Seven manufacturers represented in top 10

FREE PRACTICE

The opening event of the 2009 season takes at Silverstone on the full Grand Prix circuit.  This is the only circuit that has featured in all four seasons of the FIA GT3 Championship. 

WEATHER
Friday was dry and sunny for the FIA GT3 Free Practice sessions though it did rain later at the end of the FIA GT Free Practice.  The weather forecast for the weekend is good.

LAST YEAR
The Matech GT Racing Ford GT of Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan scored a double win, with Mutsch taking pole for the second race.  Mikael Forsten started the opening race of the year from pole in the Prospeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup and he and David Loix finished second behind the Ford GT.  GianLuca Giraudi and Marcello Zani took the final podium place in race 1 in the Brixia Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 in the team’s debut championship race.  In race 2 James Ruffier and Arnaud Peyroles got their championship winning season off to a good start with a second place finish and Mikael Forsten and David Loix scored their second podium of the weekend.

NEW FOR 2009
Success ballast
Drivers finishing in the top three in each race will have to carry success ballast:

1st: +20kg  2nd: +15kg  3rd: +10kg   4th: -10kg   5th: -15kg   6th and below: -20kg

The maximum success ballast that can be carried is 100kg.  

The success ballast carried by a car will always be 0 kg or greater than 0 kg.  No negative weights will be deducted from the car, nor can they be carried forward to offset any future weights.

Tyres
Teams can choose between Michelin and Pirelli in the 2009 Championship.  Three teams have chosen to use Pirelli –
• Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo GT3
• Brixia Racing  Aston Martin DBRS9
• MP Racing  BMW Alpina B6 GT3

Teams can elect to change tyre manufacturers once during the season.

PADDOCK RUNDOWN
Thirty-seven GT3 cars are taking part in the opening event at Silverstone, representing eleven different manufacturers.

Missing from the grid for the opening two races of the year will be the second Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3, the second Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S and the second Apex Jaguar XKR-S.  JMB Racing also entered a 2008 spec Ferrari 430 GT3 for Pascal Ballay and Jonathan Sicart instead of the ‘09 spec Ferrari 430 Scuderia. The FIA Stewards gave permission for the car to race but it will start of the grid and will not be able to score any championship points.  

FREE PRACTICE: Seven manufacturers represented in top 10

After all the preseason build up, the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship finally got underway with thirty seven cars taking part in the two 60-minute free practice sessions at Silverstone.  An incredible seven manufacturers were represented in the top ten, indicating that the preseason Balance of Performance tests had been successful in providing a level playing field and setting the scene for two interesting races this weekend.

The fastest car of the two sessions was the Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 of Manuel Rodrigues and Frederic Makowiecki, setting a time of 1:50.789 in the morning session.  A repeat performance was denied the team in the afternoon session when the car was pushed into the pitlane with a suspected gearbox failure.  The second fastest car of the day was the Zakspeed Racing Viper Competition Coupe of Wido Roessler and Sascha Bert.  The pairing could only set the 26th fastest lap in the morning but was the quickest car in the afternoon, improving by nearly four seconds with a 1m51.464s. 

The Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S of Oliver Morley and 2006 champion Sean Edwards was the most consistent car, finishing P2 in the two sessions, with the afternoon time of 1m51.673 being slightly quicker than the 1m52.072 set morning free practice, which was still good enough for 4th fastest.  Next up was the Matech GT Racing Ford GT of 2008 GT4 European Cup Champion Eric de Doncker and Dino Lunardi with a lap time of 1m52.093 in the afternoon session.

A Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S also set the 5th fastest time with the Prospeed Competition entered car of David Loix and Geoffroy Horion.  The 6th fastest car was the Marc Sourd Racing Corvette Z06R GT3 of Luca Pirri and Diego Alessi; 7th fastest was the Trackspeed Porsche of David Ashburn and Tim Sugden and 8th fastest was the second Mühlner Motorsport Porsche of Jaromir Jirik and Tim Bergmeister.

The AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero Super Sport of Johan-Boris Scheier and Dimitri Enjalbert was 9th quickest with a time of 1m52.522 and the Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS of Nicolas Armindo and Cesar Campanico rounded out the top 10. 

Qualifying for Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship will take place at 09:40 on Saturday 2 May with the 50-minute session split into 20 minutes for Round 1, a 10-minute break to change drivers and then a further 20-minutes qualifying for Round 2. Round 1 of the championship will start at 14:30.

2009-05-03
Subscribe:   Subscribe with small images:   Subscribe with medium images: