/*ONEIGHTURBO

Daniel Keilwitz took the chequered flag in the #101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3 to post the first GT3 European win for the marque since 2008.  The German finished over 10 seconds ahead of Manuel Rodrigues in the Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9, with race 1 winner Siso Cunill taking the second podium finish of the weekend for the #20 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The race got going on a wet track, and after the clean start of the first race, the second one wasn’t so smooth, with pole setter Dino Lunardi, in the #18 Toni Seiler Racing Corvette Z06 GT3 that he shares with Toni Seiler, spinning at the first corner and ending his hopes for a win, finishing in 13th. The car that shared the first row, the #21 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3 of Ashburn and Ragginger suffered a puncture in the rear right tyre and made its way back to the pits to fit a new tyre, also losing its lead. [It was later excluded from the race, having taken a tyre from the #20] The lead was quickly taken up by Hohenadel in the #101 who kept hold of it until lap 7 when the #12 Muelhner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Häring and Estre caught up and started to fight for the lead. Estre took the lead and held onto it until lap 12 where Estre spun off, suffered some damage and made it back to the pits where he retired.

As the pit window opened, the line at the pit entry seemed to cause quite a few problems during the pit window, with 6 cars having to take drive through penalties, having gone over the line when they shouldn’t have. 

After the pit stops, the #87 Chad Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia of Giacomo Petrobelli and Diego Alessi which had been slowly climbing up the grid,  took the lead,  but having failed to stop during the pit window, he received a 3.42 minute stop and go penalty.

Having started 5th, the #61 fought long and strong, stuck behind the #101 until after the pit stops, finally took the lead in lap 19, but a few moments later, drove off and got stuck in the gravel at Maggots, losing the lead and finishing the race in 23rd.

GT3 Race 2 Quotes

Winners of Race 2: #101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3

Christian Hohenadel: “I think we prepared the car well for these conditions. I was really lucky in the first corner. I think there was a bit of trouble and I found a good way through that and I found a place. It was a very good race for me, until I crossed the line at the pitstop. That was very bad for me because it was obvious after yesterday’s race, but I didn’t see the line. I’m very pleased that we finished first. The battle with the Porsche was very interesting. We had bad luck in overtaking the Audi, he didn’t see me, so came in to pass me. We had a very clean fight. Nevertheless I found a way to pass him.” 

Daniel Keilwitz: “Chris did a great job. He gave me the car in first position, then we got a drive through. I knew I had to push to get passed the cars in front of us. In the last laps, I could control first position and the last laps were easy for us. Yesterday we had problems with the engine and the hose  from water cooler came off and the windscreen was sprayed with water. But today we got a new engine and it was working fine. The team worked late last night.”

2nd place: #1 Hexis AMR, Aston Martin DBRS9

Frederic Makowiecki: “We are very happy. It’s important after the contact yesterday to be on the podium and take points for the championship. The start wasn’t very good, I lost a lot of time at the beginning. With a damp track, the car was very hard to control in these conditions.”

Manuel Rodrigues: “I feel it was a good race. I sort of damaged the car yesterday, which forced the team to work hard through the night to give us a very good car. My team-mate made a good start. He avoided a lot of traps and gave me a car that was drivable and I took it from there. I want to thank the team for that.” 

3rd place: #20 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3 R

Tim Bergmeister: “Siso Cunill did a very good job again. I was stuck in traffic and I got overtaken during my stint and couldn’t pass him again. I lost a lot of time there, but he did a really good stint. It’s not the strongest car, but it’s a big step forward over last year.”

Jose Luis Cunill: “I’m really happy. Today was a difficult race. I had to overtake some guys. The car wasn’t 100% but was still working well. The track was really dirty and it was difficult to push and be on the track at the same time. I think it’s a good result. Our team is very happy. I think it’s been a good weekend. We’ll carry on working on the car and we’ll see for next time.”

- FIA GT3

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