 
|
| Season 2007 > News |
|
|
The 7th and 8th September will see the seventh round of the FIA FT championship. For the second time this season the FIA GT circus will be guests in Italy. The race, being held in Adria, is the first since the Total 24 Hours of Spa in July. Now half way through the season there are five points registered to the Jos Menten-Peter Kox duo, the two Dutchmen racing for the German HD GIGAWAVE Reiter Engineering team. After a heavy race the Lambo-duo collect further points for the championship, having finished in sixth place.
|
The first free practice session is as per usual spent in running an evaluation programme for the Michelin tyres. At the end of the 90 minutes long session the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT with number 28 is in ninth place (1:14.831): “Our classic place after the initial practice session”, Menten comments. “We just tested the various tyre compounds, and we now know which direction to take for the set-up. Our presumptions have been confirmed, Adria is our sort of track”, we are told after the first practice session.
Peter Kox soon proves that they are fast during the second free practice. The Brabant based driver brings the Lambo up to the third best time (1:13.659), just under two tenths from the best time. “Apart from the minor problem we experienced with the differential near the end it’s all looking pretty good. The car handles well, the tyres are up to requirements and for the rest we are well matched. This goes to show that Monza, Spa and Oschersleben weren’t mere flukes”, the driver from Haelen adds.
At HD GIGAWAVE Reiter Engineering they reckon that they can still go faster. The Lamborghini is converted into qualifying trim. Kox gets everything out of the car and finishes the fifteen minutes qualifying session in fifth place with a lap time of 1:12.562: “We’re well in here. The difference between the cars is minimal”, Jos Menten remarks. “Only the Jet Alliance Aston is competing out of category, and we can’t measure up with them. But the race is still way off. Lots of things could still happen tomorrow.”
During the warm-up Menten clocks up a 1:14,523, resulting in a fourth time: “We’re fully prepared and ready to go!”, are the echoes from the HD GIGAWAVE Reiter Engineering pits. Peter Kox is at the wheel to take the start. Kox manages to retain fifth place for a short time, but the Lambo is then overtaken by the PK Carsport Corvette C5-R. After some twenty minutes Kox comes in for a scheduled pit stop. Jos Menten takes over the wheel. The team lets the man from Limburg leave without a tyre change: “A tactical choice to save time in the pit lane. By not changing tyres we have saved at least fifteen seconds, which makes a world of a difference in this hyper competitive FIA GT championship. But unfortunately our plan turned a bit sour. I had a bit of trouble with pick-up… whereby I wasn’t able to use the car’s full potential.”
Just over one hour into the race Menten enters the pits for the second and last compulsory pit stop: “I came in as planned, but we lost some time in the pit lane due to traffic. Peter took over once again, and was able to maintain a place in the top ten. We managed to close the gap with the Corvette, and went off chasing after points. In the race’s final faze two drivers ahead of us made a mistake allowing us to gain another two places. Another competitor was called in for a splash and dash. Our strategy worked, but we couldn’t do better than a sixth place today. Once again we can look back on the positive results we achieved during the practice, qualifying and warm-up. We’re heading off home with three additional points.”
|
| |
| « Terug |
10-09-2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
