Christian Hohenadel took the chequered flag to record his and, teammate Daniel Keilwitz's, second win of the 2010 season in a lights to flag victory during Round 7 of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Paul Ricard.  Under the French summer sun the German crossed the line in the Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3 6.6 seconds ahead of championship rival Mike Parisy in the nr16 Graff Racing Corvette.  2007 FIA GT3 Champion Gilles Vannelet returned to the podium for the first time since 2008 when teammate Antoine Leclerc took the chequered flag in 3rd place at the wheel of the Muehlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3-R after a four way battle with Marco Holzer (Porsche), Edward Sandstrom (BMW) and Claudia Huertgen (BMW) for the second half of the 60-minute race.  

The race got off to a clean start, with Daniel Keilwitz in the nr101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3 capitilising on his pole position to lead into the first corner ahead of Joakim Lambotte in the nr16 Graff Racing Corvette.   By lap 2, the competition had heated up and the nr12 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R, driven at the time by Dimitrios Konstantinou, and the nr60 Prospeed Competition Porsche911 GT3 R of Petri Lappalainen collided at Turn 10.  The Mühlner Porsche spun off and stopped on the side of the road while the Prospeed Porsche suffered a puncture, sending it to the pits.  Shortly after, Kenneth Heyer, in the nr3 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS crashed into the nr12 which was stopped on the side of the track. The safety car was sent out for four laps to enable the track to be cleared of the resulting debris.  Once that was over, the race was incident free, with a few cars retiring in the pits but with no more spins or crashes. This wasn’t a good race for Chad Racing, with the nr88 Ferrari 430 Scuderia dropping out in the formation lap, and then ion lap 5, under the safety car, the nr87 Ferrari 430 Scuderia slowed on the track and stopped before the race got going again.

The two leading Corvettes kept the same position from start to finish, with the nr16 Graff Racing Corvette looking like it would make ground on the leader, but as the race went on, had to settle for second as Christian Hohenadel maintained a comfortable gap of 6.552 seconds at the chequered flag. Behind him in third, things were much more heated, with the nr11 Mühlner Motorsport  Porsche 911 GT3 R having to fight hard to keep its position. Gilles Vannelet in the nr11 managed to take 3rd place in the first corner from the nr77 Need For Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4, and held on until the pitstops. His team mate, Antoine Leclerc, really had to work hard to keep his position at the head of a four car battle, battling with Marco Holzer in the Prospeed Porsche for track position.  However Holzer made a lunge for the final podium place but ended up being passed by the following BMW Z4s.  Leclerc ended the race just 0.519 seconds ahead of the nr76 Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 of Edward Sandström.  This third place podium for the nr11 Porsche gave Antoine Leclerc his first podium in the GT3 championship and the first podium for 2007 GT3 champion Gilles Vannelet since 2008.

The nr14 Fischer Racing Ford GT of Mikko Eskelinen and Christoffer Nygaard finished in 7th place, ahead of the Toni Seiler Racing Corvette of Dino Lunardi and Toni Seiler, while the nr25 Argo Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 of Jose Luis Cunill and Niels Lagrange finished 9th. The best Audi of the race was the nr4 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS in 10th, and the only racing Aston Martin this weekend, the nr2 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 of Luc Paillard and Thomas Accary finished 19th; their team mates Manuel Rodrigues and Frederic Makowiecki in the nr1 Hexis AMR Aston pulled out this weekend due to engine issues.

Keilwitz and Hohenadel now hold a 44-point championship lead over Parisy and Lambotte.  Round 8 of the FIA GT3 European Championship will take place on Sunday 4 July at 11:20 (local time)

CLICK HERE for Provisional Result from Round 7

CLICK HERE for RACT FACTS from Round 7

CLICK HERE for Championship Positions after Round 7

Daniel Keilwitz – nr101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3 – 1st Place
“The race was very good for me. I had a good start at the beginning, then the safety came out for four laps and after the restart, the safety car made it easier for me. I could drive at the front and the time was ticking by. After the restart, I kept control of the first position, made an early pitstop, and Christian did a great job and was very fast at the end. I’m really happy that we’ve won a second race this year. The tyres were okay, because of the safety car, I didn’t push too hard on the tyres. Otherwise they were really good.”

Christian Hohenadel – nr101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3 – 1st Place
 “The temperature in the car isnt’ as cool as I’d wish. The race was okay for me; I got my stint in a leading position. I tried my best to stay in the front. Finally we made it. Very happy with this result, but although we have a good lead, there are 5 races left, and a lot can happen in 5 races. We have to stay very concentrated, and we might make it. We’ll see after this event.”

Joakim Lambotte – nr16 Graff Racing Corvette Z06R GT3 – 2nd Place
 “For sure, we’d prefer to be in the first position, but we’ve made a great job with qualifying. They made a small gap at the restart and I couldn’t come back on them: I pushed very hard, but the car was quite hard to drive. So, I’m very happy to be on the podium. We made an early pitstop as well. IT was a bit boring, having four laps behind the safety car, but I enjoyed the race a lot, even if the temperature in the car is horrible, it’s way too hot. I enjoyed this race.”

Mike Parisy  – nr16 Graff Racing Corvette Z06R GT3 – 2nd Place
“I tried to push very hard at the beginning of the race. It was very difficult because I had a lot of over-steer. I tried to keep contact with the leader, but I was having difficulties, so I just tried to keep hold of second place and the points for the championship. It’s not a very good position for us; we’re second, they’re leaders of the championship, but the championship is long, so we’ve got to keep contact and the fighting. The tyres were wearing out near the end so I didn’t take the kerbs during the end of the race, so my rhythm slowed a bit.”

Gilles Vannelet – nr11 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R – 3rd Place
 “I’m very happy to be here, because Hexis have a party tonight. Since the beginning of the season, we haven’t been able to find a good setup with this car. In Silverstone we had a lot of understeer; in Brno first race with understeer in the rain, and it was catastrophic. After Brno, we worked with Michelin and the team was convinced that the car was understeering, but we lost a lot of time. Antoine helped us this weekend, because he’s a young, fast, experienced driver. He helped us this weekend to be on the podium. ”

Antoine Leclerc - nr11 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R – 3rd Place
“First, I want to thank Gilles and the team, Mühlner Motorsport, who did a fantastic job. Gilled did a good job.  Afterwards, he gave me a very good car. The start of my stint was good, but the car was very difficult at the end. There was a lot of understeering. Behind me there was Marco Holzer, who was very close and putting a lot of pressure on me. I was pushing very, very hard too.”