MOSER and VANNELET increase their Championship lead

The Corvettes were very fast at the beginning of the race, and maybe too fast. At this track, the fuel consumption is very high, and although Pirri and von Gartzen, in nr 18 Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z06R GT3, crossed the line in first position, they were lacking sufficient fuel at the end, and were excluded according to article 60 of the Championship Regulations. So Gilles Vannelet and Henri Moser inherited the race win in nr 38 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430,  increasing their Championship lead.

A Corvette crosses the line first, but a Ferrari wins

The second Monza race was as undecided as the first one. At the beginning three Corvettes took the lead and pulled away, with Klaus Ludwig (nr 16 Martini Callaway Racing) in first position, Jürgen von Gartzen (nr 18 Martini Callaway Racing) second and James Ruffier (nr 19 Riverside) third. Those three cars were flying away, in a strong battle, but Henri Moser in nr 38 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 and Ed Morris in nr 8 RPM Dodge Viper were resisting. As Jürgen von Gartzen said, the first laps of the race were incredible: "The beginning of the race was amazing and funny, but perhaps too fast because we need a lot of fuel here.”
 And von Gartzen was right, the consumption made the difference at the end. If his team-mate Luca Pirri managed to cross the line in first position, one second ahead of the nr 38 Ferrari driven by Gilles Vannelet, he had to stop his Corvette after the chequered flag, having run out of fuel. As it is specified in Regulation 60 of the FIA GT3 European Championship Regulations : “At the end of the race, the car must contain at least 2 kg of fuel for the taking of samples.” So the Stewards excluded the nr 18 Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z06R GT3. At the end, Henri Moser and Gilles Vannelet took their third victory of the season, in front of nr 19 Riverside Corvette of James Ruffier and Arnaud Peyroles and the nr 8 RPM Dodge Viper Competition Coupe of Ed Morris and Bradley Ellis. With Alessandro Frassinetti and Diego Alessi first of the Aston Martin cars in 4th position, Michael Greenhalgh and Daniel Gibson first of the Ascari in 5th position and the first Porsche in 9th position (Phill Keen and Jonathan Lang in nr 2 Tech9 Motorsport ), once again six different makes finished in the top 10.

After half season, Moser and Vannelet are leading

Monza was the third round of the season. With four races to go, more than half of the season is done tonight. With three victories, Henri Moser and Gilles Vannelet are leading the FIA GT3 European driver Championship with 36 points, 15 ahead of Luca Pirri and Jurgen von Gartzen, who are now second in spite of their exclusion. With no point score in Monza, Stephane Daoudi and Ian Khan did a bad operation, there are now down to 4th position, behind Diego Alessi and Alex Frassinetti. “The Championship is not finished yet” said Gilles Vannelet. “We are 15 points behind, but we see that it is easy to lose points in such a Championship. We have to be strong and reliable in Brno, than we will see what happen”.
In the FIA GT3 European Team Championship, Kessel Racing is leading, eight points ahead of BMS Scuderia Italia.
Newt round will be in Brno in September. Vannelet and Moser could be proclaimed Champions there, but in the FIA GT3 European Championship, nothing is never decided before the end.

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