Corvettes fastest in Free Practice

After an extremely successful first meeting in Silverstone, the FIA GT3 European Championship has moved on to Germany, for the second event on its five-date calendar.  42 cars are due to take part in the two one-hour races, the first on Saturday afternoon and the second on Sunday at noon.  With eight manufacturers represented, and a much shorter track than that in Silverstone, they should be action-packed !

WEATHER
Blue skies, warm weather, a light breeze - conditions are excellent in Germany this weekend.

GT BUREAU : PERFORMANCE EQUALISING
The following decisions are valid for this event :
- Dodge Viper Competition Coupe : 2 restrictors of 48.56 mm, 50 kg ballast, raised ride height to 99 mm at the front and 124.5 mm at the rear, hard compound tyres
- Aston Martin DBRS9 :20 kg penalty weight
- Porsche 997 GT3 Cup : 20 kg penalty weight
- Ascari KZ1R : 100 kg penalty weight and hard compound tyres
- Corvette Z06 : 1 restrictor of 75 mm, 90  kg penalty weight and hard tyres

FIRST MEETING - A LOOK BACK
The first-ever FIA GT3 European Championship race meeting took place in Silverstone between 5th - 7th May.  JMB Ferrari Racing claimed the first-ever race win, with Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen in the Ferrari 430 Challenge GT3.  Tech9's Deverikos and Edwards were second in the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, with Scott and Collins third in the Ascari KZ1R.  The second race was won by Livio and Ceccato in the Racing Box Dodge Viper Coupe, ahead of JMB's Simonsen and Lester, with Zacchia and Dupard third in the Racing Logistic Viper.  

PADDOCK NEWS
- the grid is made up of nine Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars, nine Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, six Aston Martin DBRS9, five Corvette Z06, four Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, three Maserati GranSport Light, three Ascari KZ1R and three Ferrari 430 Challenge GT3 cars
- A number of driver changes this weekend :
-  Richard Balandras and Frédéric Dedours now share the Larbre nr 1
- Former Le Mans winner and member of the SRO organisation, Jürgen Barth will drive the nr 3 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup with Steve Warson
- In the Team Callaway Corvette, Uli Berberich-Martini will drive with John Heinricy of the USA, while Marco Panzavuota shares with Remko Papenburg of the Netherlands
- The nr 25 BMS Scuderia Italia Aston Martin DBRS9 is shared by two Italians, Andres Miguel Rios and Davide Stancheris
- Maurizio Strada, who raced in the BPR and in the FFSA French GT Championship, shares the nr 28 Racing Box Dodge Viper Coupe with Leonardo Maddalena
- Pouchelon Racing has experienced German racer Wido Rössler sharing the nr 30 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe with French rock star - and experienced GT racer - David Hallyday.  The nr 31 car is shared by two young French drivers, Maxime Dubrulle and Kevin Morel, both from Peugeot junior categories
- S-Berg has only one car this weekend, shared by Marc Basseng of Germany and Jirik Jaromir of the Czech Republic.
- In the Damax Ascari, Aaron Scott is sharing with fellow British driver Richard Stanton

FIRST FREE PRACTICE
The second meeting for the FIA GT3 European Championship is underway in Oschersleben, where the nr 19 Riverside Corvette Z06 of Thierry Rabineau and James Ruffier set the best time of 1:31.094.  They were followed by two Dodge Vipers, the nr 29 Pouchelon Dodge and nr 27 Racing Box car of Ceccato and Livio.  The nr 46 Ascari was fourth, ahead of Silverstone winners Simonsen and Lester in the nr 34 JMB Ferrari.  With an Auto Sport Promotion Porsche seventh, and the S-Berg Lamborghini eighth, the top eight cars were all within one second, and included six different makes !
In the session, the Dodge Vipers took an early lead, with the nr 29 car of Duqueine and Reid setting a time of 1:31.150 which remained fastest for much of the session.  They were followed by Racing Logistic's Dupard and Zacchia, and Racing Box's Zonca/Cioci, all in Dodge cars.  However, the other cars quickly responded, with the Tech9 Porsche of Deverikos and Edwards moving up to second, and then the nr 35 Lamborghini Gallardo of Basseng and Jaromir up to second.  The Corvettes then began to improve, with first the nr 21 car of Charriol and Campbell setting the fourth fastest time, and then the nr 19 Corvette of Rabineau and Ruffier went second.  The nr 46 Ascari of Adams and Thompson moved up to third with a lap of 1:31.896.  Finally, at the end of the session,  the nr 19 went fastest, while the nr 27 Dodge improved again, to go third. 

SECOND FREE PRACTICE
Riverside continued to lead the GT3 Championship free practice sessions in Oschersleben, although this time it was the nr 21 Corvette Z06 which set the best time, with a lap of 1:30.733 around the 3.667km track.  The nr 30 Pouchelon Dodge Viper shared by experienced German racer Wido Roessler and French rock star and racing driver David Hallyday was second, ahead of the Damax Ascari of Adams and Thompson.  The session was extremely close, with the top nine within a second. The leading Ferrari was sixth, with the best Aston Martin ninth, nine tenths adrift : the nr 24 BMS car shared by Groppi and Seiler.
Early on, the session was led by the nr 46 Ascari of Adams and Thompson, followed by the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe cars of Dupard/Zacchia and Cattaneo/Livio.  The Pouchelon Viper improved to second. Once again, however, the Corvettes gained the upper hand, with the nr 21 Corvette setting the best time of the day towards the end of the one-hour session, followed by the nr 30 Pouchelon Dodge Viper.

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