Quotes from Round 10 - Paul Ricard HTTT

Thomas Mutsch (#1 Matech GT Racing Ford GT) – 1st Place
“We had an absolutely great race.  We had bad luck during the qualifying, we had some brake problems due to pedal box.  We had bad luck to qualify in 22nd place but we started in 17th position.  But the car was absolutely great in the race, a perfect set up so I could push all the time and the tyre wear was good.  This meant that I could give the car to Walter in 3rd position with some tyres left.  He did a great job to finish 1st.”

Walter Salles (#1 Matech GT Racing Ford GT) – 1st Place
“I’m really pleased to be racing with Thomas Mutsch.  In Portimao we had an accelerator problem, which was frustrating to lead from pole position and not being able to put the power on the ground, so this result is very good.  Today Thomas did an extraordinary job and I just tried to hang on.  I had a lot of understeer at the end and with the problem with the Alpina, we had all the luck we didn’t have in Portugal.  I tried to go a little bit faster to catch the Alpina but almost lost it twice so I decided that it was better to keep the second place.  They had bad luck and I was able to bring the car home in first place, which is a great feeling.”

Cesar Campanico (#32 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS) – 2nd Place
“I did a good start, we had a problem because the power is not great.  I was 5th and I saw Thomas (Mutsch) coming too quick so I decided to let him past as I knew the race would be decided in the second part.  So I tried to keep the pace and handed the car to Nicolas in 6th.  I did my best.”

Nicolas Armindo (#32 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS) – 2nd Place
“I tried to pass Rodrigues because I was a little bit quicker but in the end is was a little bit too difficult  to do it because he closed the door.  Both cars were stopped on the track and we both lost time.  I overtook other cars at this corner and when they saw I was there they give the place.  In the end I lost and he went away because I had to restart the engine.  I caught up again, we had a good fight with Luca (Ludwig).  I overtook Rodrigues at the same place and it was clean this time.  In the end we finished second.  I am not so happy because if I could’ve avoided the contact I would have. The car was quick, Cesar (Campanico) did a good job, he didn’t burn the tyres too much, so in the end I could drive well thanks to him.”

Marc Sourd (#16 Marc Sourd Racing Corvette Z06R GT3) – 3rd Place
“We had a very poor qualifying session so we started a long way back on the grid.  I did everything I could to bring the car up to hand over to Luca (Ludwig) in a good position.  If we had had a better qualifying we could’ve been in a good position to take the win today.  I been racing with Luca since Portimao, he is very fast and he doesn’t make any mistakes and I hope to be able to carry on racing with him.”

Luca Ludwig (#16 Marc Sourd Racing Corvette Z06R GT3) – 3rd place
“I must admit that I think this was my best race ever, although I haven’t done too much yet.  Marc (Sourd) got the car into 9th or 10th and I was able to push.  Because the other cars were fighting I could close the gap and I finally managed to overtake Rodrigues.  I think he was struggling with his tyres but never the less it was a great fight and I’m very happy to be in 3rd position.”

Csaba Walter (#24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3) – 10th Place
“It was unbelievable, for the second time in a row we had puncture in the last few laps.  The performance of the car this weekend has been very good and we were looking forward to the race.  It was working perfectly until four minutes to the end of the race.  I tried very hard to keep off the kerbs so I don’t know what caused the problem.”

Steffano Gattuso (#8 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia) – 6th Place
“We were very fast but I had a stop-go penalty because we made a one second error in the pitstop.  We finished in 6th but we could’ve been on the podium here, so it is disappointing.”

Dino Lunardi (#18 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S) – 5th Place
“A good race but very, very hard. Johannes (Stuck) did a fantastic job at the beginning of the race, the car was very fast but I think we had a problem when I took the wheel because lap after lap the car degraded in performance and at the end it was almost impossible to drive.  It had a lot of oversteer, so I think the problem was with the suspension or maybe a broken anti roll bar.  This is my first time with Mühlner Motorsport, it is a fantastic team, and this is a good result.  I hope I can work with them again at Zolder.”

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