[FIA GT Race] FIA GT Rnd 8: 29 Sep-1 Oct Hungary 2006

[Hazard]

Changes at BMS, as they will field four cars!

Two DBR9's as usual in GT1, and two DBRS9's in G3

Groppi & Seiler, and Rios/Stancheris/Zlobin in the other.

Also, Matteo Malucelli will replace Christian Pescatori in the #23 car alongside Fabio Babini - reasons not given.

Alzen will replace Collard in the Ebimotors Porsche, as Collard is racing for Penske in the Petit Le Mans.

[minimangler]

Alzen for Collard?
That's not much of loss of pace there.
I can see why he isn't bothered about missing a round though, because Porsches are so outdated now, and he stands no chance championship wise anymore.

[mirkob]

First Practice:

Pole for Saleen, but good lap for Murcielago with Bouchut and Kox in car !!

[Nick49]

Hello

Yes its early days but a Saleen, Aston Martin, Corvette, two Maserati's and then the Lamborghini. Well lets hope this sort of competition carries on through qualifying to the race.

Nick

[Nick49]

Hello

2nd practise and now the Corvette is on top and the Lamborghini down to 9th. Still its the qualifying that counts.

Nick

[mirkob]

Great pole for the Saleen Zakspeed !

Good 2nd for BMS Aston Martin Pirelli...

Note the Murcielago at 1" 3 from the pole, ahead 1 MC12 and 1 DBR) Michelin .. and the Balf (Dunlop) Saleen ...

[Nick49]

Hello

Yes another pole for Janis in the Saleen and a good mix as we go down the order with an Aston Martin, Maserati and a Corvette following. Good to see the Lamborghini making progress with a 7th place grid position but the Balfe Saleen is in its usual bottom GT1 spot and somewhat off the pace it seems.

Another good race in prospect.

Nick

[SALEEN S7R]

Nice to see Zakspeed on pole once again, can BMS or Vitaphone spoil the party though? Barring any problems it looks pretty straight forward for Zakspeed if qualifying is anything to judge by. Once again it is nice to see Scuderia Ecosse on pole in GT2, hopefully they can transfer that into a win in GT2 this time out.

[Nick49]

Hello

It seems that the Zakspeed team are running away with this one. Good to see the Lamborghini going so well at the moment.

Is it me or was live timing slow to appear today.

Nick

[Nick49]

Hello

And now the Corvette is second. No its not the live timing has just changed and its now six seconds behind Babini's Aston Martin. I see the Lamborghini has pitted again is down to 8th.

Nick

[Nick49]

Hello

Another triumph for the Zakspeed Saleen with the Corvette second and the Babini Aston Martin third. Can't wait to see my DVD recording of the race to see the action and why the Lamborghini had to have 4 stops, which dropped it down to 8th place. I presume the Maserati MC12's had loads of success ballast.

Nice to see Kirkaldy in the Ecosse Ferrari 430 take the GT2 win. Only 102 laps of the predicted 115 on the live timing so I presume some yellow flag action.

Nick

[chunterer]

Yep watched most of it on Bravo 2 (nee Player?).

Saleen inexorably pulled away, Bouchut in the Murcialago was phenomenal early on and then there was that Hungary 'typical train' mid race with Kox at the wheel of the Lambo fending off the 2 Viatphone MC12's and Ramos in the BMS DBR9 - great entertainment.

Then in the closing stages a tremendous battle between the same Aston? and Kumpen in the C6R.

A damn fine race by all accounts!!

[Hazard]

Other Aston of Babini. Ramos shared with Gollin whom was punted by the #1 Maserati.

No word on whether the Maserati's are looking at penalties, but basically the team titles their's anyway now.

Bert is now joint 2nd in the title race just 9 points behind Bartels/Bertolini. Big ask, but not impossible.

[SALEEN S7R]

Another good race, Zakspeed without any ballast were of course dominant and did walk away from the rest of the field though. Still, that wont be the case I think next time out. Good scrap between the MC12s and the Murciealgo, nice to see the Lambo running so well. GT2 was fairly interesting too, Kinch really had to work to get 1st place in class towards the end of the race, good to see Scuderia Ecosse back on form.

[minimangler]

nice to see the saleen win again
but maybe it is time we saw a few tweaks to the equalising formula, because mid engine cars seem to dominate the series?
i.e less power maybe, or more weight?
though that would be bad for lambo and saleen, but maybe just give them more power?
aston and corvette still quite even, but for me the astons have been the dissapointment of '06. the teams are good on paper, as are the drivers, so it's hard to see the issue, when as a works team they tend to set the pace. or is it just that euro competition is beter than american?