Thomas Biagi race report Racing series FIA-GT Date 2009-05-03 One point worth a victory
Silverstone (UK), May 3rd 2009 - "This point is worth a victory". This is Thomas Biagi first remark while he was stepping down smiling from his FORD GT40 at the end of the first lap of this FIA GT Championship. Happy for his eight place during the race and for hitting the first step of the podium of the so called "future car" vehicles, already compliant with next 2010 Regulation.
"I'm very much satisfied of the result got today, considering that our Ford GT40 is penalized by next regulation compliance compared to current GT1 cars and I'm also satisfied because this is the very first time I drive it in Silverstone!
I'm very pleased of the congratulations I got from Matech Concept Racing Team for the job done during this weekend. Our team has strong capabilities that need to be expressed. I will try to use all my experience in order to strenghten the reason why the Team wanted me.
Sincerely, I was not expecting to step on the podium and the fact of arriving before official Nissan makes us proud. At the moment we are well balanced in slow bends and it makes me optimistic for a further short step forward for Adria, a racetrack I feel confortable with. Don't miss the next date on May 16th for the second round of FIA GT...".
FIA-GT - Potrero de los Funes - 2008 - Argentina. New excellent circuit and quite an interesting race under the sun (very hot day).
Vitaphone duo take title in crazy race By Matt Beer Sunday, November 23rd 2008, 18:26 GMT
Andrea Bertolini, Maserati's Herbert Wester, and Michael Bartels on the San Luis podiumPK Saleen duo Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen ended a miserable season on a high by taking a shock win in the dramatic FIA GT Championship finale in Argentina, as Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini clinched the drivers' title in fifth place.
Fabrizio Gollin and Mike Hezemans (Phoenix Corvette) finished a close second, but their title hopes depended on Vitaphone Maserati duo Bartels and Bertolini finishing outside the top six.
In the event their conservative fifth made Bartels and Bertolini champions for a second time, and gave the team their third straight drivers' crown.
Marcel Fassler and Ricardo Risatti had looked set to take a dominant win for Phoenix at the breathtaking new San Luis track, only for Fassler to crash out of the lead with just 22 minutes remaining - having controlled most of the race.
Pole-winner Fassler was beaten away by Larbre Saleen's Frederic Makowiecki at the start, with the Frenchman - in only his second FIA GT1 appearance and his first since Dubai 2006 - fending off Fassler's pressure over the opening laps before briefly pulling out a three-second lead.
But as the first stops approached, the Corvette calmly closed back onto the Saleen's tail, with Fassler slicing ahead on lap 18.
Mackowiecki stayed in touch, only for his co-driver Roland Berville to end Larbre's hopes of victory when he hit the wall on the first lap of his stint.
That left Fassler and Risatti with an enormous lead over their teammates Gollin and Hezemans, who had moved up from an early sixth place thanks to good pit work and other teams' problems. They lost second to Kumpen's PK Saleen just before the final stops, but Hezemans was able to re-pass Kumpen's co-driver Longin early in the final stint.
That pass turned out to be for the race lead, as at the same moment Fassler ran wide at the final corner and clouted the wall, costing him and Risatti a comfortable win.
Hezemans therefore picked up the lead, but could not shake off Longin, who slipped back ahead with eight minutes to go and subsequently resisted huge pressure from the Dutchman to claim the victory.
The race then came to a bizarre end when the two leaders tangled amid traffic on the slowing down lap, with the victorious PK Saleen sustaining broken suspension and spinning into the wall. The stewards are investigating both drivers' actions.
With the second Vitaphone Maserati retiring after Alexandre Negrao hit the wall avoiding a GT2 car, Maxime Soulet and Christian Ledesma came through from the back of the grid - having lost their qualifying times due to a tyre infringement - to complete the podium for SRT Corvette.
Fellow back row starters Jose Maria Lopez and Esteban Tuero took fourth. Lopez tore through the field in the ageing ACA Argentina Ferrari in the first stint, getting as high as third before losing time with a slow pit stop.
Local duo Matias Russo and Luis Perez Companc (Advanced Engineering Ferrari, see photo) took a popular home win in GT2, but only after the AF Corse Ferrari slowed dramatically in the flying laps.
Until then, GT2 champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander had appeared to be on course to take class victory from the back of the grid following Vilander's qualifying crash. Pole-sitter Russo had pulled away early on, but his co-driver Companc lost the lead to the flying Vilander just before half-distance, only for the AF Corse car's huge lead to disappear in the final moments, allowing Russo and Companc to take the win after all.
Christian Montanari and Thomas Biagi completed the podium in the second AF Corse Ferrari, while Emmanuel Collard and Richard Westbrook's Prospeed Porsche was an early retirement.
A close and exciting race around the 4.006 km Zolder circuit today saw Vitaphone Racing Team’s nr 1 Maserati MC 12 of Bartels and Bertolini claim victory; along with a points finish for the nr 2 car, the team has now clinched its fourth consecutive GT1 Teams title. Coming out ahead after a lighting final pit stop, they finished ahead of their only remaining title rivals, Phoenix Carsport’s duo of Mike Hezemans and Fabrizio Gollin, and the Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 of Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp. Three different manufacturers finished in the top three, separated by just over 10 seconds.
In GT2, newly crowned Champions Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni celebrated in style with their fifth win of the season in the nr 50 AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT2. BMS Scuderia Italia drivers Malucelli and Ruberti strengthened their second position in the Championship with second, while the nr 60 Prospeed Competition Porsche claimed its first podium of the season for their home race.
Results remain provisional subject to sporting and technical scrutineering.
ACA Argentina Ferrari 550 Maranello: Esteban Tuero, Martin Basso
FIA-GT race at Brno, Check Republic. Here I edited the video to show the best I could find of quite a boring race. You'll see quite a lot of both Ferraris of the Argentine teams.
FIA-GT Second Race in the streets of Bucharest, Romania. Spectacular racetrack within the city. Again a Corvette comes in first in the GT1. See race summary and Standings
