Quotes from Race 2

GT3 RACE 2
QUOTES
 
Stefan van CAMPENHOUDT – nr 44 Matech Racing Ford GT, 1st: "This is our first victory… we have to give a big thank you to Matech Racing. This project started four months ago. In a short time, they’ve done a super job! Today I started in 15th place, and I was stuck in the traffic. But everybody knows that on street circuit the Safety Car often comes out, so we were ready for that. We had perfect coordination between the pit crew and the car, so at the right time we came in and we changed driver. We went out on slick tyres, but I told the crew on the radio that we needed to change tyres. The track was incredibly wet, so we had no choice. The Porsche and the Ascari are perfect cars for a street race, much better than our Ford. Our car is longer, and it is quite hard to manage the car around the corners and to keep the pace. It is really not that easy, so we are even more proud of our result. We have planned a lot of work before Monza. If you see the intermediate top speed, we are far away from the pace, so we have to find a solution to have a good top speed before Monza.”
 
Romain BERA – nr 44 Matech Racing Ford GT, 1st: "This race was really hard and the conditions were terrible. It was hard to use the power of the car, and I was really concentrated, I did not want to make any mistakes. I was really fighting with the car, and after the race the team told me that I had a flat tyre at the rear, so now I understand why it was so difficult. It is a great result for the team. After a pole position in Silverstone, here is our first victory. My last victory was also in the rain, in the French Carrera Cup.”
 
James PICKFORD – nr 5 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, 2nd: "The beginning of the race was quite exciting. We managed to overtake several cars and we had a good rhythm. With a Ford GT, I got a gap away from the rest of the cars. With the traffic, Diego Alessi -in the nr 23 Aston Martin- closed up then he overtook me.  But I’m glad the Porsche is back on the pace here. This circuit really suits the Porsche. We will see on other tracks. I do believe that the other cars had an advantage over us, so because of that I’m really happy to be here, on the podium.”
 
Richard WILLIAMS – nr 5 Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, 2nd: "This whole week end has been crazy! The circuit and the organization are great, everybody made a great effort, and the conditions were really hard. We had to pit a second time to put wet tyres on, as we were expecting the track to get dry, so we lost some time. I had an interesting stint, very exciting, so we are really pleased. Now we need to do a lot of work to be competitive in Monza, it is going to be hard to get our car to the pace on this high speed circuit, but we will try.”
 
Eric ZWART – nr 31 Team Berlanga Ascari KZ1R GT3, 5th, 1st Ascari: "First of all we would like to wish our friend and co-driver all the best. He is in hospital and we wish him all the best. I lost a couple of positions at the beginning. I did not want to crash the car, so I drove safely. Then after a couple of accidents on the track the Safety Car was there, so we made our driver change. We have to thank our team, they made the right decision and they called me at the right time. Team Berlanga did a fantastic job this week end. Then Rory took over, and he did a great stint.”

Rory BERTRAM – nr 31 Team Berlanga Ascari KZ1R GT3, 5th, 1st Ascari: "I drove all my stint in the rain, and I liked it. The track was quite dangerous, but I feel comfortable in the rain. The car was really good today. I was second, but I decided to be very careful and I did not to try to overtake the Ford GT. It was a quite good result, second overall. Unfortunately we made a mistake during the driver change, and we had a 30 second penalty. It was my first race in this car, and during the driver change I thought the ignition was not working, so I asked my mechanics to push the car, but it was not allowed. So it is my fault and we got a penalty. I hope to be there for next round in Monza.”
 
Mihai MARINESCU – nr 9 RPM Dodge Viper Competition Coup, 1st Dodge: "We started today at the 18th position on the grid, and we gained a lot of places. The car felt very good, but the rain started and with the Safety Car it was a big gamble as we did not know exactly when to come in. Then, like the others, we thought it was better to keep the slick tyres, and then afterwards we decided to change the tyres and the driver at the same time. Then David Claudiu did a perfect job. We are happy to be here today, the team was great and we had a lot of supporters here. The organisation and the promoter of this race deserve great thanks. This event was fantastic, and we hope to meet everybody at the same place next year.”

2007-05-20
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