FIA GT & FIA GT3 - Round 4 & 3 Oschersleben
This weekend the fourth race of the FIA GT championship, as also the third meeting of the FIA GT3 championship were held at the German circuit of Oschersleben, in the vicinity of Berlin. Unfortunately ProSpeed Competition experienced a difficult weekend, with a hard fought fourth place in FIA GT2 as their best result.
The incident during the first FIA GT3 race in which the Porsche 997 GT3 S Cup of David Loix and Stéphane Lémeret was shunted whilst under yellow conditions, caused a fair amount of resentment within the team. ProSpeed Competition is now heading off to Spa-Francorchamps to take part in the official test day for the 24 Hours of Spa. It goes without saying that these 24 Hours of Spa are now the team’s top objective.
For the fourth race of the FIA GT2 championship the FIA GT troops headed off for Oschersleben in the former East Germany. On Saturday Collard-Westbrook and Palttala-
Forsten were provided with two free practice sessions of eighty minutes each, prior to doing battle during a short qualifying session for a place on the grid. Richard Westbrook slotted the Porsche 997 GT3 RS on to sixth place whereas Mikael Forsten clocked up an eleventh spot.
Richard Westbrook: "I had some trouble with oil on the track, but the Porsche appears not to be entirely suited to the Oschersleben circuit. Couldn’t get much more out of it and we’ll need to fight for every meter of tarmac tomorrow during the race."
The Brit took the start and during a tough and excellent stint brought the Porsche up into fourth place, before handing over the drive to Collard. "What our Frenchman then
showed us was an unimaginable level", Rudi Penders continues. "We then experienced a fair amount of bad luck with the intervention of a safety safety-car, who let several cars through, but we were obliged to remain behind the SC, incomprehensible and on top of that we lost out on a possible podium place."
Collard and Westbrook finally finished in fourth place, some five places better than Palttala and Forsten who also drove a good race and who are aiming for a tread on the podium at the 24 Hours of Spa.
For ProSpeed Competition the FIA GT3 championship races were not without a struggle. "During the first race I was literally rammed off the track by a competitor and this during a yellow flag situation", David Loix recounts the first race.
"What happed there is quite purely inadmissible, and the outcome is that the car is once more pretty seriously damaged. We obviously cannot compete in the second race and the team will have their hands full to get everything sorted out. I’m really disappointed."
Rudi Penders and Franz Lamot were therefore on their own and finished with an eighteenth and twenty-seventh place in the two races. "Our main problem is that we don’t seem to excel during the qualifying sessions and as a result end up in the middle of the pack on the grid.
The’re fast enough during the races, and with a be ter place on the starting grid, we should manage a top-15 or even a top-10, but obviously this isn’t an easy assignment in such a competitive field as that of the FIA GT3", an honest Franz Lamot comments. "All that remains for us to do is more testing, something that unfortunately is presently lacking due to our professional commitments."
On Tuesday ProSpeed Competition will be on hand at Spa for the FIA GT-test day.
Results:
FIA GT2
1. Vilander/Bruni Ferrari F430
2. Montanari/Biagi Ferrari F430
3. Kirkaldy/Bell Ferrari F430
4. Collard/Westbrook Porsche 997
...
9. Forsten/Palttala Porsche 997
FIA GT 3
Race 1
1. Pirri/Von Gartzen Ford GT
2. Accary/Mena Aston Martin DBRS9
3. Rich/Thompson Ascari
….
18. Lamot/Penders Porsche 997 GT3 Cup
Loix/Lémeret: dnf
Race 2
1. Skula/Matzke Corvette Z06R GT3
2. Sabatini/De Pasquale Dodge Viper
3. Vannelet/Lunardi Dodge Viper
…
27. Penders/Lamot Porsche 997 GT3 Cup
Loix/Lémeret: dns
-JF Van Laere - also photos
Photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS - FIA GT ... more to come
