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| Season 2007 > News |
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For Jos Menten and Marius Ritskes the ADAC GT3 Masters outing ended without a single kilometre on the clock. During the first free practice session the mechanics were still busy repairing the damage after the Belcar Midsummer Race incident. A few hours later the car was finally prepared when suddenly the engine gave up the ghost. Marius Ritskes still had a spare engine to hand, but when trying to swap engines further complications arose and the Dutchman decided to threw in the towel.
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With this premature retirement in the ADAC GT3 Masters Menten is able to fully concentrate on his FIA GT programme. Oschersleben needed to be the turning point for Jos Menten and his team-mate Peter Kox. During the free practice sessions the Dutch duo tested out hard compound tyres for the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT #8 of All-Inkl.com Reiter Lamborghini. The Dutch pair finally finished eighth and ninth in the free practices sessions: “It’s the best choice to start out with the hardest possible tyres. This circuit takes a lot out of the tyres, and our intention is to run the race without a tyre change. This is why we opted for the type of tyre providing the most constant performance. This should allows us to save a least fifteen seconds during the pitstops. In fact the lap times we recorded during the sessions do not reflect our real potential”, the 26 year old driver from Dutch Limburg told us.
For the second time this season Jos Menten took on the qualifying. After the fifteen minute long session the Dutchman reflects on his flying laps: “The tyre pressure was too high during my first stint. This is the reason why I over braked in the first bend. I decided to come in and the team lowered the tyre pressures. After that the car felt much better. I still had three laps to go, and I clocked up a 1:26,5 … giving us a fifth row on the grid. Not particularly impressive, but the difference with the cars in front of us is pretty small. We reckon that most will be starting on soft compounds, so it’s looking pretty good for the race”, the driver from Haelen added. The small difference between the fifth and eleventh place once more emphasises the championship’s competitiveness. Four tenths of a second separate the third and fifth rows.
During the warm-up Hans Reiter sends his drivers out with a revised tuning: “The new set-up didn’t really come up to expectations. The team has now entirely altered the frontal area. Everything should now be perfect for the race”, Menten commented. The driver from Haelen takes the start, and is able to avoid an Aston Martin that had spun in the first bend … but Menten is nudged by another GT1 competitor: “I didn’t actually have a very good start, but I chose the perfect line in the bend and was able to climb up into fifth or sixth spot. This is when I got nudged by a GT1-car, which resulted in the bonnet coming loose. This cost me some twelve places”, Menten told us. But the fast Dutchman climbs up into ninth place and after half an hour of racing hands over the drive to Peter Kox. The team decides not to fit a new bonnet. Notwithstanding a lack of aerodynamic efficiency Kox drives a fast and consistent stint. This results in the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT #8 moving up into sixth place.
With some 47 minutes to go Jos Menten retakes the wheel: “I went out to find the fifth lying Aston Martin of Davies-Babini. Ten minutes before the finish the difference was down to a mere ten seconds. In my fervour to catch Davies I went slightly off the track, which resulted in my having to battle it out with the faster Maserati of Pier Guidi. I was able to hold him off for a few laps, but on the straight he took full advantage of his Maserati’s higher top speed. I then decided to reduce the pace and be content with a seventh place. Looking back on the race a top-five ranking was definitely feasible … but once again fate had other ideas. We can at least leave Oschersleben with our heads held high. We have scored our first points in the championship … finally!”
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08-07-2007 |
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