FIA GT3 Championship

Martini Callaway Racing tops second practice times

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

After setting third place in the first free practice session it was the Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z06R GT3 of Alois Meir and Sascha Bert that was quickest around the 3.696 kilometers long Oschersleben circuit during the second free practice session of the weekend.

With the temperature higher than in the morning session and the tracky completely dried by the sun the lap times dropped and after one hour the number 2 Corvette Z06R was the only one car that had managed to dip below the 1:31, setting a 1:30.945.

The Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Jean-Claude Lagniez and Frédéric Makowiecki was the second fastest car this time, 0.374 seconds behind the Corvette while the Ford GT of Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch was third fastest at half a second from the top.

Once again it was an incident packed session with the yellow flag out at several places for a long time. At the end of the start/finish straight the Giraudi/Zani driven Brixia Racing Aston Martin ended its session, it was later joined by one of the Ferrari 430 GT3s. Luca Pirri ended his session when he put his Ford GT into the wall coming out of the Triple. The seriously damaged car was lifted onto a flatbed transporter. Only moments later it was Tom Cloet in the Mühlner Motorsport Porsche who went off at alsmost the same spot. Luckily for the Belgian driver he ended up in the gravel without hitting anyone and was able to return after being pulled from the gravel.

A bad day continued for the Kessel Racing team. During the first free practice session the number 3 Ferrari of Plamen Kralev and Dimitar Iliev went off damaging the front of the car. After checking the damage the team asked the FIA for permission to change the chassis, but the technical delegate of the FIA denied the request.

Top three + fastest per car class:

1 - 2 Martini Callaway Racing -Meir/Bert- Corvette Z06R GT3 - 1:30.945
2 - 10 Hexis Racing - Aston Martin DBRS9 - Lagniez/Makowiecki - 1:31.319
3 - 20 Matech GT Racing - Ford GT - Khan/Mutsch - 1:31.447
4 - 47 Tech 9 Motorsport - Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 - 1:31.990
6 - 29 AutoGt Racing - Morgan Aero 8 GT3 - 1:32.147
8 - 26 Team Berlanga - Ascari KZR1 GT3 - 1:32.187
10 - 43 La Torre Motorsport - Dodge Viper Competition Coupe - 1:32.659
13 - 11 JMB Racing - Ferrari 430 GT3 - 1:32.879
15 - 6 Trackspeed - Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S - 1:33.192
21 - 32 APEX Motorsport - Jaguar XKR - 1:33.767
30 - 22 Matech Mustang Racing - Ford Mustang FR500 GT - 1:34.964