FIA GT3, Brno – Race Two Report
Graff Profits From Chad’s Misery In stark contrast to the previous day’s race, it was dry and sunny – if not particularly warm – as the FIA GT3 field set off on the formation lap for Sunday’s one-hour encounter. Diego Alessi sat at the head of the pack in the #87 Chad Racing Ferrari Scuderia, having taken pole quite commandingly the previous day, and it was the Italian in the Italian car that reached the first turn in the lead when the lights went out. But while he had begun the first lap with Christian Hohenadel on his shoulder, Alessi found that it was a different Corvette in his mirrors; Mike Parisy having assumed second in the #16 Graff Racing Z06 as the Callaway car plummeted down to fifth almost immediately. "I think I slept a bit at the start," admitted the German later. But the first lap was still some way off being completed when the ‘SC’ boards were being displayed and the field’s pace was once again being regulated. This followed a shunt mid-pack at the first corner, when Christoffer Nygaard’s Ford GT was squeezed to the inside of the track by two other cars and sent back across the tarmac where he collected Kevin Estre’s #12 Muehlner Porsche with some force; both cars ending up in the gravel with race-ending damage. The safety car was out for three laps as the cars were recovered, eating up ten minutes of race time, but it was again Alessi who got the best start when the Nissan GTR switched off its lights and headed for the pitlane. This time the field was strung out and thus there was no recurrence of the bunching that led to the incident at the first start. Hohenadel’s day wasn’t getting any better as he slipped a further two places down the field as the Porsches of Marco Holzer and Joe Osborne went by – although this time his car was not running well – while Parisy was coming under pressure from Fred Makowiecki’s #1 Hexis Aston for second. Further round the lap, however, the DBRS9 ran wide and Martin Matzke reclaimed third in the #9 S-Berg BMW Alpina. Before long the field began to fragment into several distinct battles. Alessi and Parisy’s duel began to break away from the green Beemer, which had the Aston and the two Porsches right behind it. There was then a gap of two or three seconds before a further line of cars led by Hohenadel. And within this fight was an entertaining tussle for ninth between the #5 Sainteloc-Phoenix Audi of Bruce Lorgere-Roux, the Argo Gallardo of Albert von Thurn und Taxis, and the Corvette of Dino Lunardi; a fight that was to last until the pitstop window opened, but with no change of position despite several attempts. The fight for the lead was similarly intense, with Parisy’s Corvette almost literally pushing the Ferrari around the track at times; and the gap between the two rarely exceeded a third of a second. Alessi was driving very well, and kept the lead even though the Corvette gave the distinct impression of being the quicker car. The #101 Corvette began to lose more places on lap eight – before long down to 17th – and at this point looked to be in serious trouble, and Hohenadel was one of the first stoppers when the pit window opened on lap ten. A continuous line of cars from seventh to 19th had now formed on track, with Thomas Accary’s #2 Hexis Aston at the tail of it. His car had narrowly avoided being taken out in the opening lap shunt but had lost a lot of ground in the melee, but now he appeared to be recovering. On lap nine he took the #88 Chad car of Charlie Hollings, but on the next lap he overcooked it and sailed across the gravel at Turn 7 and rejoined plum last. As Philip Geipel readied himself in the pitlane to take over the #24 Lamborghini, out on track his younger brother Charlie was making headway in the yellow and black sister car by taking 11th from the Schubert Z4 of Edward Sandstrom. Albert Thundertaxi, meanwhile, was in for his stop at the first opportunity. As the pitstop-cycle began in earnest, there was no let-up at the front of the pack. The two leaders were still at it hammer and tongs but Makowiecki had finally got the better of Matzke after a perfectly executed move at Turn 1 on lap 11. Once by, the rapid French driver started to close the gap to the Graff Corvette. With the Argo Lamborghini now out of the equation, Lunardi was now all over the Audi of Lorgere-Roux but being resisted firmly; that is until the start of lap 13 when eighth changed hands following a textbook move at T1. His next overtaking manoeuvre was much more dramatic, however, with the yellow Z06 having to go the long way round the outside of the 180 degree first corner on the next lap when Markus Paltalla decided that he wasn’t going to give up seventh without a fight. Lunardi kept his nerve – and his foot on the gas – and he found the inside at T3 to move up another place. Joe Osborne was enjoying his tussle with Holzer for fifth place and on several occasions had had a serious look down the inside of the #61, but on lap 13 he headed for the pits still in sixth. One lap later the five lead cars all came in en masse, just a few seconds before the pit window closed. The Chad Ferrari Scuderia was the first away again and it looked to have had an excellent stop as Giacomo Petrobelli trundled down the pitlane on the limiter several seconds before any of the others came out. The #16 was still second in the hands of Joakim Lambotte, but the #1 Aston of Manuel Rodrigues was right with him as they left the pits. The Portuguese had an early look at taking second from the Frenchman but couldn’t make it stick; and he himself soon lost third to Gilles Vannelet’s #11 Muehlner Porsche, which had managed to get past the #9 Alpina of Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof during the driver-changes. But disaster was about to strike the Porsche as a five-second stop/go penalty was awarded for leaving the pits too early by the same margin. This would drop the GT3 R to 15th and it would ultimately finish just one place better than that. With a third of the race remaining, the order was 87, 16, 11, 9, 1, 24, 61, 60, 18, 101, 25, 6, 76, 20, 77, 17, 88, 5, 3, 98, 22, 100, 23, 2, 21 and 33. Philip Geipel had got down to business straight away in the #24 Gallardo and had already set a 2:02.452 – just nine-thousandths slower than Parisy’s best – and was up to sixth by the time the driver changes were completed. This became fifth when Vannelet took his penalty on lap 17, and fourth when he caught and passed Rodrigues on lap 18. Petrobelli had been driving quickly and consistently in the lead car and was holding a six seconds lead over Lambotte on lap 17; but his and Chad’s world was about to come crashing down as the car was issued not one but two stop/go penalties. The first was for leaving the pits four-seconds too soon and the second was for making the driver-change in the fast lane. [Update - the second stop/go was not for making the driver change in the fast lane - this took place correctly - but for the car stopping in the fast lane at the end of the pitlane after the Chad engineer realised that he had made a mistake. Ed.] The unfortunate Italian took his penalties on laps 19 and 20 and would have to settle for 15th at the end of the race. This gifted the lead to Lambotte and he had pulled out a healthy advantage over the Alpina by this stage. Mayr-Melnhof now had Geipel for company, but was not going to yield without a fight. He resisted impressively for several laps before the Lamborghini pedaller found the perfect exit from the final corner on lap 22 and was alongside down the main straight; the #24 nipping down the inside at T1 to take position. But the fight had allowed the fourth-placed car to almost catch up; and this, quite remarkably, was the same #101 Corvette that had dropped way out of contention while in Christian Hohenadel’s hands. Whatever the Callaway mechanics had done at the stop had worked because the car was now flying in the hands of Daniel Keilwitz; and just one lap later the Alpina lost third to an almost identical move to Geipel’s. The racing was not confined to the front of the race, however, and the action was just as close in the mid-pack. The fight for ninth place had been going on for several laps and involved some fierce action between the #25 Lambo of Giorgio Sanna, the #6 Audi of Stephane Lemeret, the #76 Z4 of Patrick Soderlund and the #20 Porsche of Phil Keen. The BMW managed to depose the Phoenix R8 on lap 25 but was unable to find a way past the Argo car; while Phil Keen’s strenuous effort to pass Lemeret saw the Trackspeed car fall just 0.084s short at the flag. But Lambotte was in control at the front and he was unconcerned with Geipel’s progress, and the Graff racing Corvette took its second win of the weekend by more than four seconds from the Lamborghini. Keilwitz’s remarkable recovery drive was rewarded with the final podium slot, a further four seconds back. Mike Parisy; “We are very happy. I did a really good start. I overtook Fred Makowiecki on the exterior of the track. Afterward I was really faster than Diego Alessi, but my engine couldn’t pass the Ferrari. So I tried to keep my tyres for Joakim, and to give him the road to victory. So I tried to work for the team. The engine of the Ferrari is faster than we are, so I tried to open my line to pass him, but it was impossible, because he didn’t make any mistakes. I kept my tyres in good condition for Joakim.” Joakim Lambotte; “First of all, it feels good to be back here. When I came out of the pits, I saw the Ferrari, but he was quite far away, but I was closing in on him and I heard he would have a penalty. So I just controlled my race. I had 11 seconds on the car behind me. My only focus was to bring the car in one piece to the finish line. I’m very happy. I have to congratulate Mike, he made this a super weekend. I’m very proud to be his team mate. I’ve never been to Jarama, it’s going to be another new track; every track I’ve been to so far this year have been new for me. I think we’re doing okay, and I’m very happy.” Albert von Thurn und Taxis; “I’m extremely happy. We started from 14th, so the result is very satisfying. I’m very happy. The start was pretty good and I had an Audi in front of me, which was hard to overtake, and I didn’t succeed because I had pressure behind me, so I wasn’t able to take any risks. I drove in that groove until the end of my stint. When we changed drivers, Philip was able to drive freely for a couple of laps, which he did very well. He did some incredibly nice lap times. He was able to gain a lot of time, and we won a lot of time when the others went for their pit stops, thanks to Philip’s fantastic driving. The new Gallardo is vastly superior to last year’s car. The motor has a lot more torque and bit more horsepower as well, the chassis’s a bit different as well. The car is superior to last year’s car in many respects. ” Philip Geipel; “It was perfect. We had a perfect pitstop. I was able to drive four laps and drive as freely as I could. I didn’t overtake any cars during these four laps, but when they had their pitstop, we jumped four places ahead, so it was perfect. I think I might have pushed a little bit too hard during these laps, which cost me the end of the race; I had a lot of under-steer during the last ten minutes of the race. It made it really difficult to stay ahead of Keilwitz and Hohnadel.” Christian Hohenadel; “After the safety car, we had problems with the engine. I think I lost a few cylinders. We tried to stay on the track, I tried my best to keep the speed and wait til the pit window was open. When I came in, I informed my team of the problem and they changed it immediately. Daniel did a very good job to come up from nearly the last position up to third. I think it’s a very good result for us and him, and all honour goes to Daniel today.” Daniel Keilwitz; “I saw that we had problems on the tv. We decided to make an early driver change, and then I knew I had to push as hard as I could, taking a few risks to drive as fast as I could. I didn’t believe we could make it to the podium. The team told me that if I pushed that hard, we could make it. So I pushed for the whole race. I think this is good for us. I’m very happy that we’re leading now, but it’s very close, only a point ahead of Philip Geipel. I hope we’ll be on the podium in the future and get points at every race. We’ll see what’ll happen.” The top six was rounded out by the Alpina, the #1 Hexis Aston and the #60 Prospeed Porsche of Paul van Splunteren. Once again the GT3 field had put on a great show. Next stop Jarama. Leading championship positions after four rounds: 1 Daniel Keilwitz, Christian Hohenadel 58
2 Philip Geipel 57
3 Mike Parisy, Joakim Lambotte 50
4 Jose Luis Cunill, Tim Bergmeister 40
5 Toni Seiler, Dino Lunardi 39
6 Albert von Thurn und Taxi 36
7 Manuel Rodrigues, Frederic Makowiecki 34
8 Ellen Lohr 27
9 Csaba Walter, Claudia Huertgen 18
10 Thomas Accary, Diego Alessi, Luc Paillard, Giacomo Petrobelli 14 MH | 
