Michael Bartels is leading the Championship coming into Oschersleben, with his team-mate Andrea Bertolini and the crew of the nr 3 SRT Corvette, Bouchut and Maassen. We talked to him before his home race.
Oschersleben has been quite a lucky circuit for you …
"Yes, Vitaphone has been victorious for the last three years in Oschersleben so we’re trying to keep on the same line. It’s our home race, and that always motivates you a bit more. Especially after the first three races when we missed a few opportunities to win a race, both with the nr 1 and the nr 2 cars. I think it’s our time now to win."
It has been a tricky start to the season but you’re leading now…
"There is still plenty of potential left, which we have to use to score points when we can. We mustn’t have little things like a drive through. We should have more points to our account by now, but it could have been worse.
We have not used the full potential of the team, especially with the problems like covering the tyres on the grid. This sort of thing should not happen, because in the end it costs results and points. I think this was now a little wake up call to be 100% fresh and awake for Oschersleben for our home race."
And straight after Oschersleben it’s Spa…
"There, we have to defend another good record for the last three years. Our driver line-ups are quite strong; we should be able to announce them soon."
The Championship is close this year…
"We have eight or ten cars which are really competitive. I noticed that the Saleen has found its speed : I saw good lap times from it in Adria. So I think we can expect strong battles for the podium places, with maybe not only the same cars in the top three. For this, I believe it is the strongest Championship since 2004 when we joined the Championship.
When you look at the points we have two points more than we did at the same place in the season last year. But it doesn’t mean that much, as you cannot afford to miss points. So two points is not a big difference. We are there and we are still following our strategy."
The nr 2 car had a few problems in Adria …
"I think the problems started in the practice session when they had an incident with a Ferrari, for which they got a penalty. They had very strong lap times, despite having 30 kg in the car. This is important for us; it was good to see that Negrao learned to drive the car quickly. The experience he collected in Le Mans was good for him, even if we didn’t finish the race.
He got some more GT1 kilometres in his pocket and that was positive. In the race he did not stay calm enough, he did not wait for his chance to pass the Saleen and then they crashed.
Now they have another penalty for Oschersleben and will have to start five places back. It’s not nice, but they have to work themselves out of this little crisis. They will come to the next round with no penalty weight, and they should be aiming to win, but they will have problems by not starting from the front row. We’ll see. We had a strong debriefing and I hope they come back with a good performance even if they have to start further back. The car is competitive enough to win."
So what are your objectives for Oschersleben ?
"Winning has to be the objective for both cars. We have to push hard to win our first race of the season. Preparations are going on. We have another briefing in the factory to analyse all the troubles and see why we haven’t won yet. We have to put the pressure a little higher.
- Jacquie GROOM, FIA -
photos will be on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - FIA GT
