FIA GT1, Spa - Qualifying Race Report

With no live TV coverage, or even a web feed, of the 60 minute FIA GT1 Qualifying race this afternoon an already difficult to explain and follow qualifying process became even more opaque.

It was a fine run and a fine win for the #11 Mad Croc corvette of Xavier Maasen and Jos Menten, the team's first race win of the season and whilst the second placed #25 Reiter Lamborghini of Frank Kechele and Ricardo Zonta chased hard the Vette ran out the winner, proving to be the more balanced package over the race distance.

Mike Hezemans marked his return to the Phoenix Carsport team with third place alongside Marc Hennerici, the #13 car though stopped out on the circuit on the slowing down lap, the engine cutting out despite full fuel pressure.

The #38 All Inkl Lamborghini started the race second on the grid but lost that slot as Menten took the slot into La Source on lap One and lost third as Stefan Mucke muscled by through Les Combes, Schwager though rejoined after a trip across the grass but a tardy pit stop by the team put Nicky Pastorelli out of points contention (points only awarded for positions 1-3 in the Qually race).

The start saw trouble for The #12 Madcroc Vette of Pertti Kuismanen and the #22 Sumo Power Nissan of Jamie Campbell-Walter as both were delayed after a fumbled move up the inside from Michael Bartels.  The Vette continued but would finish well down, the Nissan lost a lap with a subsequent puncture but the two innocent parties at least finished the race, the Maserati pitted and retired soon afterwards.

That incident though led to a rather fumbled Safety Car call, the timing screens flashing up that the SC had been scrambled but then, as the teams informed their drivers and several runners visibly lifted off, the instruction was withdrawn and racing continued (with some confusion!)

There were encouraging FIA GT1 debuts from both Richard Westbrook, who brought the #5 Matech Ford up through the middle order in the second stint and Nico Verdonck who helped Bert longin to fifth in the #34 Triple H Maserati.

There was trouble though for Romain Grosjean who spun into the wall at the Bus Stop close to the finish of the race.

One minor oddity was that the official result lists the winners time as 59:59.576 - short (just) of the one hour race distance.  The flag was shown though and the result will stand.

Jos Menten, Mad-Croc Corvette #11

“At the start, I was worried that I wouldn’t see the start lights, because I’m in Xavier’s seat, so I’m a little bit higher in, so I asked my engineer to tell me when it was green. I saw the green, so that was lucky for me. (Dominik) Schwager made it a bit difficult, I had to fight for the first corner, but that was okay.

"After Eau Rouge, I looked in the display in my mirror, and I saw I had a little gap, and I was a happy in my car for a bit. At the end of the lap, my engineer called 'Safety Car', before the Bus Stop chicane, so I lifted off a bit, because I was thinking that the car would come on, but there were no flag posts or anything. I was a bit angry at myself for listening to him, but I put the throttle back on and went away. I knew I had to push for the whole 30 mins to stay in first, because I know what Frank Kechele is capable of. We had some problems with the tyres, a little bit of oversteer, but I think most people had that.”

Xavier Maassen, Mad-Croc Corvette #11

“It was a great race. We made a good pit stop. We had an awesome car in the beginning. I struggled a bit with low tyre pressure, and I saw Ricardo (Zonta) coming quite close; it was a bit up and down. I needed to increase the gap, and we had the ability to do it, which was good.

"The car seemed to be running fine. We had a good car all through the race, except for the last couple of laps, with the understeer and oversteer, because of the high tyre degradation here. But we managed to do well and we’ve now officially qualified on pole for a Championship Race, which is good. We’ll still have a job to do tomorrow. We’re going tolook at the data to see if we can improve a bit for tomorrow, and from there we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Frank Kechele, Reiter Lamborghini #25

“I got a really good start and I saw them (Menten and Schwager) fighting going to the outside and thought I could be the lucky third one to catch them on the inside, but Jos was clever enough to close the inside again, and I was happy with P2. The car went really well; I was a bit careful in the first laps, because last time the tyres dropped quite a lot, but the teams did a great job on the setup to get the car over the distance and it went really well.

"Towards the end, I even managed to close in on Jos again. We thought we might be able to take them in the pitstop, but we came out just behind them. Ricardo (Zonta) did a great job closing in on them again, but there was no need to push to hard; the big race is tomorrow. I think we’re ready to attack.”

Ricardo Zonta, Reiter Lamborghini #25

“The first part of the race was very difficult and Frank did a good job. When I took the car, I tried to catch the car in front and I pushed at the start to get closer and closer, but I saw that there was no way to get there. I’m very happy with second. I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

Marc Hennerici, Phoenix Racing Corvette #13

“We are really happy because I’m still third place in the championship, so I need the points. The other Corvette was much quicker, so we have a lot to think about, what might be wrong with the car. It was a great race, but the start was really bad for me, because the left side braked so late that I lost two places; I could pass Bas Leinders, but when I was behind (Stefan) Mücke, I could close the gap, but I lost so much downforce in the corners, I didn’t expect this massive effect in a GT car, but there was no chance of passing. Despite the fact that I come from close by the Nurburgring this is my favourite track though.”

Mike Hezeman, Phoenix Racing Corvette #13

"I have to say that when you are spending 25 million Euros for a season it's just not good enough not to have these races televised.

“It was a good race, but the other Corvette was quicker. I drove there, I know their setup, which we’ll try tomorrow in warm-up. We’ll see tomorrow. Apart from the problem with the car on the slow down lap, the race was fine. But I always seem to be in the wrong car!"