NEWS

FIA GT3: Corvette finishes 1st and 3rd in Race 2 at Brno

Written by: Planetlemans-Marcel Ten Caat

Graff Racing’s Mike Parisy and Joakim Lambotte took their second win of the weekend at Brno this afternoon. Having started race four of the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship from the second row, a strong race of the two French drivers was rewarded with a deserved win.

Right after the start of the race Christoffer Nygaard and Kevin Estre collided at turn 1, both the Ford GT and the Porsche ended their race in
the gravel trap, the Porsche showing significant damage to the front section as well as right rear wheel. Behind them Thomas Accary escaped being hit, but a detour via the grass meant he dropped to the back of the pack.

As a result of the crash the safety car was deployed. With 47 minutes left it returned to the pit and the race was restarted. Chad Racing’s Diego Alessi led in front of Mike Parisy and Frederic Makowiecki. But the Aston driver loses speed after running wide and Matzke in the S-berg BMW Alpina moves into third place. Coming into turn 2 Johannes Stück spun into gravel and was stuck, causing a local yellow.

At the front Parisy closed in on Alessi and after 7 laps the gap was just three tenths of a second, with Parisy looking for a place to pass the Italian. Two laps later he was still behind the Ferrari though.

Thomas Accary’s race got even worse when the Hexis driver spun off into the gravel trap on his tenth lap. Accary was able to rejoin, but had again lost a lot of places. He decided to pit straight away.

Parisy meanwhile kept his Corvette on track and was still chasing Alessi. Behind the two fighting cars it was Frederic Makowiecki who had regained his third place and was lapping quicker than Parisy and Alessi. After 11 laps Makowiecki was still five seconds behind them, two laps later the gap was just three seconds.

After 14 laps were completed Parisy, Alessi and Makowiecki all came in for their mandatory stop and driver change. Parisy was just 1 second ahead of Alessi and another second ahead of Makowiecki. A very quick pit stop meant that the Chad Racing car was back on the track in first place again (for the moment), while Rodrigues was literally on the bumper of Lambotte’s Corvette. But during the lap Rodrigues suddenly lost speed and the Corvette was able to get away, moments later the #11 Muhlner Porsche of Vannelet also passed the Hexis Aston Martin DBRS9.

Vannelet was then handed a five second stop and go penalty for violation of the pit stop procedure. The French driver took his penalty with just nineteen minutes left in the race. Just when Vannelet was in the race director announced a penalty for the leading Chad Racing Ferrari, the #87 also in violation of the pit stop procedure, explaining the quick stop. Petrobelli came in for his stop and go with fifteen minutes left. Moments after Petrobelli was back on track he was told he had to come in again for a drive through, as his teammate had stopped the car in the fast lane during his regular pit stop.

After the two cars had been in for their penalties it was the #16 Graff Racing Corvette Z06R GT3 of Joakim Lambotte in the lead, now almost eight seconds ahead of the second placed #9 Team S-Berg Racing BMW Alpina and nine seconds ahead of the #24 Argo Racing Lamborghini Gallardo, which was reeling in the #9.

Down the field Claudia Hürtgen and Csaba Walter had a terrible race as well. Before the pit stops Hürtgen spun the car and after the pit stop Walter first spun and was then given a stop and go. The #33 Black Falcon Audi R8 LMS was the next car to be given a stop and go penalty. And with just under 9 minutes left the #88 Chad Racing completed a rather bad day for the team by spinning into the gravel at turn 8.

Lambotte had no problems and with just 6 minutes remaining in the second race of the weekend he was almost 12 seconds ahead of the two cars behind him, which were in a big fight for P 2. At the end of the straight Geipel managed to pass Mayr-Meinhof and the Argo Lamborghini went into second position. Mayr-Meinhof was immediately under attack again, this time by the #101 Callaway Competition Corvette of Daniel Keilwitz and exactly one lap later Keilwitz moved into third place.

After 27 laps Lambotte crossed the line in first place, taking the second victory of the weekend. Geipel finished in second place, 4.687 seconds behind Lambotte, while Keilwitz followed at 8.491 seconds from the race winner.