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20.05.2008
SRT win in Monza FIRST VICTORY FOR SRT; BOUCHUT AND MAASSEN LEAD OVERALL The second round of the 2008 FIA GT Championship saw victory go to Belgian team SRT, with their Corvette C6-R. Second in qualifying in the wet, triple FIA GT Champion Christophe Bouchut and his team-mate Xavier Maassen, from the Netherlands, took a fine win in Monza today. The conditions finally improved, meaning a dry race when practice and qualifying had been in the wet, giving some problems with set-up for some. However, Bouchut and Maassen put in a fine performance, following pole-man Alex Müller in the Jetalliance Aston Martin in the first stint, then taking the lead after the driver changes and maintaining that position until the end of the race. This first victory for SRT and young rookie Maassen is also Bouchut’s 14th win in the Championship, his eighth overall victory, in four different cars. After Vitaphone finished second in Silverstone with Bertolini and Bartels, it was the turn of the team’s second Maserati MC 12 to claim a podium finish today. Miguel Ramos, already second in Monza in 2007, gave a repeat performance, while newcomer Xandi Negrão put in a fine race to bring the car home in second place. Simonsen and Peter, in the nr 10 Gigawave Aston Martin DBR9, finished third, just as they did in Silverstone. However, the circumstances were quite different, as in the first round they had been defending the lead before the safety car saw them finish third, while today a fine drive saw the duo recover from an early off-track excursion, while fighting in the top group, in order to take the podium. With three different makes in the top three, fourth place was taken by the nr 6 Phoenix Racing Corvette of Gollin and Hezemans; the sister car of Deletraz and Fässler spun out after an incident with the nr 36 Jetalliance Aston Martin, which had started from pole and led for much of the first hour. Bertolini and Bartels were fifth, having suffered a puncture after recovering quickly from their 16th starting position on the grid. The leading Saleen S7R was the PK Carsport car of Kumpen and Longin, who were delighted with the improved performance. Starting right at the back after a first-lap problem in the wet qualifying session, they recovered well to finish sixth. The Larbre Competition Saleen also finished in the points, Vosse and Franchi finishing eighth on a very good day for Belgium. Last year’s Monza winners, Wendlinger and Sharp, started from the back of the grid after a tyre failure in qualifying. They climbed up to fourth after a fine performance, but in the final pit stop, the ECU unit failed and the car would not restart. They lost three minutes, dropping back and finishing 7th. In the points, Bouchut and Maassen are now in the lead, with 15 points. Six drivers are tied on 12 points : Wendlinger/Sharp, Bertolini/Bartels and Peter/Simonsen. In the Teams classification, Vitaphone now have a seven-point lead over Jetalliance.
DOUBLE WIN FOR AF CORSE - GT2 RESULTS PROVISIONAL AFTER PROSPEED EXCLUDED It looked as if it was a perfect day for Belgium today, with Prospeed Competition crossing the line in first position with the nr 61 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of Emmanuel Collard and Richard Westbrook. The Porsche was followed by the two AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT2 cars, Silverstone winners Bruni and Vilander ahead of Biagi and Montanari – the two former GT1 drivers claiming their first podium in GT2. However, the Porsche was later excluded due to a pitlane infringement. The team has appealed and the GT2 results remain provisional pending that appeal. Provisionally, therefore, AF Corse claimed its first double of the year, to increase their lead in the GT2 Teams and Drivers classifications. The nr 62 Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430 GT2 moved up to provisional third to take their first points of the season, followed by the two BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari cars. The two CR Scuderia cars came in sixth and seventh, with Argentine drivers Russo and Perez Companc claiming their first point for Advanced Engineering Pecom Racing Team. BELGIAN RACING WINS G2 The Belgian theme continued in G2, with the nr 101 Gillet Vertigo being the only car in that class to be classified. The nr 111 ARC Bratislava Saleen S7R, which had a big lead in the class, had a fuel problem, while the two Mosler MT900R cars entered by GTO Charouz failed to finish. AT RACING DO THE DOUBLE IN CITATION CUP Austrian team AT Racing claimed its second successive Citation Cup victory today, with Wolfgang Kaufmann and Aliaksandr Talkanitsa finishing 18th overall in the Corvette C5-R. The FIA GT Championship will remain in Italy for the next race, which takes place in Adria on June 21st .
- SRO -
Author: maggy (admin2)
Last modified: Tuesday, 20.05.2008 - 04:01 More reports from this category all copyright automobilsport.com.
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