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| Season 2007 > News |
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Prior to the end of season FIA GT championship Jos Menten travelled down to Hockenheim, for the last two rounds of the ADAC GT Masters 2007. Together with his fellow countryman Marius Ritskes, Jos Menten shared a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of the German Reiter Engineering team. Earlier this season Menten booked several successes in the ADAC GT Masters, and together with Ritskes he is fully determined to continue on through on a high note.
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With eight different manufacturers, split over 30 cars, Hockenheim is hosting an exceptionally strong field. During the first free practice, held on the Thursday afternoon, Menten and Ritkes are out on a reconnoitring exercise. The Dutch duo clock up a ninth best time overall, and are the second best Lamborghini team. The second free practice also runs to plan: “We’re well in here”, the driver from Haelen comments. “Our tenth time doesn’t actually reflect our full potential. We’ll put all our cards on the table during qualifying.”
On Saturday it is Marius Ritskes who handles the qualifying. During this session, reserved for the ‘B-drivers’, the black Gallardo GT3 clocks up the nineteenth place: “Not the ideal situation for the first race but everything is still possible in these one hour sprint races”, Menten tells us. The pace is faster with the ‘A-drivers’. Jos Menten clocks up the third time, just behind his FIA GT team mate Peter Kox: “I don’t think I could have gone very much faster. The car and the tyres were good, but the Corvette was clearly faster. We got everything out of the car, and its showing great perspectives for the second race.”
The eleventh round of the 2007 ADAC GT Masters 2007 was held on Saturday afternoon, as a curtain raiser to the Deutsche Tourwagen Masters. The ‘B-drivers took the start and Ritskes defends himself well in the 30 strong field. Just over half an hour later he dives into the pits to hand over the drive to Jos Menten. Fully determined the 26 year old Dutchman rushes out on to the track. During his catch-up session the ‘Flying Dutchman’ overtakes some ten competitors. At the end of the race Ritskes and Menten finish in sixth place: “Sixth place was the utmost we could achieve today I reckon. We were too far down to really climb back up, but notwithstanding that I’m still satisfied with the result.”
The final round of the ADAC GT Masters season ends in a less positive manner for the Dutch duo. At the start Jos Menten is able to hold his third spot but after only a couple of bends the story is over: “I’d started off well and could easily hold my third place”, Menten starts off his story. “But in the second bend everything went wrong. I cut in short and hit the power too soon. I spun around and was then nudged by another car. End of story. We’re now getting ready for the last FIA GT-race of the season. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we can end our campaign with a great result.”
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14-10-2007 |
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