Unlucky But Still Lucky
20th August 2006
The fifth round of the FIA GT Championship took place at the Circuit Paul
Ricard in Le Castellet (South France) on Sunday the 20th of August 2006. The
last international race which was held at this circuit was 8 years ago. This
modern high speed track is known as a perfect training facility for every kind
of race car. A lot of the drivers knew the circuit from test sessions with
their teams or with the FIA GT.
Thomas Biagi drove the qualifying and did the 2nd fastest time but on the
way to the grid on the 20th of August he had contact with a GT2 Ferrari and
damaged the car. He couldn’t get to the grid and he had to come back
to the pits to get the car repaired. After the mechanics did everything to
keep car no. 2 going for the race it was too late to get onto the grid and
Thomas had to start the race from the pit lane. After a short stint from Thomas,
Jamie got in the car and thankfully with a lot of overtaking possibilities
at Paul Ricard managed to get a podium position behind the two Corvettes. The
sister car with the no.1 finished 7th and got some important points for the
Championship.
Jamie: “I am glad that the race finished this way after what happened
before the start. A collision on the way to the grid is something new for me
but it seems that we are just unlucky this year. I am happy to be on the podium
but also sad because we had a good chance to be on top of the podium. I have
to thank Pirelli, Maserati and the team for a perfect job this weekend.”
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