AF Corse Motorola out of luck in Spa 24 Hours
The AF Corse Motorola Team Ferrari F430 GT cars were forced
to retire from the sixth round of the FIA GT championship,
the Spa 24 Hours.
During the third hour of the race, Dirk Mueller, then leading
the GT2 class, came across some oil on the track and crashed
violently into the barriers, damaging amongst other things,
the water radiators. Unfortunately, while trying to bring
the car back to the pits, the engine on the Ferrari F430 GT
overheated too much, thus putting it out of the long-distance
event, despite the valiant efforts of the team mechanics.
Car 51, crewed by the trio of Bruni, Ortelli and Aguas, had
to retire, although it picked up eight championship points
as it was in second place at the 6 and 12 hour marks. In the
first hour of the morning, Aguas was caught out at the wheel
of the Ferrari F430 GT by a sudden shower and the car went
off at the famous Radillon corner: The car was irreparable
and the driver underwent a few hours observation in a Liege
hospital, but fortunately already after lunch, the unlucky
Portuguese driver was let out.
For the record, the GT1 category was won by the Corvette
of Fassler-Hezemans-Deltraz-Gollin, ahead of the Maserati
of Biagi-Van de Poele-Bartels-Lamy and the Corvette of Kumpen-Longin-
Mollekens-Bouvy.
GT2 saw a clean sweep for Porsche, with Collard-Malucelli-Lieb
on the top step of the podium. This was the first spoke in
the wheels this season for Team AF Corse Motorola who, after
an amazing run of five wins from five races, had to leave
the Ardennes circuit with a bitter taste in its mouth. Despite
this setback, the Mueller-Vilander duo still leads the drivers’
classification, while AF Corse Motorola does the same in the
team order. Amato Ferrari and the whole team are already concentrating
on the next race, to be held on the twisty Adria circuit on
8 September.
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