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News Archive » Top Three in Germany July 6, 2008 Andrew Kirkaldy and Rob Bell took an FIA GT podium finish at Oschersleben in Germany today. Their CR Scuderia team-mates, Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen, showed great pace throughout the two-hour race but finished 11th after trouble in the pits. Mullen and Bell both got away well at the start and maintained their third and fifth place grid positions. As the race got going Mullen was pitched into a bumper-to-bumper battle with the AF Corse Ferrari of Montanari, whilst Bell set off after Richard Westbrook’s Porsche. Rob passed the Porsche and moved up to fourth just before Mullen pitted to hand over to Chris Niarchos. The drama began when the no.55 Ferrari wouldn’t start so Niarchos had to be push-started in the pitlane. Unfortunately as well as losing time in the stop the car would also incur a drive through penalty as push starting isn’t allowed. The team had to do it, even though they knew there would be a penalty, as it was the only way to start the car. Once Niarchos was on track though he drove a great stint and stayed out for almost an hour before handing back over to Mullen. “The car was awesome today,” said Tim. “It’s a shame we had the starting problems as we were really quick and on for a good result. I was all over Montanari at the start but I just couldn’t find a way through. I didn’t want to risk a big lunge so I played safe. All in all it would good to have the pace and hopefully we’ll get a great result at Spa.” In the meantime Rob Bell was still flying and han! ded over to Andrew Kirkaldy in third place. Kirkaldy had a trouble-free run which he was pleased about as he had a tough time yesterday. During the pre-qualifying session he had an ‘off’ which heavily damaged the no.56 Ferrari. The team worked flat out to fix the car in time for qualifying and all was well until Andrew struck a kerb and damaged the water radiator during the qualifying session itself. Unfortunately that particular kerb was damaged earlier in the day and the repairs had built it up higher than before. Andrew wasn’t the only driver to clobber it! “It was a fairly straightforward race for me,” commented Kirkaldy. “We chose the harder tyres due to the accident in qualifying (you have to nominate your tyre choice before qualifying); we weren’t sure we would be ready to qualify so, knowing we may have to start at the back, we chose the harder tyre. This meant we were a little slow in the middle stint. The safety car didn’t really help us either but after Adria I think this is a great result and now I’m really looking forward to Spa.” With almost thirty minutes of the race remaining the safety car came out so Kirklady pitted and handed back over to Bell. When the safety car came in with 20 minutes remaining on the clock Bell found himself in third place and in a bit of a Ferrari sandwich. Although he was racing with Montanari for second place he couldn’t get to the AF Corse Ferrari as another AF Corse Ferrari was between them. With no blue flags shown to the lapped Ferrari Rob was unable to attack for second place and had to settle for third at the flag. “This has been a tough weekend in many ways and it is a real testament to the guys that we got a podium finish,” said Bell. “I don’t want to labour the point but there were no blue flags shown after the safety car went in. You had the first, second and third placed GT! 2 cars all within a few metres of each other but with lapped cars in between them.” “This is a brilliant result for the team,” said Niarchos. “I
think we got rid of a few cobwebs and demons today. Rob and Andrew got a well-deserved
third place, Tim set the fastest GT2 lap and my middle stint was the best I
have driven for a couple of years. I think this is a great platform to take
us into Spa. We are going straight there now for the test on Tuesday and are
all greatly looking forward to the 24 hour race in a few week’s time.” FIA GT CHAMPIONSHIP - Round 4 - Oschersleben, Germany - 6 July 2008 GT2 RACE RESULT 11. Niarchos/Mullen - CR Scuderia ENDS |
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