First Win for BMW Z4 at Jarama

Round 6 proved to be a race of firsts as Csaba Walter took the chequered flag in the Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 over 20 seconds ahead of the Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3R.  It was the first FIA GT3 win for BMW, Dunlop and the Schubert Motorsport team.  Walter is also the first Hungarian winner in the championship and Claudia Huertgen the first female driver to win a race in the FIA GT3 European Championship.  Marco Holzer led the race until the pitstops, holding off a very determined Huertgen, the gap between the two cars was less than one second for the first 33 minutes.  Paul van Splunteren took over the Prospeed Porsche but was soon passed by the BMW.  Van Splunteren consolidated his second place with the Saintloc-Phoenix Racing Audi of Stephane Lemeret moving into the final podium position by overtaking Daniel Keilwitz in the Callaway Corvette at the last corner. 

Round 6
The nr 101 Callaway Competition Corvette of Christian Hohenadel was starting five places further back on the grid after receiving a penalty from the Stewards from Round 5, the German driver lining up in 11th place.  Marco Holzer in the Prospeed Porsche led the field around the final corner at Jarama and the lights flashed green to start the sixth race of the 2010 season.  Holzer got a good start but Mike Parisy in the Graff Racing Corvette was passed by 3rd placed Claudia Huertgen into the first corner, with the French GT3 champion losing a further place to the Hexis AMR Aston Martin of Frederic Makowiecki.

Holzer held a slender half second lead over the BMW Z4, with Makowiecki and Parisy keeping station as the top four cars started to open up a gap to the rest of the field.  Huertgen set the fastest lap time on laps 2 and 4 in her bid to take the lead from teh leading Porsche but Holzer kept his nerve on the narrow Jarama track and the BMW failed time and time again to find a way round the very wide lead car.

The Muehlner Motorsport Porsche if Philip Geipel and teh nr 17 Graff Racing Corvette of Arnaud Peyroles collided at Turn 1, with both cars becoming the first casulaties of the race.  The earlier race winning Team Rosberg Audi of Kenneth Heyer also retired with clutch problems on lap 6.  Two laps later the nr4 Team Rosberg Audi of Michael Ammermueller was also an early retirement.

Meanwhile back at the front of the field Holzer was still maintaining his lead, with Huertgen tracking his every move, hoping to capitilise on a mistake that the lead car might make - she was looking like waiting in vain.  The Pit Window opened on lap 16 and some of the back markers came into the pits, with the Callaway Competition Corvette of Christian Hohenadel making an early stop to hand over to Daniel Keilwitz from 7th.

After all the pitstops had been completed it was Paul van Splunteren at the wheel of the leading Porsche with Csaba Walter playing catch up in the BMW Z4.  Walter was quickly catching the Prospeed Porsche and swept into the lead on the outside of Turn 1 on lap 24.

Keilwitz in the nr101 Callaway Corvette was also moving up the field, passing the second Prospeed Porsche of Petri Lappalain on lap 29 to move into the final podium position.  The nr16 Graff Racing Corvette, now with Joakim Lambotte was falling back down the field clearing the performance of the race winning car dropping away.

The final lap approached and Walter had a comfortable 22 second lead over van Splunteren's Porsche but the battle for third reignited as the nr 6 Sainteloc-Phoenix Racing Audi of Stephane Lemeret suddenly caught the struggling Corvette of Daniel Keilwitz, with the Belgian driver taking the final podium place at the last corner.

Claudia Huertgen - nr77 Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4
"I knew it was important to have a good start so I can stay in front of the Aston Martin.  I got in front of the Corvette and I was able to follow Marco (Holzer). In the middle of the race I tried to catch him but we have a one hour race so tried to save my tyres.  So then we wait.  For me it was a perfect race, we fought and he followed the line but we both know it is a one hour race.  The team have worked very hard and it was the same last year at Alpina.  we started at Silverstone and we were two seconds off the pace, so we have pushed hard together with BMW Motorsport and here at the third event we were quite near to the front.  It is also quite important regarding the tyres because only two cars use the Dunlop tyres and we've shown here that Dunlop have done a good job also."

Csaba Walter - nr77 Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4
"The car was very easy to drive for the whole second part of the race.  I could pass the Porsche after two or three laps and then I had a good pace until the end of the race.  I just had to be careful to drive without any problems, keep the tyres and keep the car, so it was really good for me.  Claudia did a great job and the car was really consistent, I didn't have to push had, I just had to keep the speed and concentrate on the track.  After the problems I had last year the last few laps were very hard for me because I was thinking about the experiences last year where we had bad moments two or three times at the end of the race but this time we had good luck." 

CLICK HERE for Provisional Round 6 Result (PDF File)

CLICK HERE for the Race Facts for Round 6

CLICK HERE for Championship Positions after Round 6 (Provisional)

CLICK HERE for full result and lap chart PDF booklet plus all the FIA Steward decisions

2010-06-19
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