First Podium This Season
8th July 2007
The 5th round of the 2007 FIA GT was held on the 8th July in Oschersleben,
Germany. After a really cold and windy Saturday Qualifying which left Jamie
in 8th position the Sunday race day was sunny and very warm (27°C).
The start of the race was exciting like the drivers had previously said before
the race because the first chicane in Oschersleben had changed and it is even
tighter than it already was. Jamie got up to 4th place after the first chicane
and held his position for the first 30 minutes but he had two Maseratis of
Scuderia Play team close behind pushing really hard. Oschersleben is called
by a lot of drivers “A Mickey Mouse Circuit” because it has so
many tight corners. The circuit suits the Maseratis extremely well and the
last two years a Maserati has won the FIA GT races there. Jamie was fighting
really hard in his Aston Martin DBR9 to keep the position but after 31 minutes
he got bumped and passed by both Maseratis. Jamie was in 6th place in front
of his team mates´ car no 22 but D. Alessi attempted a ‘lunge’ pass
turning in the start finish corner and spun Jamie and himself and both cars
lost time. Jamie came in for his first pit stop after this happened and gave
the car to Fabio with new tyres.
Fabio was driving constantly and got up to 5th place before he had to change
back to Jamie again. Jamie drove the last 40 minutes of the race and was trying
to catch up Bertolini Maserati in 4th place but couldn’t keep up with
his speed so he stayed in 5th place when the chequered flag was shown.
Jamie was disappointed about what happened in the race with the other car
of his team but this is racing sometimes and he still got 4 points for this
result.
On the way to Berlin to catch his flight Jamie got a phone call from his engineer
and was told that the Corvette who won the race was disqualified after the
scrutineering and also the Lamborghini in 3rd place didn’t pass the scrutineering
which meant for Jamie he finished 3rd. The new result after the FIA GT Scrutineering
is: 1st Bartels / Biagi, 2nd Bertolini / Piccini, 3rd Davies / Babini. Jamie
and Fabio had there first podium but missed out to collect the trophy, the
press conference and the champagne but the most important bit for both of them
are 6 points for the championship!
Jamie: “It was a difficult weekend. The circuit is not easy to drive
because of a lot tight turns and the circuit didn’t suit our car very
much. It was so hard to try a keep up with the speed of the Maseratis and the
Corvette and to have such a result in Oschersleben is fantastic. The result
for the team this race is brilliant. Both cars caught points and it helps for
the team championship. It is a shame that we missed the podium procedure but
what counts in the end are the points. After the Corvette and the Lamborghini
were disqualified because they had illegal parts on their cars we got more
points than we thought after we saw the chequered flag, so I am happy to get
more points for the championship. We learned a lot about the car and the tyres
in Oschersleben and we are looking forward to the next race in Spa- Francorchamps
at the end of July. It will be a very important race because it is 24 hours
and you can get double points for the championship.”
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