Other Series

Planetlemans weekend roundup (October 13/14)

© Super GT

It was the final weekend of the season for several series. Both the ADAC GT Masters and the FFSA GT Championship were heading into its final race with the champion yet undecided. In Japan the Super GT series would race its penultimate race of the season and on the Autopolis circuit the championship was decided as well. Take your time to read the reports and results from the world of GT and sportscar racing in the weekend of October 13th and 14th.

© Markus Berns

FFSA GT – Magny-Cours

The FFSA GT was at Magny-Cours for its final race weekend of the 2007 season. One that would see one of the Oreca Saleens clinch the title. In race one it was the SRT C5-R that had the best start however. Cazenave increased his lead to six seconds when the pit window opened. The SRT car stayed out when all others came in and when all cars had made their pitstop, Cayrolle, who had taken over from Cazenave, was still six seconds ahead. Dayraut in the PSI Corvette closed in on Cayrolle, but could not overtake the SRT driver as the safety car was deployed when the Larbre DBR9 of Makowiecki lost one of its doors on the track. When the safety car went in there were five minutes remaining. Dayraut had the best start and stayed ahead of the rest of the field when the chequered flag came out. Groppi took advantage of a backmarker to pass Ayari and later on Cayrolle and finished second. Ayari eventually took third after the SRT Corvette was penalized after the race, enough to secure the title.

In race two it was Ayari who started from pole. Heading into turn one he was passed by Makowiecki and shortly after also by Bouchut. As the first lap ended the two Oreca Saleens were in third and fourth, with Makowiecki leading. The Larbre DBR9 and SRT C5-R pulled away from the rest and just before the mandatory pit stops the two cars were about ten seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Berville took the lead in the pit when the Larbre team made a mistake with the tyres on the DBR9, but Bornhauser, who took over from Makowiecki, managed to stay close to the SRT car. Berville kept the lead until ten minutes before the end, when Bornhauser passed him at the Adelaide hairpin. The Larbre Aston Martin stayed ahead and won its second race of the season.

_{Results: Race 1 - 1 PSI Experience (Lebon/Dayraut - Corvette C6-R), 2 Team Oreca (Hernandez/Groppi - Saleen S7R), 3 Team Oreca (Narac/Ayari - Saleen S7R). Results: Race 2 - 1 Larbre Competition (Bornhauser/Makowiecki - Aston Martin DBR9), 2 Team Oreca (Narac/Ayari - Saleen S7R), 3 SRT (Berville/Bouchut - Corvette C5-R) Standings: Narac/Ayari (Team Oreca), Hernandez/Groppi (Team Oreca)}

ADAC GT Masters – Round 6, race 11 and 12 – Hockenheim

The ADAC GT Masters saw a weekend in which the Championship was to be decided. And to increase the excitement, that decision was even postponed to the last race of two. In the season finale, Christopher Haase got himself to the top step of the podium with the "help" of the Lamborghini Gallardo of Reiter Engineering.

In the first race, Haase reduced his advantage on his colleagues Kox and Von Thurn und Taxis to just 1 point by giving up the race because of an engine failure. Kox and Von Thurn und Taxis made it to second spot, behind Philip Peter and Henri Moser. They were not eligible for points though, because they are guest drivers.

The second race would be the one to decide which Lambo driver(s) would claim the prize. One of the drivers to "disturb" the race was kenneth Heyer, who had to put the Ford GT next to the track to enable it to transform the smoke into real flames. To secure the Matech GT, race control had to bring out the safety car until the end of lap 5. After a second safety car phase, the filed compressed again and nothing seemed to be obstructing Kox and Von Thurn und Taxis to secure the championship. But then disaster struck. The Gallardo V10 engine blew up and Haase knew he would grab the title even before the driver change. Because of ignoring a black flag, the Corvette of ludwig and Von Gartzen was disqualified and therefore Peter and Moser secured their second win, before Sukula and Matzke in their MM Racing Corvette. The Haapalainen Viper repeated the saturday result by becoming third again.

_{Results: Race 1 - 1 Kessel Racing Schweiz (Philipp Peter/Henri Moser - Ferrari 430), 2 Reiter Engineering (Peter Kox/Albert von Thurn und Taxis - Lamborghini Gallardo GT3), 3 Olli Haapalainen (Olli Haapalainen/Indrek Sepp - Dodge Viper). Results: Race 2 - 1 Kessel Racing Schweiz (Philipp Peter/Henri Moser - Ferrari 430), 2 MM Racing (Jiri Sukula/Martin Matzke - Chevrolet Corvette), Olli Haapalainen (Olli Haapalainen/Indrek Sepp - Dodge Viper). Standings: Christopher Haase (Reiter Engineering) 79, Peter Kox/Albert von Thurn und Taxis (Reiter Engineering) 74, Jan Seyffarth/Albert Schmickler (SMS Seyffarth Motorsport) 58}

© Dutch Supercar Challenge

Dutch Supercar Challenge – Round 8 – Spa-Francorchamps

A drivethrough, that is what you can annoy Elmar Grimm with and even then fail to stop him from winning a race. It was the first race of the weekend, in which a penalty was given to him for a stop that was too short. Behind Grimm finished Meindert van Buuren and the Van der Zwaan/Van den Hoek Audi. An all DTM-V8 Star story in GT…

During the second race, Arjen van der Zwaan and Ardi van den Hoek made Brinkmann Motorsport receive a nice one-two, together with (again) Elmar Grimm. After a safety car period because of an incident (a real roll over!) with the only female driver Sarah Bennett-Bags, the race restarts and grimm takes several seconds instantly. the restart is less fortunate for both Moslers. One out because of damage, the other (Flux/Riley) because of long term parking in the gravel trap. The DTM Audi of Ric Wood completed the top 3 GT result of the second race, giving the crowd an all DTM podium, which is quite unique in a non-DTM race. See below for the top 3 finishers of the other 3 classes Supersport 1, Supersport 2 and Sport. A remarkable result was reached by Ruud Olij, bringing his BMW GTR to third overall. A nice exception to the unwritten rule…

_{Results: Race 1 - 1 Brinkmann Motorsport (Elmar Grimm - DTM Audi TTR), 2 Papagayo Racing (Meindert van Buuren - Passat V8 Star), 3 Brinkmann Motorsport (Ardi van der Hoek/Arjen van der Zwaan - DTM Audi TTR). Results: Race 2 - 1 Brinkmann Motorsport (Elmar Grimm - DTM Audi TTR), 2 Brinkmann Motorsport (Ardi van der Hoek/Arjen van der Zwaan - DTM Audi TTR), 3 Stichting Euro Autosport (Ruud Olij - BMW V8 GTR). Standings: Sport - 1 Bas Barenbrug 189, 2 Kees Kreijne 187, 3 Iman van Schelven 131. Standings: Supersport 1 - 1 Richard van den Berg 184, 2 Pieter van Soelen 173, 3 Peter van der Kolk 166. Standings: Supersport 2 - 1 Victor Shapovalov 185, 2 Ian White & Tony Brown 174, 3 Marcel Norbart 165. Standings: GT - 1 Phillipe Ribbens & Robert de Graaff 204, 2 Ardi van der Hoek 193, 2 Arjen van der zwaan 193, 3 Elmar Grimm 180.}

© DPPI

FIA GT4 European Cup – Round 5 – Magny Cours

In the first of two races at Magny Cours, Eric de Doncker already secured the 2007 GT4 Championship by winning the race. he actually became third, but that was behind two GT1 cars of the GT90 series. And let’s be honest: it is not a shame to lose from a Stealth B6 and a McLaren F1 GTR in a Mustang. The gap to the GPR Racing Porsche Cayman at the finish line was a modest 3 seconds. In the second race, olivier Gomez could not convert his pole position into a race win. Eric de Doncker again was the force to be reckoned with. He had a better start than Gomez’ Nissan and kept the pace on the same (high) level. For the LNT team and for Linn Stewart in particular, it was a better day than saturday. This time she made it to the finish line this time, in a respectable third position. The team is very satisfied to have payed the podium a visit two out of two events, and all drivers seem optimistic for 2008 about the fact that the competion is so close and that five different makes can aim for the title.

_{Results: Race 1 - 1 Motorsport98 (Eric De Doncker - Ford Mustang FR500C), 2 GPR Racing (Maxime Soulet - Porsche Cayman), 3 Solution F (Olivier Gomez/Jean Luc Beaubelique - Nissan 350Z). Results: Race 2 - 1 Motorsport98 (Eric De Doncker - Ford Mustang FR500C), 2 Solution F (Olivier Gomez/Jean Luc Beaubelique - Nissan 350Z), 3 LNT (Tom Kimber-Smith/Linn Stewart - Ginetta G50). Standings: Eric De Doncker (Motorsport98) 74, Olivier Gomez (Solution F) 50, Alex Buncombe (RJN Motorsport) 36.}
Super GT – Round 8 – Autopolis

The eighth round of the Japanese Super GT series took the cars to the Autopolis circuit. Toranosuke Takagi secured pole position just ahead of Toshihiro Kaneishi for the race on Sunday. However Kaneishi’s car would not make it to the race as the car caught fire on its way to the grid. Firman opened the hunt for Takagi when the lights went out, but Takagi in the ZENT Cerumo SC430 managed to get away. By lap 30 Takagi was set to make a pit stop when it all went wrong. A backmarker spun on the track and Takagi was unable to avoid the stranded Lamborghini Gallardo. Moments later the Gallardo was collected by two other cars. All four were forced to retire. Firman inherited the lead and handed the car to Daisuke Ito during the mandatory pit stop. Ito kept ahead of the pack in the remainder of the race and scored the teams third victory of the season, securing the driver’s title for Ito and Firman.

_{Results: Race - 1 Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (Ito/Firman – Honda NSX), 2 Team Kunimitsu (Schwager/Hosokawa – Honda NSX), 3 Toyota Team Sard (Couto/Hiranaka – Lexus SC430) Standings: Ito/Firman (Autobacs Racing Team Aguri) 91, Michigami/Kogure (Dome Racing Team) 62, Krumm/Matsuda (NISMO) 61}