A perfect weekend for Henri MOSER and Gilles VANNELET

A perfect weekend for Henri MOSER and Gilles VANNELET

Henri Moser and Gilles Vannelet made a perfect start in the FIA GT3 European Championship as they won both races at Silverstone. But they had to wait until the last second to win the second race, as the nr 15 S-Berg Racing Lamborghini Gallardo, driven by Erik Janis, was pushing really hard at the end of the race. With two wins in a row, Moser and Vannelet are leading the FIA GT3 European Championship after both Silverstone races.

 
Two wins to start with!

Gilles Vannelet and Henri Moser made an incredible start to the 2007 season with two victories. But to win the second race, Gilles Vannelet had to fight hard in order to contain the flying Lamborghinis which were coming back on him. During the first part of the race, Frederic Makowiecki in the nr 26 Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 and Ben Collins in the nr 33 Team Berlanga Ascari KZ1R GT3 were the quickest and nobody could keep up with them. But both cars had trouble: a transmission problem for the Aston Martin and a spin for the Ascari. So after the pit stop, the nr 38 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 was leading by more than 15 seconds but the Lamborghini was pushing really hard. “One more lap and both Lamborghinis would have passed me!” declared Gilles Vannelet, “Our car was not consistent; it was really hard to drive at the end.”

Behind the leader, Erik Janis and Nicolas Navarro tried as hard as they could. Both young drivers did their best, and Janis finally managed to overtake Navarro. “It was the best race of my career” declared Erik Janis.

Despite of this incredible finish, Gilles Vannelet and Henri Moser won the second race. After the Silverstone round, they are leading the FIA GT3 European Championship with 20 points, and Luca Pirri, Jürgen von Gartzen, Erik Janis and Jaromir Jirik are behind them with 8 points each.
 

Lamborghini, first of the other makes

Second and third, the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3s have improved a lot since last year. Erik Janis and Jaromir Jiris’ nr 15 S-Berg Racing, and Nicolas Navarro and Maxime Dubrulle’s nr 10 First Racing were the fastest at the end of the race, but they could not beat the nr 38 Ferrari. In fourth place, BMS Scuderia Italia’s Alex Frassinetti and Diego Alessi were the first of the Aston Martin DBRS9s, but both drivers were quite disappointed: “To be honest we expected to win here, but we were not quick enough” said Diego Allessi. But the Aston Martins are surely going to take their revenge very soon, and in Bucharest they will be motivated to beat the Ferrari cars.

Richard Williams and Alex Buncombe were first of the Porsches, and Mikael Forsten and Robert Wilson finished first of the Dodges. To know the Ascari winner, it was necessary to wait for the last lap, where Howard Spooner in nr 29 Damax Ascari overtook Daniel Gibson in the nr 32 Team Berlanga Ascari.

Thomas Mutsch and Martin Bartek, in spite a drive through at the beginning of the race, finished first of the Fords in nr 43 Matech Racing Ford GT.

 The next race in Bucharest will be the first ever street race of the FIA GT3 European Championship. Nobody has raced there before, so this new round will be even more open!

 

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