Quotes from Round 12 - Zolder

Christopher Haase, 2009 FIA GT3 European Champion
"I'm delighted, it was unbelievable. For me this is the best result in my career; I'm so really happy to be the new FIA GT3 European Champion together with Christopher.  I think I need to sleep for one night to be sure I am not dreaming.  The Audi R8 is a very good car, I think the experience from Audi and the professionalism of Phoenix Racing was the key for us to win this championship.  I'm not sure what I will be doing in 2010 but I will continue in motorsport and winning this championship will be a big help.  We will see."

Christopher Mies, 2009 FIA GT3 European Champion
“The race was very difficult when the rain started, it was very slippery.  I saw cars sliding off the track so I just tried to keep my car on the circuit and then I came into the pits in 6th or 7th position to hand over to Christopher.  We changed to wet tyres but I think it would have been better to stay on slicks like the Ferrari of Gatusso, but we finished in 4th from 8th on the grid, so it was a good race.  This year has been a great year, the Audi has been very strong over the whole season and Phoenix Racing and Audi have done a perfect job.  To finish the season at FIA GT3 European Champion is a dream, it is a big step for me in only my fourth season of car racing, and I hope that this will lead to good things next season.”

Philippe Dumas, Team Principle Hexis Racing AMR - 2009 FIA GT3 European Team Champions
"Hexis is a private team and we work a lot with Aston Martin to develop the DBRS9, so for sure it is a perfect year.  The Team Championship is more representative for us and we are very happy to win this title.  This succes is for everyone in the team; we are only a small team with eight people, it is not a lot and everyone has worked very, very hard.  We started this year with a lot of question marks over the performance of the car and we worked a lot with Aston Martin to improve everything and we have the proof that the job is done.  we now have a very professional team to probably go up into the GT1 World Championship next year.  We will have two cars in GT3 next season to defend the title for sure and we are 80% at the moment on GT1 but we hope to be there as well.  I am very happy to be at this point today."

Steffano Gattuso nr8 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia
"This is fantastic, a win in the last race of the year.  We started in 13th place and we over took a lot of cars.  At the end of my stint it started to rain and the track was very slippery.  We decided to stay on slick tyres and it was a very important decision for us and we took the first victory of the season, which is very important for me and the whole team.  We all worked very hard during the season with the car and we are happy to get this result in the final race of 2009. Lorenzo and I would like to dedicate this victory to Loris Kessel, the team owner of Kessel Racing, and we will see everyone again next year."

Claudia Huertgen nr24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3
"This was a good end to a difficult season.  We started with a brand new car at Silverstone and we were far away at that event.  My goal was to get on the podium this year and I'm very happy that it was on the last race of 2009. The whole team has worked very hard to get the car to where it is now and I'm pleased for the whole team with this result.  The start was OK, but then it started to rain and the safety car came out. I wasn't sure whether to stay out on dry tyres or how long the safety car would stay out so we decided to come in for the rain tyres.  We then went back onto dry tyres for the last eight laps, which I think was the right decision.  It was really good to Csaba fighting at the end, he has been a good teammate this season.  The pressure was on him once he put the dry tyres back on, but the pressure was also on him in Paul Ricard when he was in the lead.  We've had a few chances to get on the podium but now we have it and I'm very happy."

Csaba Walter nr24 Alpina BMW Alpina B6 GT3
"I think we really needed this podium finish because it put the whole team in a good mood over the winter. This was my first season in the FIA GT3, it was really good experience.  I hope I learnt a lot and I think we will be in a good position for next season."

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