Promising debut for Corvette C6 in GT4 European Cup
Source: GM Europe
Apr 21, 2008 - 4:49:57 PM
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The first weekend of FIA GT racing at Silverstone saw some good performances of
the Corvette teams in their respective disciplines. Most of the action took
place under gloomy conditions, the often changing track causing spins and
crashes which led to a number of safety car interventions. All this did not
prevent Danny van Dongen from scoring a well deserved second place in the
opening round of the GT4 European Cup. The Dutch driver had surprised everybody
by qualifying the Kroymans Racing Corvette C6 GT4 on the front row. The brand
new car, recently built by Callaway Competition in Germany, had only been tested
shortly and made its race debut at the English circuit. Van Dongen put in a very
strong performance and got to within 0.7 second of race winner Nikolaus
Mayr-Melmhof, underlining that the Corvette C6 in GT4 trim has tremendous
potential for the series.
Van Dongens good result was copied in race 2 of
the FIA GT3 European Championship by the French team of James Ruffier/Arnaud
Peyrolles. From a ninth grid position they climbed up through the field to claim
the runner-up spot in their Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z06R.
In
the first round of the FIA GT Championship the Corvettes C6.R of
Fässler/Déletraz (Phoenix Racing) and Bouchut/Maassen (Selleslagh Racing)
started from the front row. Both teams as well as the other Phoenix C6.R of
Hezemans/Gollin were in strong positions during the first hour. However the pit
stops, Déletraz being hit by another car and an unclear safety car situation
with 20 minutes to go caused turmoil, dropping Bouchut/Maassen to fourth,
Hezemans/Gollin to fifth and demoting Fässler/Déletraz to eighth.
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