FIA GT Championship

Jetalliance:Sensational one-two victory in Oschersleben!

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Just sensational! Jetalliance Racing celebrated a convincing one-two victory today in the fourth race of the FIA GT Championship at Oschersleben! Karl Wendlinger/Ryan Sharp (AUT/SCO) won in their Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 ahead of their team mates Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer/Alex Müller (AUT/GER), third position went to Fässler/Deletraz (SUI, Corvette).

A day to remember for the Jetalliance crew: the first one-two victory in the history of the still-young team from Lower Austria, the 14th FIA GT win (the second this year) for Wendlinger – and of course the first FIA GT podium for team owner Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer as well!

But this has also been a vital race for the progress of the championship, because now the four top teams are all within just three points!

The race history:
The two Jetalliance Racing cars are wheel to wheel at the start, Bouchut in the Corvette gets in between just prior to the first corner, Wendlinger backs off a little, and Alex Müller exits the first corner in the lead ahead of the Frenchman and the Austrian.

Müller is subsequently setting the pace up front, Wendlinger puts pressure on Bouchut, who has a spin on lap 21 – Wendlinger gets by – Jetalliance Racing is now in first and second place: Müller ahead of Wendlinger, followed by Bartels in the Maserati.

Wendlinger comes into the pits after 45 minutes, handing over to Ryan Sharp, four minutes later the second Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 also completes its driver change: team owner Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer is now at the steering wheel.

The new race order after the first round of pit stops: Sharp ahead of the Brazilian Negrao, who had already completed his stop in the early part of the race, followed by Lichtner-Hoyer. From the very beginning, Sharp is really stepping on the gas with his new tyres, he sets the fastest laps in the entire field and soon has opened up an advantage of fourteen seconds over Negrao with 58 minutes to go.

Lichtner-Hoyer on the other hand does battle with Mike Hezemans, but then has to give way on lap fourty in a tight situation to avoid a collision, losing him two spots, because Deletraz gets past him as well. And three laps later, he also has to let Formula 1 test driver Andrea Bertolini (Maserati) go. Soon thereafter, Negrao dives into the pits for a second driver change, the team owner is now back up to fifth position.

Lichtner-Hoyer is subsequently keeping the pace and even gains on Deletraz, who gets passed by Bertolini. Lichtner-Hoyer closes up to 0.2 seconds, before Deletraz heads for the pits, Lichtner-Hoyer now in P4.

Lap 56: Hezemans into the pits, Sharp is leading Bertolini by 32 seconds and Lichtner-Hoyer, who is putting in a very strong stint, by 36. The leading Jetalliance Aston Martin pits one lap later, Wendlinger takes over from Ryan Sharp, who has again performed brilliantly, and another lap later, Lichtner-Hoyer hands back over to Müller.

Then the safety car is deployed onto the track with thirty minutes to go – this might turn the entire race upside down, because apart from Bertolini, all the top teams have already pitted twice, and now Wendlinger’s 23 second lead over Hezemans is gone. It’s going to be an exciting finale!

Bertolini comes into the pits for the second of his mandatory stops – this results in a new race order: Wendlinger up front, behind him Hezemans and Alex Müller. And now it seems that the rain is coming in after all!

The safety car heads for pitlane with twenty minutes to go – now all hell brakes loose!
Wendlinger is the fastest managing to lap the slower GT2 cars, he even opens up a small gap. Behind him, Hezemans makes a mistake, Müller passes him and is now in second – with 17 minutes to go! Wendlinger and Müller are setting the fastest lap times, increasing their lead!

And after two hours it is accomplished: the first one-two victory for Jetalliance Racing, Wendlinger/Sharp win ahead of Lichtner-Hoyer/Müller!

QUOTES:
Karl Wendlinger: “My start wasn’t perfect, that’s why I had to push a lot later on, which really took it out of me. Then all our advantage was gone after the pace car period – so once again I had to push the limits. This has been a very hard fought-for win. That’s why I’m extremely delighted with this result.”

Ryan Sharp: “The best possible result which anyone could have wished for. Now the entire team can go to the 24 hours of Spa in a very upbeat mood.”

Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer: “A dream has come true for me today. We – and I’m talking about the entire team – have achieved great things in just three years – it’s as good as it gets!”

Alex Müller: “I had a very good start, my thanks to the entire team as well. They have worked halfway through the night to give us a perfect car today. Our pace was extremely good. Lukas has once and for all proven today that his time as a gentleman driver is long gone.”

The next FIA GT race is also the highlight of the season: the 24 Hours of Spa will be held on August 3rd in Belgium.