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Good bye, Silverstone!

What a difference a week or two makes: Coming from a ghost town atmosphere of empty seats in Istanbul to the 24 hours of Le Mans where 234,000 race fans had one big party together. And now the classic Silverstone Grand Prix which unfortunately will be held for the last time. Donington has the Grand Prix from 2010 on for the next 17 years, we hear. The fact that races are dropped is nothing new in F1. I myself have driven no fewer than four races which are not on the calendar any longer: Imola, Indianapolis, Montreal and Magny-Cours. Strictly speaking, Spa and Suzuka were also temporarily off. But we have hardly ever heard an outrage like the one over Silverstone. The track is simply great, a real drivers' circuit with many quick corners where the driver can still make the difference. Also, you are quite close to the grandstands. This is why Silverstone is one of the few tracks where you really feel tha atmospere in the crowd. You notice those tens of thousands of fans when you come in. British race fans are unique. They spend half a month's pay for tickets, queue at the entrance for hours if needed, and remain in their seats from dusk till dawn, no matter how bad the weather. And the average F1 fan in Silverstone knows more about the sport than so-called experts in other countries. This year, all the pressure is obviously on Jenson Button. The whole country wants to see him win before the curtain drops. But then again, there is always Rubens Barrichello who has had great races in Silverstone ever since he came into F1. It was here that he could beat Schumacher racing neck to neck. And last year he sensationally brought the inferior Honda home in 3rd place. So it will be no easy job for Jenson. Personally I will miss Silverstone as a Grand Prix venue. But then again, I might like Donington as well from a regular Grand Prix drivers perspective next year.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE SILVERSTONE-WEEKEND
Most F1 teams have their home base near Silverstone. 14 of the 20 cars are built and developed near by. And most F1 drivers have an appartment in the vicinity for that very reason.

Donington has hosted Formula One once, in 1993. My childhood hero Ayrton Senna made history on the first lap in his inferior McLaren. He started fifth and overtook one car after another until he was leading. All in half a lap! It was a magic moment that is still remembered by many.

A little review of the 24 hours of Le Mans, where we suffered a big setback when Pedro Lamy had a pitlane crash in the first hour of the race:
Our quickest race lap at Le Mans:                 240,10 kph average
Silverstone quickest race lap 2007 (dry):      229,51 kph average
Top speed at Le Mans:                                   335 kph
Top speed at Silverstone 2008 (dey):            299 kph

Complete result

Unsung heroes at Le Mans: From 51 to 6

'This was a day on the dark side of a racing driver's life', Christian Klien commented after what had been a character building 24 hours. 'It wasn't to be obviously. We had the pace to win. But this strange incident in the first hour was a massive blow. It was like football when you step onto the pitch and you are already 0-5 behind. Halfway through the race we encountered a few technical issues. Altogether we lost 53 minutes or 14 laps more in the pitlane than the winning car. In the end we were 13 laps behind. So everyone can do the maths what we could have achieved today without those problems. But there are no ifs and whens in motorracing. We have not lost this race on the track but in the pitlane.'

The start
The 24 hours of Le Mans started in the worst possible fashion for Christian Klien and his Peugeot crew. The number 7 car with Pedro Lamy on zhe wheel who had started from third position got involved in an accident with Pescarolo driver Jean-Christoph Boullion at 3:41 pm at his first pit stop. The two cars collided and the Portuguese driver could make it out on the track. As a consequence his rear tyre blew up on his out lap and the pieces of rubber and remains of the carcasse damaged the bodywork of the car heavily. The safety car was deployed and Lamy came back into the pits where repair work began on the underbody, suspensions and the oil cooler. For 26 minutes the car was stationary. Without having driven the car yet, Christian Klien found himself and his car in 51st position of 55 cars.
'It was a very unfortunate misunderstanding', Klien explained. 'The pit lane was terribly crowded. Pedro was ready to go when Boullion came in. Our crew wanted to hold Pedro for one more second, but somehow the radio call did not get through. Then the Pescarolo hit him on the way out. It was bitter to watch the scene from the wall. Nicolas Minassian took over from Lamy 7 laps down from the leading sister car of Bourdais/Sarazzin/Montagny and started working his way through the backmakers. At 5:26 Christian got into the car in P29, still 7 laps down. On his first flying lap he was almost 2 seconds quicker than the leading pack.

Catching up quickly
The following hours showed the true potential of the Peugeot. While the sister cars were fighting head to head with the Audis, Klien and his team mates worked their way up, always doing the lap times of the leading cars or better.
After six hours the Austrian's car was lying in 17th position and even managed to get one lap back from the leaders. After nine hours, they had made in back into the top ten. Nicolas Minassian did a 3:24,628 in the late hours which was the fastest lap of the race at that point. After midnight, the crew chiefs decided to let Christian do quadruple stints. He stayed in the cockpit for a complete three hours without driver change. He put in one fast lap after another and brought the car back to the pits already in 7th position, still six laps behind the leaders.

More trouble at night
The race had just passed the halfway mark when bad luck struck again. First the #7 Peugeot lost a few minutes when the mechanics could not get the car's nose off when it had to be changed. Three further unscheduled pit stops followed in the next hour to change a few troublesome parts: underbody, right front suspension, pedal box and more. Consequently the Peugeot 908 was now 13 laps behind the leading car of Wurz/Brabham/Gene. Christian Klien commented while sitting in P12: 'When you are running three works cars it is more than likely that one of them is going to run into trouble. Today this car was us, as it seems. And when you are 13 laps behind, all you can do is hope for some trouble brewing at the front.'

Catching up - part 2
After this second blow to their ambitions the car seemed to be running pretty smoothly. Nicolas Minassian and Christian Klien were putting in record laps in their respective stints. At noon the Peugeot #7 was lying in sixth position again. 'We were going flat out. After the three hour stints during the nights we switched to 90 minute turns in the morning. The tyres were durable and the car felt really good. The only problem was my windscreen which was always very dirty. This was quite unpleasant, particulary as there were a few moments of light rain', Klien said. In the final hours of the race the #7 also served as a rolling test bed for the other two leading works cars.

Analysis
Christian Klien/Nicolas Minassian/Pedro Lamy finished in sixth position and rounded off a historic success for Peugeot, who managed to break Audi's dominance at Le Mans after years and years of trying. It was Peugeot's first victory after 16 years on the Sarthé. For Christian Klien it was bitter sweet experience: 'I feel proud and disappointed at the same time.', he stated. 'We had a massive chance to win this race today. But for a victory at Le Mans, there is no room for error. Everything needs to go right. The result also shows the great racing spirit of Peugeot. There was no French driver in the winning car, but three of them in the runner up car. This only about racing and nothing else, which is great. Hats off to Alex, David and Marc. They drove a superb race. To win at Le Mans is every racing driver's dream. For me personally, life goes on in my regular Formula one job pretty quickly. O only have a few hours to relax and get over the disappointment, as Silverstone is already right around the corner.

Austrian FLM driver the youngest to race at Le Mans in 2009

19-year old Dominik Kraihamer is the youngest to compete at the La Sarthe circuit in France this
weekend, where he’ll line-up to debut in the Formula Le Mans Cup with the Boutsen Energy Team of
Belgium. The second round of the newly introduced series will take to the challenging 13.629km ‘bigtrack’
immediately before the start of the 77th edition of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

In 2008, Kraihamer was one of the youngest to participate in the FIA European GT3 Championship in the sberg
Racing Lamborghini and was the team’s best-placed qualifier throughout year, winning the
Manufacturers Trophy at four rounds. The opportunity to drive at the Le Mans event and also to be the
youngest driver out of more than 200 entries in all classes, is an exciting prospect for the Austrian in his
first ever FLM race.

“I’m really looking forward to the race here at Le Mans. It’s one of those circuits that you always dream about
driving and now it’s a reality for me. Wednesday’s practice was wet and having not driven the car or this
track before, I took it carefully during the opening lap to get a feel for everything. The team were quite happy
with my session and I believe we can do well this weekend. To be the youngest is amazing, considering how
many drivers are at Le Mans, but I can already imagine myself racing in the 24 Hours without any hesitation.”

The Boutsen Energy driver went out in the latter half of the practice session Wednesday, following his 22-
year old French team mate Gary Chalandon, under considerably slippery conditions due to the constant
rain throughout the day. Kraihamer completed four timed laps to be sixth quickest on the field of 28 and
set the best lap of all six drivers in the Belgian FLM team.

Friday afternoon’s one hour qualifying was on a dry track, which saw the number 6 car fitted with a set of
new regulation hard compound Michelin tyres. Chalandon was the first of the pairing to begin the driving,
sitting in around P10 on the time sheet when he handed the car over to his younger team mate. Once
again, it was another new experience for Kraihamer to steer the LMP2-similar Prototype of Boutsen
Energy on slicks for the initial time. In lap 3, the Salzburger went 3rd fastest in the last half of the session,
but unfortunately a red flag on the next lap brought the track time to a halt as a result of an accident. This
ended the chance to better his time, although Kraihamer was once more the highest ranked driver in his
team and secured grid 5 for the race Saturday.

“The qualifying was great. I was not sure how the car would handle with the newer tyres, but it had much
more grip than I expected and every lap I learnt more about the handling of the car. It's not so easy for me
because I hardly know the car and compared to the other drivers who have already raced in the FLM series,
I’m a bit disadvantaged. I tried to really focus and adapt to it in the short period of time I had yesterday,
while also concentrating on getting this track right. The car was handling very well in qualifying, so now it's
up to me to continue to get the best out of it! As far as the team goes, I really like how they work together
and do their utmost to give us a great car.”

Results can be found at www.lemans.org and info about Formula Le Mans at www.formulalemans.com
For further news and updates about Dominik Kraihamer - www.racetogetthere.com

The line between fact and fiction

You do not need to be an expert to understand that there are major changes happening behind the scenes which will have an impact on the future of our sport. As always there are well written articles in the media as well as wild speculation. There were even some very creative stories concerning my very own future. Linking an Austrian F1 driver to a (possible) F1 team from Austria is a train of thought that might seem all too logical to some. However, I am deeply involved in the racing environment at the BMW Sauber F1 team and my midterm goal is to be in the cockpit of a manufacturer's team. Therefore, any speculation is useless at this point in time. We have just passed one third of the championship and the job I have to do here has by no means become less important after the very promising start into this season. It is fact that we got a very unpleasant wake up call in the past few weeks and we are by far not where we should be. Partly this has to do with the characteristics of the tracks we raced. And partly we have fallen behind in our development scheme. Hardly anyone remembers that Robert Kubica was fighting for victory at the first race in Melbourne. Our chief engineer Willi Rampf and his crew have now developed the double decker diffusor for the F1.09 as most teams have by now. As there is no real testing, Friday will be a reality check for us to find out more about it. In general, our fans can be assured that all problems are tackled in old tradition: calm and collected. No one loses his head just because there have been a few setbacks now after a steep rise in the past three years. I pretty much see it like Mario Theissen said not too long ago in his best football manner:'At the end of the day it is better to lose 5-0 once than losing 1-0 five times in a row.'

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE TURKISH GRAND PRIX
Istanbul has been a race of extreme weather conditions so far. In the first few years we drove here in summer and it was terribly hot. Last year at the end of May it was unexpectedly cold. All this makes predictions based on the previous data we have a bit more difficult. At the moment it looks like a sunny 24 degrees, by the way.

The Otodrom is one of the better new circuits that have been built. It is uphill and downhill and a challenge for the drivers. Turn 8 is unique. It has three apexes and seems to go on forever: you are hanging in your seatbelts at 4.5 G for eight seconds, which is a real test for your stamina.

Right after the race I will be heading for the 24 hours of Le Mans. On Monday I have a big meeting with the Austrian press in Vienna before 'Mission Le Mans' gets rolling. The start of the 'biggest race in the world' is on Saturday, 13 June at 3 p.m. local time.

More IFR team news and updates can be found at www.intrepidforcerotax.com.
Shop with all the official race team gear at www.racetogetthere.com.

Josh Hart takes pole and second overall at Euro in Italy for IFR

Intrepid Force Rotax team driver Josh Hart has finished with a well-earned second place on the podium at round 2 of the Rotax Euro Challenge at Kart Planet circuit, Busca, Italy after some extremely close competition this weekend saw the New Zealander secure his best result yet for the 2009 season.

Hart was the fastest qualifier in the Senior Max field of 54 during Friday’s official timed practice, where he snatched pole position after clocking an outstanding lap of 59.170 on his first flyer. With little over six minutes of the qualifying session remaining in the first group, the New Zealander made no mistake in getting it right.

He set the best time in all three of Saturday’s heat races and was victorious in two, resulting in a second row grid for the pre-final. However, the start didn’t go all his way which meant he had to make up several positions as the laps unfolded, eventually ending up back in 3^rd. In doing so, Hart actually set the quickest lap of the race by more than 2-tenths.

In the final, the 22-year old had a good start, immediately taking P2 behind race pole-sitter and first round winner Luke Varley, until the leader’s team mate Joseph Reilly, stole second and one lap following proceeded to execute a great move to assume the lead. Hart had no hesitation in overtaking Varley as well and head the chase for the lead, perhaps surprising the former British junior champion in doing so.

With Reilly saving his new tyres for the deciding race, Hart later explained that he was unable to close the 0.6 of a second gap, although he continually traded better times with his younger rival to be one of the pace-setters throughout the 19-lapper. “Towards the end, [Joseph] Reilly just pulled away a bit more. I think my equipment was good enough to win, but I just don’t believe I did a good enough job. My race fitness maybe not up to scratch as it should be, but it is a big improvement on the last round. So, I really need to sharpen up my game now.”

He added, “The whole week went pretty well; we tested a lot of engines to find the best ones for this meeting, therefore not spending a lot of time working with the kart. I was very happy to qualify on pole and then had two good races and one that wasn’t so good, where I finished 6^th. In any case it ended up positive, after I was getting pushed around quite a bit and it made me realise how I needed to be if I wanted to do better. I have to say a big thank you to Intrepid and HRS, together with my mechanic Steve Chapman, who always puts in a huge effort and I couldn’t ask for more.”

Only two rounds remain in the European series, the next of which is in the Czech Republic in late July. Having narrowly missed out on the top 3 in the final moments of the Rotax Winter Cup shakedown last February, the first Euro round also didn’t go as well as planned for Hart. His success in Italy has now renewed the IFR driver’s 2009 championship hopes.

Monte Carlo is a true brain test

Monte Carlo is the ultimate challenge for every driver's mental fitness.There is no other track that requires so much effort from the brain. You have absolutely zero room for error, while you drift towards guard rails at 200 kilometers per hour. One tiny mishap and most likely you are out. Then again, if you leave yourself a safety cushion of 2% you will only see the pack from behind. Every driver has his own way of preparing for a race like this. Some work with mental coaches who help them focus on essential things in racing. I am one of those sportsmen where this kind of coaching does not seem to work. I have always been used to push myself to the very limit of my abilities ever since I started in karting. But every driver is different in this respect. The most important factor in Monaco is still the overall fitness, anyway. When you get tired - and this is almost certain in 78 laps - you make mistakes more easily. I put a lot of emphasis on training the ability to do multiple tasks at the same time. Daniel Devigili, who is my personal coach at the army sports training center in Dornbirn always has new things for me to test my senses. He makes me run through slalom poles while I balance a ping pong ball with two paddles in my hand. We do this five to ten times and increase the speed again and again. Luckily I do not have to sing or do maths and such things simultaneously. It is a great simulation of what a racing driver has to do when he drives his car on the limit, changes all kinds of switches on the steering wheel and talks to his pit crew on the radio. All this without losing a tenth of a second. Not an easy job when you consider that Monaco means 4,200 gear changes and almost two hours of extreme racing.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE MONTE CARLO-RACE
Monaco is extreme in many respects: the shortest race of the year and still the highest number of laps, the biggest wings, a start-finish-straight with only 510 meters of full throttle and so forth.

Turn 6, the famous Loews hairpin requires substantial work on the front suspension every year. The standard steering angle of an F1 car is not sufficient to get around this corner.

In 2006 I had my best and most bitter F1 race in Monaco. We were exactly on the right strategy. Everything seemed to go perfect. After 40 laps it was clear that I was heading for a podium. And then the gearbox broke. It was one of those days, but I could do nothing about it.

Should the odd question be raised again that I am asked every year: No, I still do not know where the diamond is that disappeared so mysteriously from the nose cone of my Jaguar in the accident in 2004. Let alone own it!

A great Thank you to everyone who send their congratulations after my win in Spa at the 1,000 km race last weekend. Before Monaco I have already been in the car again to test like mad for Le Mans.

s-berg online

Double podium for polesitter Kraihamer in GT3

He took pole position Friday (1:35.289) in the field of GT3 entries on the one timed lap he completed in the Lamborghini Gallardo #29 racing for Sauto.cz Racing Team (which is his regular Team s-berg Racing car). Kraihamer then did one additional lap as the third driver in the Czech Sauto.cz Racing #15 Lamborghini (also prepared by s-berg Racing) to be 2^nd quickest of the GT3 entries (1:35.519), just off his pole time in the #15 car.

The 19-year old Salzburger then lined-up to start the three-hour race on Saturday afternoon from the second row in the #29 Lamborghini behind the three DTM entries, ahead of the #15 car on row 3. He was in 3^rd by the end of lap 1 and then took P2 in just over half an hour, also setting what would be the best lap for the team in the second round race (1:38.247).

Dr Joseph Piribauer, who had been second fastest in the GT3 category in the morning warm-up, assumed the driving role on lap 42, where the #29 Sauto.cz car rejoined the race 4^th amidst some extremely close competition, keeping in mind that the Porsches make one less pit stop due to their variation in fuel consumption. Piribauer put in a huge effort to run consistently with the laptimes of the class pace-setters to move up to 3^rd by lap 55, before handing the car to fellow Austrian Gerhard Tweraser for the final hour. He’d been fast during Friday’s practice and was hoping to bring the Lamborghini home for a podium finish that eluded them at the opening round of the series last month. At exactly the same time, Kraihamer jumped into the #15 car, which was sitting in 8^th position.

Tweraser was into 2^nd behind the Sauto.cz Mercedes DTM of Tomas Enge within three laps of taking the wheel, but suffered some issues with the brakes and had to pit temporarily. He lost 3 places in the process, but pushed the car to its limit in the closing laps for a brilliant 2^nd place overall and the leading GT3 car across the line. The #15 Lamborghini had been a fraction slower than it’s team car in the first two hours, but Kraihamer made up 4 positions until he also had an unscheduled pit stop just 7 laps from the chequered flag. After a rear tyre was changed and he was back on the circuit in 5^th, Kraihamer showed his ability to get the maximum out of the car, when he continued to get faster in the final laps, clocking the best time for the #15 in lap 97 (1:39.429).

At the end of the race, Kraihamer was classified 2^nd and 3^rd on the ‘all-Sauto.cz’ podium, accepting the trophies for both places after the unusual feat of being the only driver to compete in two cars in the same race. His personal commitment to the racing was impressive and recognisably the reason why both Lamborghinis were winners at Most. There was no doubting his race fitness either, as he claims he was feeling good after two hours in the car in the heat of the afternoon.

“Although the temperature in the car was getting extreme, I was not affected by it and as you can see, set me best time in the #15 car in the final lap after we’d fixed the problem with the tyres. It was a great race and I knew that we could be successful for Sauto.cz this weekend because the car preparation our team at s-berg had done was ideal. I owe this to great opportunity to Charouz Racing, s-berg, my sponsors Safe Invest, Fuchs and all our other valuable partners who support us in 2009.

Complete race result

Christian Klien wins in Spa

It was a blistering performance by the Peugeot crew that brought Christian Klien and his French team mates Nicolas Minassian and Simon Pagenaud a fine victory at the 1,000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps. The race was marked by several safety car periods in which the drivers and pit crew of the #7 car had to keep a clear head more often than once to come home with first place in the end. The Peugeot 908 started from pole position and kept the lead all the way to the flag, which made it a perfectly succesful dress rehearsal for the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Patience is a virtue
'As expected it was a pretty tough race and the safety car periods broke our rhythm quite often', Klien said after 143 long and hard laps on his favourite track. 'With 51 cars out there you are permanently on alert which is mentally very exhausting. We are doing over 300 kph and you can never be sure that the drivers of lower categories are using their mirrors when they are tangled up in their own battles.' Klien got into the car after four hours to do the final stint and put in a faultless drive to keep his rivals of Pescarolo and Aston Martin at a safe distance until a safety car 14 laps from the end brought the lead down to a few car lengths again, when Bruno Senna had a massive crash. Luckily the Brazilian escaped unhurt. However, immediately after the restart Christian Klien was in full command of things again. He controlled the pace and was escorted to the line by his team mate Alexander Wurz in the sister car. The #9 Peugeot had lost over 4 laps in the pitlane due to a damaged suspension after making contact with another competitor.

On to Le Mans
Feedback after Christian's first ever LMS race was unanimously positive. 'First of all it is a fantastic feeling to be in the middle of the podium again. I love Spa. It is here that I scored my first F1 point in 2004. It is a drivers' circuit. In the Peugeot 908 we do Eau Rouge flat at 275 kph. The average speed is over 200. Racing does not get much better than this.
We are right on track for Le Mans. Reliability is much better now, fuel consumption has been improved quite a bit and the boys in the pitlane have done a marvelous job. It is just a shame that the other car was having unexpected problems. It just shows how easily you can run into trouble in this sport. Now we all cannot wait to go to Le Mans in June. And a big Thank you to Mario Theissen and the BMW Sauber F1 Team who released me for this one weekend. A victory is always the best morale boost for a team.'

The art of overtaking

The Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona is the toughest after Monaco and Budapest when it comes to overtaking. More often than once in the past the race order had been determined after the first corner and never changed ever after. Three factors come into play with good overtaking: the car, the track and the driver. The 2009 cars were definitely a step in the right direction. The smaller rear wings reduce the 'dirty air' when following another car. There is less danger of losing downforce when you attack another driver. Moreover, vision has improved a bit. All the little winglets have gone. So you have a clearer picture in your rear mirrors at least. It is a tiny little detail, but one that matters when push comes to shove. Still, I am not overly enthusiastic for the Barcelona race. The track has only one clean racing line which makes overtaking extremely difficult. Some years ago they even built an extra chicane before the long straight to enhance overtaking when you accelerate onto the straight. But it did not change much. Most of the tracks so far like Bahrain, Shanghai or Malaysia were very wide and combined with the new regulations and the rain this made for a lot more overtaking than in previous years. As for the drivers there is a clear pecking order: When for example you see Alonso's helmet in the mirror you know that things will be getting tough soon. My team mates Kubica and Heidfeld are also quite good on tha attack. In general, overtaking in F1 is fantastic. It is the kind of twilight zone where no technology, team strategy or help from outside (like the spotters in the ovals in the US) can do anything for you. That is whwn you can be at your best all by yourself with all you have trained from karting on. Let us just hope we will see a bit of this in Barcelona this year.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE DOUBLE WEEKEND
In addition to my duty as replacement driver in the BMW Sauber F1 Team I will drive the 1,000 km race in Spa this weekend in the Peugeot 908. The only condition was that I would have to be on duty in Spain immediately should one of the regular drivers be unable to compete in practice or qualifying. To ensure that we will be in permanent contact and be ready to leave any time. The local airport in Spa is only 7 kilometers from the paddock and easily accessible in less than 10 minutes. From there it is about 1,000 kilometers which is a flight of about 90 minutes. In Barcelona the airport is situated 12 kilometers from the Grand Prix circuit. This can be done in less than 20 minutes. Taking everything into account, we have a pretty good plan should I be needed. The critical phase ends on Saturday at 2 p.m. when qualifying starts. After that no replacement driver may take part. Sounds like a great deal of stress. But as a racing driver you are used to deliver on the spot. So the double weekend is by no means a physical or psychological burden. On the contrary! Whatever happens, I will be driving a race this weekend, be it in a Formula One works team or in a race winning car in the endurance championship. You can follow all this on my website where I will provide you with qualifying and race reports.

Team news and all the season’s race reports can be found on the official website at www.s-bergracing.at

“Almost perfect” weekend for Austria’s S-Berg Racing at CZ Masters in Brno

The opening round of the CZ Masters series proved to be far more than an encouraging beginning to the 2009 championship for the s-berg team, as the all-Austrian line-up pushed the Lamborghini Gallardo to be running in the top three in the first half of the main race. Consisting of six rounds in the Czech Republic, the Masters field is a combination of DTM and the GT categories in one class, with additional classes also included, where the feature race is three hours followed by sprint races Sunday.

Now in his second year with the team, Dominik Kraihamer put the number 29 car on row 5 for his initial outing of the season, with a time not far off the quickest of his GT3 rivals. Considering he had just three timed laps in the car prior to the qualifying session and the evolution modifications made to the leading Porsches, it was a positive result that also showed his potential and that of the car. The 19-year old was the first s-berg driver of three in Saturday’s race, getting a good start to hold 7^th on lap 1 and also running in 6^th before the planned pitstop. Kraihamer set his best lap near the end of the one hour stint, saying that he was impressed with how the car handled.

“The car was really good to drive today, so I was able to do consistent laps and get the most out of it. The change to a softer compound tyre and development the team has done since the end of last season was obvious. I’m totally convinced that we can be competitive in this championship.”

Making his debut in GT Racing, Formula 3 driver Gerhard Tweraser took over for the second hour and was soon able to find his pace. As with his younger team-mate, the 21-year old has had a successful karting background, also bringing several years of formula racing experience with him. Tweraser settled-in easily to claim 5^th position, then climbed to 3^rd place as the additional pitstops came into play for the high-powered DTM vehicles. Just prior to his session ending, the new s-berg driver had a close call to avoid a door that came off one of the front-runners, reacting in time to ensure no damage.

“I was lucky to see the door, so we had no problem,” Tweraser explained. “The car was very good to drive and the set-up was perfect, with the whole package getting better and better as the race went on. It’s been exciting! This is very different from racing the Formula 3, but I am happy with the team, who are really good, and know that I’ll be faster again as I adjust to driving the Lamborghini.”

When the final driver change was made, a decision by the stewards relating to the pitstop resulted in a drive-thru penalty. Unfortunately, they were disqualified after it failed to be acknowledged within the allotted time, so the introduction to GT3 competition for s-berg’s number three driver Dr. Josef Piribauer was somewhat disappointing. The possibility of a first 5 placing disappeared, but until that stage was well within reach.

“We spent a lot of time finding the best set-up for the car the last two days and this paid off, so my mistake ended the almost perfect race for the team. Not realizing there had been any issue in the pitlane, I was concentrating on pushing hard and missed the signal. The team did a great job and the two drivers before me drove so well to be where we were in our first meeting this year.”

Team S-berg Racing’s manager Hans Weitgasser later emphasized the excellent performance of the car and the drivers’ combined team-effort to achieve the results they had during the race weekend.

“I can only say that I was absolutely happy with the three-hour race overall. The car was good and the drivers did very well, with times that would have made us very competitive in last year’s GT3 European Championship. We’ll work on making sure we don’t suffer the same situation that cost us our race today, but I can honestly say that we’re expecting to be up with the winners at the next round. The endurance-style racing in this series is ideal in preparing us for our season highlight – the ‘24-hours of Spa’.”

S-berg top their class in Sunday’s sprint race

The Lamborghini Gallardo was the first of the GT3 cars to cross the finish line in the sprint race at the CZ Masters on Sunday, positioned only behind the DTM and leading GT entries.

With s-berg Racing’s Dr. Josef Piribauer at the wheel as the nominated driver, the racing dentist from Vienna claimed 7^th overall after starting on row 6, definitely showing he was adapting well to the change from his previous years competing in the Porsche. He was up to P5 during the 10-lap dash, but was unable to hold back the pressure from the quicker GT cars.

All three podium places were naturally filled by the much faster DTMs, so realistically to lead the GT3 class in the 28-car field was a brilliant way for the team to begin their 2009 season campaign. Dr Piribauer was happy with the race overall and the car once again performed extremely well at the popular Czech venue. The second round of the series heads to the Most circuit mid-May.