FIA GT Championship

Jetalliance Racing: Wendlinger gets pole, Müller in P2!

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

As good as it gets! This day will go down in history for Jetalliance Racing – since the Austrian team dominated qualifying for the fourth race of the 2008 FIA GT Championship at Oschersleben in spectacular fashion:

Karl Wendlinger claimed pole position in his Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9, his team mate, Germany’s Alex Müller, finished second in the other Jetalliance Aston Martin, just one tenth behind. Both Jetalliance cars will therefore start tomorrow’s race (start time: 1.15 p.m.) from the first row!

This great performance was already foreseeable during the practice sessions: Wendlinger and his Scottish team mate Ryan Sharp finished second in the morning, then were fastest in the afternoon.

It had been a different situation however for the second crew: Alex Müller and Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer were struggling with gearbox and brake problems, and were unable to run more than five laps in the first practice session. It was a lot better in the afternoon when they ranked third.

Karl Wendlinger: “My fastest lap was a good one without any mistakes. We had already been up front in both practice sessions – so I knew that we would be able to achieve a top result. A pole is always something to treasure – and today, the entire team’s result is sensational as well. We now have an ideal starting position for tomorrow’s race, of course, especially since we were able to consistently run at a quick pace with used tyres for long periods of time during the practice sessions. And the tyres will be the decisive factor tomorrow.”

Alex Müller: “My qualifying lap was all right but a bit more would have been possible. Unfortunately, we haven’t completely gotten to grips with our braking problems yet. I suffered from long brake pedal travel during qualifying and always had to pump it on the straight. That’s why I wasn’t really able to use my braking points to optimal effect. We now need to have a look at this in order to solve our problems before tomorrow. After all we want to back up Karl and Ryan in view of the championship.”

Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer: “It’s obviously a dream result for us. Once again we have shown that we know our trade, as the saying goes. And this on a circuit that certainly doesn’t favour us. A sensational performance by Karl and Alex – and a memorable day for the entire team.”