Haase and Mies Add Another Audi Win

It was the turn of Christopher Mies to take the chequered flag and together with Christopher Haase scored a double victory for the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS in Portugal.  Starting from 4th on the grid Haase had a bad started and dropped back to 7th on the opening lap but recovered to hand the car over to Mies in 3rd place. A slick pitstop put them in second behind the Hexis Racing Aston Martin of Manuel Rodriges.  Mies swept into the lead as the Aston pulled off into retirement with a puncture in the front left tyre. The Audi had a comfortable lead over the Marc Sourd Racing Corvette of Luca Pirri, which Mies extended before he took the chequered flag. The Kessel Racing Ferrari of Steffano Gattuso was third to record the Italian’s second podium finish of the season, this time with Lorenzo Bontempelli.

ROUND 8 - FULL REPORT

Christian Mamerow had scored his first pole position in the championship - the first for a Viper since 2006 - with the fastest time of the day in Saturday qualifying.  The Fischer Racing Ford GT was missing from the starting grid due to engine failure, while the #30 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini was also absent following an accident in race 1.

At the start Mamerow immediately came under pressure from the Hexis Racing Aston Martin of Frederic Makowiecki.  Diego Alessi in the Marc Sourd Racing Corvette had an excellent start to move up to 3rd from 8th on the grid by the end of the opening lap.  Dino Lunardi had started on the front row in the #2 Matech Ford GT but dropped behind his teammate Thomas Mutsch in the #1 Ford.  However on lap two the two cars tangled and both were forced to pit for repairs at the end of the second lap.

Meanwhile the Zakspeed Viper continued to fend off the pressure from Makowiecki until lap 8 when the Aston dived to the inside of Turn 1 to snatch the lead.  Once clear the Aston Martin scampered away but for Mamerow his race was over as he slowed at Turn 7 and crawled back to the pits into retirement.  This promoted Alessi into second place ahead of Christopher Haase in the Phoenix Racing Audi, who was catching the Italian as the pitstop window approached.  Haase pitted on lap 14 and Alessi on lap 19, with the Audi getting the better of the Corvette to be ahead after the pitstops.   Meanwhile the leading Aston Martin pitted on lap 20 with Makowiecki handing over to Manuel Rodrigues. On lap 21 the Hexis Racing Aston Martin was caught and passed by Christopher Mies, now at the wheel of the Phoenix Racing Audi.  However Rodrigues had a problem and he retired on lap 14 with a puncture.

Mies now held a ten second advantage over second placed Luca Pirri in the Corvette, with Csaba Walter in third at the wheel of the #24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3.  Walter was being caught by Stefano Gattuso in the Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia but on lap 26 the Hungarian also suffered a puncture that forced the BMW into the pits and promoted the Ferrari into the final podium position.  Meanwhile Jens Klingsmann in the second BMW Alpina was in 4th place but being rapidly caught by the Prospeed Competition Porsche of Niki Lanik.  On the penultimate lap the Porsche overtook the BMW to equal  Lanik’s best finish of the season.

At the flag Christopher Mies recorded his second straight win, crossing the line 17 seconds ahead of Luca Pirri and 27 seconds ahead of Stefan Gattuso, underlining the team’s domination of the weekend.  Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies are now on 40 points in the driver’s championship, 11 ahead of Thomas Accary, Julien Rodrigues, Nicolas Armindo and Cesar Campanico with four races remaining.

The next two races of the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship will take place at Paul Ricard HTTT in France on 3 and 4 October.

CLICK HERE for the provisional results for Round 8

CLICK HERE for race facts from Round 8

CLICK HERE for driver quotes

CLICK HERE for Championship Positions after Round 8

2009-11-11
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