FIA GT Championship

Jetalliance Racing to miss FIA GT season finale

The overall winners of the 2008 FIA GT Championship will be decided this coming weekend (22, 23 Nov) in Argentina. Maserati versus Corvette, or Andrea Bertolini/Michael Bartels (ITA/GER) versus Mike Hezemans/Fabrizio Gollin (NED/ITA), that will be the big fight – the two crews are separated by eight points!

But this time, the television audience will have to do without Jetalliance Racing, since the team from Lower Austria will not enter the San Luis event.
Team owner Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer: “I already voiced my opposition against overseas races in this series for financial reasons last year. On the one hand, our title chance is already gone. On the other, being the proper businessmen that we are, the market slump is forcing us to take effective measures immediately in order to reduce costs associated with our ventures. Hence this unpopular decision.”

The year in racing nevertheless closes on a successful note for Jetalliance Racing: Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp have taken a total of three wins – more than any other driver pairing. And third place in the team classification has already been secured, while amateur racer Lichtner-Hoyer, together with Alex Müller, has furthermore scored his first podium finish in Oschersleben.

At present, Lichtner-Hoyer is remaining silent about his plans for the future: “We will be probing the market before issuing a decision in due course.”
But the season is not quite over yet for Jetalliance Racing: During the San Luis weekend (November 22nd/23rd), Lichtner-Hoyer will partner Vitus Eckert in the new KTM X-Bow for the Vallelunga (ITA) six-hour race!
LLH: “We are going to test whether this car could be used as part of our customer sports programme next year.”