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| Season 2007 > News |
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As curtain raiser for the Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix at Circuit Zolder - the American Formula 1 - the ADAC GT Masters held their seventh and eighth rounds. The Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 #7 of Reiter Engineering is usually driven by the Italian Gianni Morbidelli and the German Christopher Haase. But seeing Morbidelli had other commitments it was left to Jos Menten to get behind the wheel of the orange liveried Gallardo in Zolder. The 26 year old Dutchman is competing in the entire FIA GT championship with a Lamborghini Murciélago prepared by Reiter Engineering, and is therefore the ideal replacement driver for the Italian ex-F1 driver. For Menten and Haase the weekend kicked off on Friday with a fourth and fifth time in the free practice sessions.
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On a sunny track the Reiter Engineering Lamborghinis dominated the free practice: “We used the first free practice to improve the car’s set-up. At the end I still managed to go through the sand trap. I had two options: either run over the new - and high - kerbstones or just drive through the sand trap. The latter option was the safest, because I didn’t want to damage the car by going over the kerbs”, Jos Menten recapitulated. Menten-Haase finished the first free practice in fifth spot (1:36,582), and the second in fourth (1:35,940). “But we still have room for some improvement”, the driver from Haelen remarked. “We’re going to set-up the brakes tomorrow. We’re losing too much time in the braking zones as compared to our competitors, but we’ll have that problem sorted out tomorrow.”
The first qualifying session was reserved for the ‘B-drivers’, and Christopher Haase found himself putting in a perfect lap and clinching pole for the first race. This is his third pole in four weekends! With a lap time of 1:33,667 the young German even managed to break the GT3-pole record of Peter Kox at the Belcar Midsummer Race. Jos Menten had to content himself with a third place in the ‘A-pool’ (1:34,069), some three tenths from Peter Kox (Reiter Engineering #7) and Christophe Bouchut (All-Inkl.com Racing #10).
The ‘B-drivers’ took the start of the first race. Christopher Haase cashed in on his pole position and built up an excellent lead. At the pitstop the difference with the followers amounted to some fifteen seconds. All that Jos Menten had to do was consolidate the lead and bring the car safely to the chequered flag: “Christopher did all the work. All I had to do was take over the car and bring it to the finish line. My first win of the season. I had just about forgotten what champagne tastes like! All in all I must thank the entire team, who provided us with an excellent car today!”
The second ADAC GT Masters race was scheduled to be run after the Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix. The numerous crowds having just experienced Sebastian Bourdais’ victory are on hand to watch the clash of the titans between the ‘A-drivers’ on the Sunday afternoon: “I didn’t want to take any risks and held back at the start. Jan Lammers was able to get passed me on the inside, but up front Christophe Bouchut and Peter Kox came into contact. In the crash that ensued I opted for the correct driving line. As a result I came out in second place, just behind Peter Kox. A great pity that the clerk of the course penalised him with a drive through penalty … because this gave us victory on a silver salver. Christopher finished off the race quietly, and as such we have our second victory of the weekend!”, a beaming and highly satisfied Jos Menten remarked.
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26-08-2007 |
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