FIA GT3 European Championship

Monza - Race One

Reigning British GT champions Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis avoided the mayhem in the early laps of the first GT3 race at Monza to take victory in the #21 Matech Ford GT,  having taken the lead with nine laps remaining; in the process giving the team and marque three victories out of three for the 2008 season.

To begin with, the track was no more than damp; but just how difficult conditions actually were was illustrated by the sight of the No.1 Martini Callaway Corvette spinning on the green flag lap, while still behind the safety car. Once the race got under way the #28 Marc Sourd Corvette and the #36 Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S of David Loix and Stéphane Lemeret quickly pulled away from the chasing pack. On lap two the #19 Matech Ford GT of Luca Pirri span out of a top-six position at the first Lesmo curve, while two other cars also spun.

Johan Charpilienne, in the Corvette, then started to open up a lead as the Porsche fell back towards Alex Mortimer in the #21 Ford GT, who himself had Ian Khan in the #20 Matech Ford close on his tail. By lap eight the two Fords were nose to tail behind the Porsche, and Loix was obviously on the limit, coming close to cutting both first and second chicanes. Coming out of the Ascari chicane Ian Khan, in the No.20 Ford, made a bold move around the outside of the two cars ahead. It almost worked – but he ran slightly too wide, bouncing back across the track and taking the Porsche hard into the barriers. Loix was out on the spot, while Silverstone double-winner Khan limped down towards Parabolica before pulling off.

This incident brought out the safety car and that removed the handy lead that the Corvette had established over the #21 Ford GT. Dimitris Deverikos was now third in the  #47 Tech 9 Lamborghini. The safety car stayed out for two laps and came in just as the pit-stop window opened; 14 cars immediately heading for the pits. Both the #21 and #47 cars came in, along with the #43 La Torre Motorsport Dodge Viper Competition Coupe of reigning champion Gilles Vannelet. Unfortunately, the Dodge was overheating and the car didn’t go out again.

The cars at the head of the field stayed out another five laps, and came in just before the pit-stop window closed. Marc Sourd took over the wheel of the #28 Corvette and came out in the lead; but Bradley Ellis had had five laps to get up to speed and quickly closed right up. He tracked the Corvette for two laps, before pulled alongside as the two headed down the main straight at the end of lap 20. As they crossed the finish line, the gap between the two was given as 0.000sec! The Ford took the lead into the first chicane and then eased away; Ellis controlling the gap to the end of the race.

Behind the Corvette, the #47 Tech 9 Lamborghini, now in the hands of Christopher Haase (a busy man this weekend, as he was also racing in the three GT4 races), was suffering brake pressure problems, allowing the #1 Martini Callaway Corvette of James Ruffier to close the gap; but he hung on and took the final podium place by just 0.12s. The #29 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero 8 GT3 of Gael Lesoudier and Johan-Boris Scheier took a remarkable fifth, having started from the pit-lane. Sixth went to the #8 Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Pierre-Brice Mena and Thomas Accary, while the #22 Matech Mustang Racing Ford Mustang FR500 GT of Eric De Doncker and Scott Maxwell took a fine seventh, having qualified 24th.

More than four hours after the race finished, the stewards decreed that the #28 Marc Sourd Racing Corvette should be excluded from the results, having discovered that the car had raced on tyres which had been marked for Sunday’s race. That decision moved everyone up by one position, but had little effect on the standings in the Drivers’ Championship. Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch still led after their double victory at Silverstone, while Arnaud Peyroles and James Ruffier moved up to second, ahead of David Loix and Mikael Forsten in third and Bradley Ellis in fourth.

Alex Mortimer; “I only did 12 laps in the car in the dry yesterday, so going out on slicks in damp conditions was interesting. The car was fantastic; I started off fairly gently, just to be sure I didn’t make any mistakes. I caught the Porsche for second place, and then there was the incident involving the Porsche and our sister car. That brought out the safety car, and that was pretty much the end of my race – I brought it in and handed over to Bradley. It’s great to be back – we didn’t think we would be able to do this year, but thanks to the help of Matech and the sponsors, we get to drive the Ford GT – it’s excellent.”

Bradley Ellis; “I managed to catch the Corvette as he came out of the pits; I sat behind him, as I could see he was pushing hard, so I could pick the right place to overtake him. As soon as I was past, I got a little gap and controlled the race from there; if he got too close, I speeded up a bit. Comparing the Ford GT to the Dodge Viper we drove last year, they are both easy cars to drive, although we struggled a bit for pace with the Viper last year. I’m really glad we secured the deal to race the Ford GT.

Johan Charpilienne; “I had a good race; it was unfortunate that the safety car meant we lost the gap we had pulled out. We did a good job – I wasn’t supposed to be here this weekend, until Marc got me into the car. I’m very happy with how my first race with Marc has turned out – but we will try to do better tomorrow.”

Marc Sourd; “I had a very good driver with me! I’m very happy, because this was only the second race for the team. Without the safety car, I think we would have had a great chance of winning the race. We’re hoping for better conditions tomorrow – and better luck.”

Dimitris Deverikos; “I enjoyed my debut in the 2008 FIA GT3 European Championship – the car is perfect in the wet. In the dry, it’s not so fast compared to the competition, especially the Ford GT. I want to say thank you to the Tech 9 team – they did a great job on the car – and to Christopher. We had a great race. I’m just hoping for a wet race tomorrow”

Christopher Haase; “The car was very good, very consistent – I was able to do consistent lap times. Thanks to the good work of the Tech 9 team we had a good pit-stop, and managed to hold on to third place. In the last six laps I had a problem with brake pressure, so I had to back off – that allowed the Corvette to catch up, but I held on to third to the chequered flag.”

Gaël Lesoudier;  “We made a mistake with our tyre choice, so we had to start the race from the pit-lane, after everyone had gone past. It was very difficult at the beginning of the race on new tyres, but we pushed hard and finished fifth. It’s a surprising result, having started dead last – but we have a good car, the set-up was good, and if it’s a dry race tomorrow, I think it will be good for us. Who knows – perhaps if we had got the tyres right, we might have been on the podium.”