on the middle of the straight. After the safety car had gone in again there were eight laps remaining and Massironi and Livio, who had taken over the wheels of the leading Ferrari’s, both went for the race win at Brands. The gap was never bigger than a few tenths and in the last lap Livio tried to pass Massironi. The Playteam driver kept his car ahead though and won the first race of the weekend, just 0.124s ahead of the Advanced Engineering Ferrari.

The race on Sunday gave a different view. Championship leader Richard Lietz started from pole, after Maceratesi’s pole position was taken away because he set it under a yellow flag. Lietz pulled away at the start and got through the opening lap without a problem. This could not be said for the Ferrari of Johnny Mowlem. The Brit went off at Dingle Dell and hit the tyres, a quick end for the local hero. One lap later the safety car would come out as Guerrero spun his Mosler at Stirlings Bend after making contact with Saturday’s winner Massironi. The Spaniard tried to get his car of the racing line but was hit by Gabriele Lancieri’s Aston Martin DBRS9. The collision ripped off the rear wheel and some bodywork of the Mosler and destroyed the right side panels on the DBRS9. After the safety car had come in the mandatory pitstops caused the Autorlando Porsche of Lietz and Camathias to drop down (due to their “success penalty”) and it was Montermini who had taken the lead. He would still have the lead as the chequered flag came out.

_{Results: Race 1 - 1 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree (Busnelli/Massironi - Ferrari 430), 2 Advanced Engineering (Pasini/Livio - Ferrari 430), 3 GPC Sport (Bobbi/Frezza - Ferrari 430) Race 2 - 1 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree (Maceratesi/Montermini - Ferrari 430), 2 RSV Motorsport (Romero/Sundberg - Ferrari 430), 3 Sun Red (Zapata/Terting – SR21) Standings: Camathias/Lietz (Autorlando) 109, Montermini/Maceratesi (Playteam) 96, Busnelli/Massironi (Playteam) 95}
FIA GT3 European Championship – Rounds 7 and 8 – Brno

The fourth weekend of the FIA GT3 season brought the teams to the Czech Republic for two races at the Brno circuit. On Saturday morning local driver Erik Janis gave Lamborghini its first pole position of the 2007 season while Andrew Thompson set the pole position for race two, also in a Lamborghini. The first race on Saturday started bad for several teams, going into turn 1 one of the Hexis Racing Aston Martins was pushed off, causing enough damage to retire upon arrival in the pit. The team did not have luck as their second car also retired in the first lap. It wasn’t over though for the first lap dramas. Le Roch spun his Morgan and hit the Gallardo of Kuzminykh. As a result several other cars got involved in the accident as well. When the dust had cleared there were four damaged cars stranded on the track and the safety car was out. Gibson’s Berlanga Ascari and Snowdon’s Tech9 Porsche joined the Morgan and Gallardo as retirements. When the safety car went back in again it was Erik Janis who had taken the lead. He would keep the lead until the mandatory pit stops where he handed over the car to Jaromir Jirik. Jirik had a fifteen seconds lead after all the pit stops had been made but was chased by James Ruffier in the Riverside Corvette Z06R who closed the gap quickly. When Jirik was held up by one of the Vipers Ruffier reacted quickly and passed the Czech for the lead with ten minutes to go. Jirik was not able to retain the second place however and with just over five minutes to go he was passed by the Corvette of Von Gartzen, once again after getting stuck behind a backmarker. As the race was about to end Henri Moser had closed the gap to Jirik and once more Jirik lost a position after losing too much time behind the backmarkers. As the two cars passed one of the Ferraris Jirik went around on the outside, Moser took the inside line and third place.

On Sunday it was Thompson who had a good start in his Gallardo, he retained the lead as the pack got through lap one without any serious problems. Behind Thompson the cars are very close to each other and soon the first fights started to erupt. In lap four it was Ruffier who attacked Makowiecki. Before the end of the lap Ruffier had passed his compatriot, who immediately lost another position to Von Gartzen. Second place was not enough for Ruffier as he immediately went after Thompson and started a fight for the lead. The Brit only managed to keep the Corvette behind him for several turns and at the end of the fifth lap Ruffier had taken the lead, behind him Von Gartzen had closed the gap to Thompson and overtook him a lap later. The race continued without any overtaking at the front and when the leaders had made their compulsory pit stops and driver changes it was still the Corvette, now in the hands of Peyroles, leading the race. Von Gartzen had handed over his Corvette to quick Italian Luca Pirri who immediately started to reel in the Riverside car. With ten minutes to go in the second race Pirri had closed the gap and on the main straight he made a successful attempt to overtake Peyroles. Pirri slowly increased his lead as the race was going into the final stages. Behind the two Corvettes Erik Janis and Gilles Vannelet had a great fight for third place which was only decided on the final lap when the young Czech overtook Vannelet. However it was once again a Corvette 1-2 at Brno, with Von Gartzen/Pirri taking an important win that kept them in championship contention with only Dubai to come.

_{Results: Race 1 - 1 Riverside (Peyroles/Ruffier – Corvette Z06R), 2 Martini Callaway Racing (Pirri/Von Gartzen – Corvette Z06R), 3 Kessel Racing (Vannelet/Moser – Ferrari 430) Race 2 - 1 Martini Callaway Racing (Pirri/Von Gartzen – Corvette Z06R), 2 Riverside (Peyroles/Ruffier – Corvette Z06R), 3 S-Berg Racing (Janis/Jirik – Lamborghini Gallardo) Standings: Vannelet/Moser (Kessel Racing) 47, Pirri/Von Gartzen (Martini Callaway Racing) 39, Peyroles/Ruffier (Riverside) 31}

_{Marcel ten Caat - Planetlemans.com}