FIA GT3, Brno – Race One Report
Corvettes Galore

The first race started after a lengthy delay – to allow track repairs following Giorgio Bartocci’s horrific crash in the Lamborghini Trofeo race that preceded the GT3 race – during which heavy rain fell on part of the circuit, but not all, and left team managers with a significant quandary – slicks or wets?

Philip Geipel sat on pole in the #24 Argo Gallardo after another excellent qualifying performance, and had two Corvettes and a BMW for company on the front two rows.

After an exploratory lap on slicks, it was decision time. Geipel had seen enough to be convinced that wets were the only option, as had Daniel Keilwitz in the #101, and Joakim Lambotte in the #16, Corvettes. Nikolaus Mayer-Melnhof, on the other hand, gambled on slicks in the second-placed BMW Alpina B6; it would not be long, however, before he and Team S-Berg would rue this choice.

After two racing laps behind the safety car, Geipel led the field across the line and the race went green.

As the Argo Lambo reached the first corner, second place had already changed hands; Keilwitz finding his way down the inside of the BMW. Rain was now falling across the whole track and the Alpina appeared to have found reverse gear as he was swamped by his cut-tyred competitors.

But Geipel was to lead for just one lap, as the Callaway Z06 was alongside down the pit straight. The Lambo moved over towards the pit wall, squeezing the Corvette; but Keilwitz kept his nerve and Geipel had to yield.

Elsewhere in the pack, Giacomo Petrobelli and Stephane Lemeret were fighting for sixth, but the Belgian’s experience soon meant that the #6 Phoenix Audi took position from the #87 Chad Ferrari.

Those cars that started on slicks made early stops to change to wets – losing large chunks of time in the process – but several incurred drive-throughs for using two car-jacks instead of one, which didn’t help their cause.

Lambotte was soon into second after selling Geipel a beautiful dummy at Turn 10. The Gallardo latched straight onto the tail of the Corvette, looking for a way to retake the place, but these three cars were already a long way clear of the fourth placed car; 14 seconds being the gap after just seven laps.

Petrobelli was lucky to avoid a collision when he had a spin on lap eight, but rejoined without drama; and the Italian was one of the first to stop when the pit window opened shortly afterwards (the safety car and slow race pace meant that only ten laps had been completed when the window opened.)

Lambotte, however, was the first stopper, from second – three seconds down on Keilwitz – to hand the Graff Corvette over to Mike Parisy. The rain was still (just) falling and there was as yet no sign of slicks being required. But as the stops cycled through until only Keilwitz, Geipel and Lemeret had yet to stop, a dry line began to emerge.   

Before the top two stopped, Parisy had begun to put his foot down and set the fastest lap of the race so far. Keilwitz and Geipel stopped soon after, but Christian Hohenadel appeared to have problems getting away and this allowed the #16 to take the lead; and Albert von Thurn und Taxis was right behind the Callaway car.

Lemeret stopped on the next lap and the Phoenix team looked to have made an inspired tactical decision by taking on slicks – the only car on the drying track to have done so; and Greg Franchi was soon going much faster than anyone else. But a fundamental error had been made – Lemeret had stopped too late and the Audi had to serve a 26-seconds stop and go penalty, which more than negated its advantage. The car recovered to finish tenth, but a potential race win had arguably been thrown away.

And Argo joined Phoenix in the naughty corner when the #24 was awarded a drive-through for changing drivers with the engine running. This would ultimately cost the car a podium finish.

Battles were raging throughout the field during the closing stages of the race, with a four-way fight for seventh between Johannes Stuck, Fred Makowiecki, Charlie Geipel and Diego Alessi being a particular highlight. With nine minutes to go, Alessi in the #87 Ferrari took Geipel’s #25 Lamborghini for ninth, and on the same lap Makowiecki took the #1 Hexis Aston ahead of Stuck’s #33 Black Falcon Audi.

But this was a Corvette race and Parisy was more than comfortable at the head of the field. By the time he saw the chequered flag at the end of lap 25, he had built up a lead  of more than 18 seconds over Hohenadel, with the #18 Corvette of Dino Lunardi a further six seconds back in third; a just reward for Toni Seiler’s fine efforts earlier in the race.

“When I took the car, I tried to push a lot,” said Parisy. “We’ve never driven this car in the wet, so it was very delicate. I pushed a lot. I knew that the other Corvettes were very fast, so I tried to push the steering into the straight line. I saw the other Corvette and continued to push, and after I tried to keep my tyres, because the track was drying. At the end of the race it was very delicate and I think all the cars were on the same level because the tyres were delicate. We didn’t want to come in to change tyres because that would have taken too long, so we had to keep the tyres and drive carefully so as not to destroy the car. At the end of Silverstone, we were very sad, because our car stopped in the last lap, and we were in first position, so we’re very happy with this result.”

Albert von TuT brought the #24 Gallardo home in fourth, while the #17 Corvette of Arnauds Vincent and Peyroles made it four Vettes in the top five. Thomas Accary salvaged Aston Martin pride with sixth in the #2 Hexis DBRS9.

The Porsches were all but invisible in this race, but Siso Cunill had the (scant) consolation of setting fastest lap of the race in the #20 Trackspeed GT3 R after switching back to slicks; but having had to pit early in the race to change to wets, and subsequently picking up a drive-through, 27th place was a bitter disappointment after the car’s great success at Silverstone earlier in the month.

MH