Motorcity Dubai Motorsport Festival
FIA GT3 European Championship Race One
Race fans attending the final day of the Motorcity Dubai Motorsport Festival are in for a treat as the FIA GT3 European Championship title will be decided on Saturday (17 November) thanks to a well calculated drive to victory by championship contenders Luca Pirro and Jurgen von Gratzen in the Martini Callaway Corvette. They now trail championship leaders Gilles Vannelet and Henri Moser who could only manage third place in their Kessel Racing Ferrari.
After the race Pirro commented, "We have only one thing to do and that is win the final race of the season here at the Dubai Autodrome and that will be our focus."
The win for the Corvette was by no means a cruise as Pirro spun, to avoid another car, during his first stint but collected himself and started pounding out a series of fast laps that allowed von Gratzen to take control of the race and take the chequered in the second stint.
The Team Berlanga Ascari drivers Rory Bertram and Jonathan Lang scored the team's best result coming in second within two seconds of the winners. Their superb performance played into the hands of the winners by "stealing" two points away from the title championship leaders.
UAE Champion Karim Al Azhari was struck by bad luck when the Apex Jaguar XKR retired after 5 laps while Dubai resident Tarek Elgammal partnered David Ashburn in the Trackspeed Porsche finished eighteenth.
FIA GT3 Race Day 1 Results (top ten)
(Position, driver, car make, race time)
1. Pirri/Von Gartzen Corvette Z06R 1:00:24.299
2. Lang/Bertram Ascari KZ1R 1:00:25.689
3. Vannelet/Moser Ferrari 430 1:00:52.095
4. Skula/Matzke Corvette Z06R 1:00:53.830
5. Lagniez/Makowiecki Aston Martin DBRS9 1:00:54.039
6. Quaife/Keen Ascari KZ1R 1:00:56.130
7. Alessi/Frassineti Aston Martin DBRS9 1:01:10.544
8. Khan/Daoudi Ferrari 430 1:01:11.231
9. Spooner/Kaye Ascari KZ1R 1:01:21.393
10. La Marca/Deletraz Lamborghini Gallardo 1:01:21.971
© Press Release 2007
