[FIA GT] FIA GT Finale - Zolder - 23, 24, 25 Oct.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

congratulations to Westy, they are crazy at Porsche dropping him from the factory squad !!! a real shame for PEKA, that was close, that off at Paul Ricard was fatal...

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by The359

Interesting second GT3/Belgian GT race on now. One of the MP Alpinas just t-boned a Belgian GT Porsche, causing the Porsche to flip twice!

Yeah, that was a spectacular incident.

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

Ferrari don't have a "Works Driver" Programme like Porsche do.

I'm surprised to learn that, but it does seem to me Ferrari has their favorite drivers and puts them in the rides where they see fit in a lot of cases.

Chris

[The359]

I would have at least thought that Bruni was on the Ferrari payroll.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

Originally Posted by GrayWolf

But Melo, Salo, Bruni, Vilander, Kaffer are all Ferrari drivers right?Aren't they some sort of Works drivers?

Melo, Bruni and Vilander are factory Ferrari drivers no doubts about that, Pierre Kaffer not...

[NightStalk3r]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

Melo, Bruni and Vilander are factory Ferrari drivers no doubts about that, Pierre Kaffer not...

Ferrari do not have a Factory Driver Programme so how can they be Factory Drivers?

[ger80]

Well, they are not part of the Factory Driver Programme, they are just employed by mistake. And due to the fact that their contracts runs some time, its better to put them in a car instead of having them sitting in the sun only

[Stefvh]

Back from Zolder.

Waow, loads of people, from 10 to 6.30pm.

Great races, good day

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by arakis

congratulations to Westbrook he deserved the title, he was the fastest driver all season long.

Also Congrats to AF corse and Ferrari for the Team and Manu Titles

And of course Congratulations to Porsche for an excellent season, it was a long time coming.... Next season is going to be murders, too bad Fia Gt2 will be crap next year since there will be no pro/pro driver combinations

How much were you paid to give congrats to Porsche?

[tatounet]

Originally Posted by The359

Interesting second GT3/Belgian GT race on now. One of the MP Alpinas just t-boned a Belgian GT Porsche, causing the Porsche to flip twice!

video here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmlA6...layer_embedded

[WMUCarGuy]

Does anyone know which chassis Vitaphone ran this season as #1, 2, and 33?

[byronb]

Here an article (In Dutch) about PK putting in a protest, in what seems to be against car number 1, the stewards gave car number 1 a 30 seconds penalty, but Hezemans/Kumpen don't agree and went to the Court of Appeal.. They also say the punishment for the yellow flag was nonsense as they set their time when the yellow flag was gone.

http://www.racexpress.nl/index.php?n...ikel&nid=19115

[The359]

The qualifying penalty is already too late, they can't change the race result for that.

However even if the #1 has received a 30 second penalty, they don't lose any position, they were 34 seconds ahead of the #19 Luc Alphand Corvette in 4th. Any longer time penalty wont change their position at all, because only the top 4 were on the lead lap.

[racerspics]

Some Pics of Zolder are online.

racerspics.de

Album friday Pits and GT3

Album saturday FIA GT training

Album sunday FIA GT warm up and race


have fun
Ralf

[cmk]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

They drive Ferrari's, but there not Employed by Ferrari like Porsche works drivers are.

In many cases I believe their favoured drivers act as test drivers/shakedown drivers and receive a salary for that job, so Ferrari does pay them, just not directly to race. Obviously having contacts with Corse Clienti teams through that job and their employer doesn't hurt! A lot of Ferrari Challenge cars, for instance, need to be shaken down, and previously drivers like Andrea Bertolini and Maurizio Mediani have used that role as a springboard into competition.

Anyway, regardless of who is paying whom to do what, Richard Westbrook is a very deserving champion and I heartily congratulate him and Prospeed for the job they did this year. What a pity Emmanuel Collard wasn't able to share it - a secure paycheque is always nice, but at the cost of a championship?! Another great year for AF Corse too, no two ways about it - wonder if their use of #50 as a development car late in the season helped or hindered.

In GT1, it's yet another demonstration of Vitaphone's domination in GT racing. Spectacular stuff by them even if they do make use of their extensive budget to employ ringers like the #33 this year. In lieu of Audi, they have set the standard for GT cars in Europe in the most recent era. Perhaps if Corvette wasn't distributed through so many customers, things would have been different...

In GT3, it's evidence once again that anyone, including Vitaphone Maserati, has to bow to Audi as the sportscar manufacturer and entrant (at least through choosing their official teams) that dominated the decade. A great debut championship for Phoenix Racing and Haase/Mies in the Euro series and for Phoenix with Verbergt/Hemroulle in Belgium. Add that to Abt's ADAC championship, the improving performance of the single cars in France and Italy and their strong Nordschleife runs to date and you have a very dominant debut year.

[racerspics]

PK Carsport has lodged an appeal against the #33 and the #1. The #1 got a penalty of 30s because too many people worked at the car during the pitstop.

Fotos of the race are online @

http://www.racerspics.de/bilder/


Regards Ralf

[byronb]

If the #33 gets a 30s penalty, then the story can be a whole lot different..

[The359]

After the race, Pekaracing lodged protests against the nr 1 and 33 cars, concerning the success ballast carried by those cars and a pit stop infringement on the nr 1. The Stewards declined the protests concerning the success ballast, and awarded the nr 1 car a drive-through penalty converted to a 30 second penalty for the nr 1 car. Pekaracing has appealed the two decisions concerning the nr 1 car, meaning the results are provisional. They are also provisional pending technical checks and fuel analysis on cars 1 and 4.

So it seems Peka is appealing the decision not to do anything about the ballast (what do they expect the FIA to do about it?) and for how long the penalty would be for having too many men working on the car. 30 seconds is standard procedure, again, what do they expect?

This is really sour grapes, I think.

[byronb]

I do understand them, to be honest Vitaphone has been quite favoured this season (Saleen disqualify at Hungaroring, PK pole taken away at Zolder just to name 2). And not even mentioning the team orders.

[Kessen]

18/05/2008: "In GT2, Belgian team Prospeed Competition crossed the line first with the Porsche driven by Collard and Westbrook, ahead of the two AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT2 cars. However, the Porsche was later excluded further to a pitlane refuelling infringement."

25/10/2009: "After the end of the race, the nr 1 Maserati received a 30-second time penalty for a pit stop infringement..."

[Spyderman]

Good Lord! If you show that to Arakis, he will have a conniption!

[putje]

Fantastic looking car the Ford GT :

[lemansfan]

Yes you are right .The Car looks very well and the sound was fantastic .
For the technic Fans Front Suspension and Brake from the Ford GT !!

http://s12.directupload.net/file/d/1960/ct3lzq6k_jpg

[Kidzer]

That Ford is probably the nicest of the 2010 GT1 cars, certainly looks better than the Nissan - I think.

[arakis]

Originally Posted by Kessen

18/05/2008: "In GT2, Belgian team Prospeed Competition crossed the line first with the Porsche driven by Collard and Westbrook, ahead of the two AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT2 cars. However, the Porsche was later excluded further to a pitlane refuelling infringement."

This was over rulled at the court of the apeals so I dont understand what is the point. There was an infringement of the rule, but it was deemed unimportant at court

[The359]

Prospeed's penalty was for a refueling violation. Vitaphone's penalty was for having too many people working on the car. Two different violations, two different penalties.