FIA GT Championship

Palttala and Forsten to race in FIA GT with Prospeed

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat // Prospeed Porsche at the Zolder FIA GT round

Three weeks ago during the TOYO TIRES 24H of Dubai the Belgian Prospeed Competition team entered a Porsche 996 GT3 RS for team regulars Rudi Penders and Franz Lamot. The Belgian pair was joined by two Finns, Mikael Forsten and the experienced Markus Palttala. For the upcoming FIA GT season these two will be competing in the FIA GT Championship in a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR.

Markus Palttala confirmed that he and Mikael Forsten will race with Prospeed and that the deal was signed on Wednesday. Talks about the plans for this season with Rudi Penders had started before Christmas though. Palttala knows Penders and Lamot since 2003 when they all raced in the Belcar Championship for the same team. Since then Lamot and Penders and the team’s race engineer and technical director went on to work together at Prospeed So basically the team is new for him, but the key people of the team are very familiar to Palttala.

In September 2007 Palttala introduced his compatriot Forsten at Matech and Forsten did take part in some FIA GT3 events in the Ford GT. Unfortunately Palttala was not allowed to take part in this series as the regulations classified him as a ‘platinum’ (professional) driver. From that moment on the two Finns kept cooperating.

© InsightF1 // Penders, Lamot, Forsten and Palttala in Dubai

Forsten and Palttala were looking at several options since then, including rides in other series and classes, but at the end of the year it was Prospeed that invited both drivers to race with them at the TOYO TIRES 24H of Dubai to meet the team. After the event the talks with Prospeed became more serious, resulting in the confirmation that both drivers would be racing for the team in the FIA GT Championship.

Palttala is looking forward at the new season with Prospeed, especially after missing out on a permanent drive last season. “In 2007 I had some interesting prospects lined up, but things never worked out in the end, so I only did some races towards the end of the season. I did not want to have the same situation again this year, so securing this deal with Prospeed a few months before the season starts is really great. It is the first time that the team will do a full-time FIA GT season after competing in selected rounds in 2007. Once again Prospeed will enter a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR but this time it will be on Michelin tyres and with Porsche support.”

For Mikael Forsten it is the first time he will be racing at this level, after racing in the Porsche Supercup and the FIA GT3 Championship. “Even though he is inexperienced at this level Mikael is clearly talented, very motivated to perform well and he has a professional approach to racing. It will be nice to drive with him again,” says to Palttala.

Further plans for the Prospeed team have not been announced by the team, but further announcements are due soon.

Palttala is also confident that he will do some other races. “The Prospeed seat is a full-season deal and therefore my main programme, but I will surely do other international races, either alone or with Mikael. It is good to work with Porsche in the FIA GT, so it would be a logical choice to do other events for them, but I do not rule out doing some other events in a GT1 car.”