Perfect Scenario for von Gartzen and Pirri

In order to fight for the FIA GT3 European Driver’s title until the very end, Jürgen von Gartzen and Luca Pirri had no choice before the round at Brno: they needed to score huge points. With second position in the first race, and victory in the second, they had a perfect weekend. And the scenario was really good for them, when in the last lap, young Czech driver Erik Janis overtook the Championship leader, the nr 38 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Vannelet and Moser, for third position. The last round in Dubaï is going to be exceptional!

Important win for Von Gartzen and Pirri

Since Monza, Jürgen von Gartzen and Luca Pirri, in the nr 18 Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z06R GT3, have been on a good pace. In Brno, they were here to put pressure on the nr 38 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 of Moser and Vannelet, the Championship leaders, and they did well, even if they took some risks, in particular on the setup: “After the first race we were not really happy about the set up, and we decided to change it for today. We took a risk, but that was a good thing to do as our car was great today” explained Jürgen von Gartzen. The German driver, third on the grid, took the start of this race, and had to wait several laps to raise the rhythm, and went up to second position, behind James Ruffier, in the nr 19 Riverside Corvette Z06R GT3. “When I was behind Ruffier, it was just very hard to follow him” said von Gartzen. “He was really good yesterday and today, so I preferred to let him go, and I knew that Luca Pirri could make the difference”. After the driver change, Luca Pirri managed to take the lead in order to win for the second time this season. With 18 points scored in Brno, Pirri and von Gartzen are only 7 points behind Moser and Vannelet, so, as von Gartzen explained, anything could happen at Dubaï : “I think that Dubai is going to be a good track for the Corvette. We are very optimistic, we are going to keep putting pressure on the Ferraris, and we will see what happen at the end!”

Leading by only seven points before the last round !

Henri Moser and Gilles Vannelet did not want to take too many risks in Brno, but they were quite disappointed at the end of the second race, when Erik Janis overtook them in the last lap. “Our goal was to finish both races on the podium, so we are disappointed today” said Moser. With seven points between Moser / Vannelet and von Gartzen / Pirri in the FIA GT3 European driver Championship, and five points between Kessel Racing and Martini Callaway Racing, the last round in Dubai is going to be decisive. “Dubai is going to be something special, we are really waiting for it. We will have to drive intelligently, not make any mistakes and we are hoping to finish in good conditions there” analysed Henri Moser. We do not know who the Champion will be yet, but now only three crews could win the Championship: Moser / Vannelet, von Gartzen / Pirri and Ruffier / Peyroles.

Lamborghini, Ford, Aston Martin and other makes will influence the outcome of the Championship

On their home track, Erik Janis and Jaromir Jirik, in the nr 15 S-Berg Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo, put in another good performance in the second race. Once again first of the Lamborghinis, both Czech drivers were happy to finish the week end on the podium. In sixth position, Maxime Soulet and Mikael Forsten, in the nr 45 Matech Concepts Ford GT, were happy to be on the pace, for their first race in this car, and hope that they will raise the rhythm in Dubai, a good track for their car. First of the Aston Martins, but only 9th today, Frederic Makowiecki and Jean-Claude Lagniez had a good start to the race, but could not keep the pace until the finish as the car was getting harder and harder to drive lap after lap. As with many competitors, they are now looking forward to Dubai, in order to finish the season with a good result.
Bradley Ellis and Jonathan Lang, in 10th position, were the first of the Dodge Vipers. Michaël Greenhalgh and Howard Spooner finished first of the Ascari, Phil Quaife and Dimitri Deverikos first of the Porsches, and the best Morgan Aero GT was driven by Georges-Alexander Sturdza and Margot Laffite.

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