FIA GT Championship – Oschersleben – Preview
Very Different Points Positions

Going into the fifth round of the Championship, for the eighth visit to Oschersleben (the first was the opening round in 1998, when the Porsche 911 GT1 was expected to win – and ended up winning ‘just’ Le Mans that year), the points positions in the two classes are very different.

GT2 has seen Toni Vilander and Dirk Muller take three wins and a second, and they’re a full 20 points ahead of their team-mates – who have a great clutch of drivers queuing up behind. This lot will all have to hope that the leaders have a very low-scoring Spa.

Meanwhile, GT1 has had four different winners, and 16 drivers can realistically hope to have their name against the title at the end of the year.

Oschersleben perhaps doesn’t having the drawing power of Monza, and the entry is a solid 24, rather than a buoyant 30 – but all the serious runners are present.

Jean-Denis Deletraz' description of the circuit is very easy to read, even for non French speakers: "Le circuit de Oschersleben est à l’opposé de celui de Monza, c’est un petit circuit, très sinueux, construit dans un stadium. Superbe pour les spectateurs."

“It’ll be a tall order (to win) because of the equality of the field,” says Monza winner Karl Wendlinger. “But we’ll arrive in Germany well-prepared. That’s why I see no reason why we shouldn’t be competitive again this time. Our main goal has to be to protect our great position in the championship race.”

The #33 JetAlliance Aston Martin took pole comfortably at Monza, and looked comfortable in the race – and now there are mutterings that perhaps DBR9 entrants using the latest evolution of the V12 engine shouldn’t also benefit from the larger restrictors that fell Aston Martin teams’ way just after the start of the season. Change (back) due before Spa?

Oschersleben is tight and twisty, so perhaps ballast will be more significant than power / restrictors? 50 kg for the #2 Vitaphone Maserati and 40 for the Monza winners are the heaviest loads in GT1, while Vilander and Muller also carry 50 kg in GT2, with the same additional figure (28 kg - but for different reasons) as the MC12s.

The Lamborghinis and Corvettes might be just the tools to have this weekend, none of them carrying a great deal of ballast (if any).

The ADAC GT Masters and European GT4s are involved on all three days of the meeting, but as usual it’s a two day affair for the GT1s and 2s. Who, in GT1 particularly, will give themselves a Spa boost with a high score in Germany?

GT1 Driver Points
1 Thomas Biagi 3 10 3 5 21
2 Anthony Kumpen 6 6 4 4 20
Bert Longin 6 6 4 4 20
Karl Wendlinger 5 5 10 20
Ryan Sharp 5 5 10 20
3 Miguel Ramos 2 3 6 8 19
Christian Montanari 2 3 6 8 19
4 Jean-Denis Deletraz 4 8 6 18
Mike Hezemans 4 8 6 18
Christophe Bouchut 10 8 18
Stefan Mücke 10 8 18
5 Andrea Bertolini 4 10 1 15
Andrea Piccini 4 10 1 15
6 Fabio Babini 5 2 2 3 12
Jamie Davies 5 2 2 3 12
7 Mika Salo 10 10

GT2 Driver Points
1 Toni Vilander 10 10 10 8 38
Dirk Müller 10 10 10 8 38
2 Gianmaria Bruni 8 10 18
Stephane Ortelli 8 10 18
3 Tim Mullen 6 4 4 2 16
4 Emanuele Busnelli 5 5 5 15
Marcello Zani 5 5 5 15
5 Paolo Ruberti 8 6 14
Damien Pasini 8 6 14
6 Matteo Cressoni 6 3 4 13
Michele Rugolo 6 3 4 13
Emmanuel Collard 5 8 13
Matteo Malucelli 5 8 13
7 Andrew Kirkaldy 4 4 4 12
8 Leo Machitski 3 3 3 9
Sean Edwards 3 3 3 9
9 Tomas Enge 6 2 8
10 Chris Niarchos 4 2 6