In difficult racing conditions Phoenix Racing's Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies brought their Audi R8 home in 4th place to claim the 2009 FIA GT3 European Drivers Championship.  When rain fell just before the pitstop window the safety car was deployed as cars started to slide off the track.  In the confusion of the pitstops and technical problems caused by a power outage the nr 8 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Stefano Gattuso and Lorenzo Bontempelli stormed through from 13th on the grid to take the first win for a Ferrari this season.  Csaba Walter also brought the Alpina BMW Alpina B6 home in 2nd place to claim his and Claudia Huertgen's first podium, with the final podium slot going to the nr2 Matech GT Racing Ford GT of Eric de Doncker and Christian Mamerow.  However the day belonged to Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies, with the two young German's celebrating into the evening with their Phoenix Racing Team. Julien Rodrigues and Thomas Accary finished the season on equal points with Nicolas Armindo and Cesar Campanico but the French duo claimed the Vice Champions position thanks to their victory in Germany.

Round 12 Race Report

Frederic Makowiecki led the FIA GT3 grid away from pole position for the third time in 2009 and the French driver got the perfect start to get to the first corner in the lead.  However Maxime Martin in the nr101 AutoGT Racing Morgan didn’t do so well from the front row and lost two places on the opening lap, passed by Claudia Hürtgen (nr 24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3) and Markus Palttala (nr 18 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S).  At the first corner Florian Gruber challenged Hürtgen in the nr 28 Fischer Racing Ford GT on the outside but couldn’t make the move stick and ended the lap down in 5th behind Martin’s Morgan.  Futher back down the grid Thomas Mutsch was on the move in the nr1 Matech GT Racing Ford GT from 10th on the grid, rising to 6th by lap four with identical moves on different cars at the first chicane.

Makowiecki started to open up a comfortable gap ahead of Hürtgen, which stood at over 5 seconds on lap 5 and setting the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1m32.442.  On the next lap the Hexis Aston Martin had to start negotiating the Belgian GT backmarkers, which allowed the chasing pack to close up slightly before the leader was able to start pulling away again once he was clear of the traffic.

As the pitstop window approached the Belgian weather decided to play a part in the proceedings and rain began to fall on the circuit catching out several of the slick shod cars.  The nr1 Ford GT of Thomas Mutsch and the nr56 Ferrari of Danny van Dongen fell victim to the conditions before the safety car was deployed to slow things down.  However the grid had to circulate for a couple behind the Wiessman safety car before the pit window opened.  As soon as the pits were declared open most of the cars came in for wet tyres but several stayed out and some decided to stick with slicks, including the nr8 Kessel Racing Ferrari which had been handed over to Lorenzo Bontempelli by Stefano Gattuso.

The safety car was withdrawn and racing resumed just before the pit window closed, with Markus Palttala waiting until the last moment to hand the nr18 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche to Petri Lappalainen.  However their change was judged to be too quick and Lappalainen had to come in for a 2 second stop go penalty on lap 20.

At turn 1 on lap 19 Arthur Bleynie in the nr34 MP Racing BMW Alpina B6 GT3 collided with the nr250 Belgian GT with the Belgian car rolling to the outside of the track., luckily both drivers were OK.

With track conditions improving some of the cars that were on wets came back in for slick tyres, handing the advantage to the cars that had persevered on Michelin slicks for the whole race and Stefano Gattuso found himself at the front of the field and heading for the chequered flag to record the first win for a Ferrari in 2009.  Csaba Walter kept his fingers crossed that a repeat of the problems that robbed him of a win in Paul Ricard wouldn’t happen, as the young Hungarian chased down the nr2 Matech Ford GT of Christian Mamerow.  Two laps from home the BMW Alpina swept into second place ahead of the Ford at T1 and Walter held on to finish the race on the podium for the first time in 2009.  Christian Mamerow also scored his first podium finish of the season in 3rd place.  However the race belonged to the Kessel Racing team as Stefano Gattuso took the chequered flag, to record the first win to add to earlier podium in Round 11.  Behind them the nr26 Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS was classified in 4th and this secured the 2009 FIA GT3 European title for Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies ahead of Thomas Accary and Julien Rodrigues in the nr3 Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin DBRS9.

Christopher Haase, 2009 FIA GT3 European Champion
"I'm delighted, it was unbelievable. For me this is the best result in my career; I'm so really happy to be the new FIA GT3 European Champion together with Christopher.  I think I need to sleep for one night to be sure I am not dreaming.  The Audi R8 is a very good car, I think the experience from Audi and the professionalism of Phoenix Racing was the key for us to win this championship.  I'm not sure what I will be doing in 2010 but I will continue in motorsport and winning this championship will be a big help.  We will see."

Christopher Mies, 2009 FIA GT3 European Champion
“The race was very difficult when the rain started, it was very slippery.  I saw cars sliding off the track so I just tried to keep my car on the circuit and then I came into the pits in 6th or 7th position to hand over to Christopher.  We changed to wet tyres but I think it would have been better to stay on slicks like the Ferrari of Gatusso, but we finished in 4th from 8th on the grid, so it was a good race.  This year has been a great year, the Audi has been very strong over the whole season and Phoenix Racing and Audi have done a perfect job.  To finish the season at FIA GT3 European Champion is a dream, it is a big step for me in only my fourth season of car racing, and I hope that this will lead to good things next season.”

Steffano Gattuso nr8 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia
"This is fantastic, a win in the last race of the year.  We started in 13th place and we over took a lot of cars.  At the end of my stint it started to rain and the track was very slippery.  We decided to stay on slick tyres and it was a very important decision for us and we took the first victory of the season, which is very important for me and the whole team.  We all worked very hard during the season with the car and we are happy to get this result in the final race of 2009. Lorenzo and I would like to dedicate this victory to Loris Kessel, the team owner of Kessel Racing, and we will see everyone again next year."

Claudia Huertgen nr24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3
"This was a good end to a difficult season.  We started with a brand new car at Silverstone and we were far away at that event.  My goal was to get on the podium this year and I'm very happy that it was on the last race of 2009. The whole team has worked very hard to get the car to where it is now and I'm pleased for the whole team with this result.  The start was OK, but then it started to rain and the safety car came out. I wasn't sure whether to stay out on dry tyres or how long the safety car would stay out so we decided to come in for the rain tyres.  We then went back onto dry tyres for the last eight laps, which I think was the right decision.  It was really good to Csaba fighting at the end, he has been a good teammate this season.  The pressure was on him once he put the dry tyres back on, but the pressure was also on him in Paul Ricard when he was in the lead.  We've had a few chances to get on the podium but now we have it and I'm very happy."

Csaba Walter nr24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3
"I think we really needed this podium finish because it put the whole team in a good mood over the winter. This was my first season in the FIA GT3, it was really good experience.  I hope I learnt a lot and I think we will be in a good position for next season."

Provisional RESULT from Round 12 ***

Provisional CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS after Round 12***