( 14/07/2.001) – ( FIA GT - Oschersleben )

Antonio García segundo tras dominar ampliamente en su relevo.

Nueva cita en el circuito alemán de Oschersleben, donde Antonio García sigue mezclándose en la lucha por la victoria en la categoría NGT, cambiando de coequipier en cada participación en base a los acuerdos que RWS llega con diferentes pilotos.

En los entrenamientos previos Antonio sigue figurando entre las primeras posiciones, ocupado principalmente en la puesta a punto de coche, y en definir la estrategia de carrera que le permita llegar lo mas alto posible.

En los entrenamientos cronometrados hubiera podido hacer el mejor tiempo de no haber sido por un tompo en lo que estaba siendo, por parciales, una vuelta en la que habría rebajado en medio segundo su crono, pero de nada le hubiera servido pues sus gomas no alcanzan el rendimiento óptimo por detrás de la primera vuelta. Por esta razón, en la Super Pole no ha podido mejorar su posición.

No obstante, en esta ocasión los tiempos es están cerrando y ya no es la diferencia de Ortelli y García sobre los demás, en esta ocasión el grupo de cabeza se ha juntado, estándo separado los cinco primeros por escasas décimas.

12 54 Ortelli Stéphane ....Freisinger Motorsport 01:29.073
13 58 Peter Philipp ......... Autorlando Sport .......01:29.375
14 76 Garcia Antonio .......RWS Motorsport.........01:29.384
15 50 Pescatori Christian JMB Racing .................01:29.537
16 62 Sanguiolo Raffaele Cirtek Motorsport .......01:29.986
17 55 Longin Bert ...........Freisinger Motorsport .01:30.152

Antonio Garcia, nr 76 RWS Motorsport, Porsche 996 GT3-R: “We are concentrating on the race, because it is difficult to be consistent around this track. I did my best time in the sixth lap, and I managed to do the same time twice. The traffic is quite heavy. At this track there is no place to overtake. It won’t be a problem for us in the race, the problem will be for the GT cars. There are sequences of corners with no straights, so they could lose a lot of time. I think that it will be OK if the GT drivers just relax!”

En la carrera, Antonio salió mal y tuvo que recuperar posiciones sin tomar riesgos colocando el coche en primera posición y además infringiendo un correctivo a sus rivales a los que aventajaba de forma clara. El objetivo era dejarle el coche al compañero con la máxima ventaja y sin penalizar el consumo para conseguir hacer la prueba con dos respostajes.

Cuando cedió el coche, disponía de mas de 30 segundos de ventaja sobre el que a la postre sería el vencedor, pero no ha sido suficiente. No obstante, Antonio ha dejado clara su clase como piloto, con tres participaciones, con tres compañeros de equipo diferentes y siempre en la lucha por la victoria.

08 58 Peter / Wolff ................................ Autorlando Sport ...... 3:01:05.20
09 76 Garcia / Felbermayr Jr ................. RWS Motorsport ....... 3:01:14.570
10 51 Garbagnati / Bertolini .................. JMB Racing ................ 3:01:29.130
11 55 Daoudi / Longin ........................... Freisinger Motors ...... 3:00:25.480
12 62 Pichler / Sangiuolo ....................... Cirtek Motorsport ...... 3:01:08.520
13 60 Von Gartzen / Khan ...................... JVG Racing ................ 3:01:17.790
14 16 G. Ried / C. Ried ............................ Proton Competition .. 3:00:59.290
15 50 Pescatori / Montermini ...................JMB Racing ................ 3:01:23.950
16 53 lambertini / Pregliasco / Alexander JMB Competition ........ 3:01:40.900
17 77 Fomenko / Vasiliev ........................ RWS Motorsport ....... 3:00:19.500

"Creo que he realizado un buen trabajo, a pesar de que he fallado totalmente en la salida. Salíamos con el mapa de poco consumo para ir a una sóla parada y el esfuerzo por recuperar posiciones no nos venía bien. He llegado a segundo y me he quedado detrás siempre con miedo de castigar los neumáticos y el consumo. Hacia el final del relevo he forzado a máximo para intentar dejar el coche lo mas cómodo posible a mi compañero, pero no ha sido suficiente para conseguir la victoria.

De cualquier forma tengo que felicitar a mi compañero por haber sabido aguantar la presión y llevar el coche hasta la meta, distanciando al Ferrari, y consiguiendo el segundo escalón del podium y por supuesto, todos mis elogios para RWS que pone a nuestra disposición un gran coche con el que siempre estamos en los primeros puestos."

Antonio García

Antonio García second after leading comfortably during his stint.

Another round of the FIA GT Championship, this time at the German circuit of Oschersleben, which saw Antonio García continue to be involved in the fight for victory in the N-GT category, despite changing team-mate at each race, depending on the agreements reached between RWS and various drivers.

In the free practice sessions, Antonio continued to be among the leaders, working mainly on setting up the car, and defining the race strategy that would allow them to finish as high as possible.

In qualifying, he could have claimed provisional pole, with a lap during which his partial times were among the fastest, but it would not have gained him much as his tyres did not get to their optimum speed on the first lap, and therefore he would not have been able to improve his position during the Superpole.

Nevertheless, the times were very close, and at this track, it was not just the top three, from Ortelli to García, that were close, but the top five were only separated by a few tenths of a second.

In the press conference, Antonio explained :

“We are concentrating on the race, because it is difficult to be consistent around this track. I did my best time in the sixth lap, and I managed to do the same time twice. The traffic is quite heavy. At this track there is no place to overtake. It won’t be a problem for us in the race, the problem will be for the GT cars. There are sequences of corners with no straights, so they could lose a lot of time. I think that it will be OK if the GT drivers just relax!”

In the race, Antonio made a poor start and had to regain his position, without taking any risks, moving the car up to the lead and giving his rivals a clear message. His objective was to hand the car over to his team-mate with the best possible lead, without compromising on the fuel consumption, in order to finish the race without making two fuel stops.

When he handed the car over, he had built up a lead of over thirty seconds, hoping to aim for the win, but it proved not to be enough. However, Antonio has already clearly proved his class as a driver, after three races, with three different team-mates, and fighting for the victory at every occasion

08 58 Peter / Wolff ................................. Autorlando Sport ...... 3:01:05.20
09 76 Garcia / Felbermayr Jr ................... RWS Motorsport ....... 3:01:14.570
10 51 Garbagnati / Bertolini ................... JMB Racing ................ 3:01:29.130
11 55 Daoudi / Longin ............................ Freisinger Motors ...... 3:00:25.480
12 62 Pichler / Sangiuolo ........................ Cirtek Motorsport ...... 3:01:08.520
13 60 Von Gartzen / Khan ...................... JVG Racing ................ 3:01:17.790
14 16 G. Ried / C. Ried ............................ Proton Competition .. 3:00:59.290
15 50 Pescatori / Montermini ...................JMB Racing ................ 3:01:23.950
16 53 lambertini / Pregliasco / Alexander JMB Competition ........ 3:01:40.900
17 77 Fomenko / Vasiliev ........................ RWS Motorsport ....... 3:00:19.500

"I think we did a good job, considering that I totally missed the start. We started with the intention of conserving fuel so that we could make just one stop, and the effort needed to recover positions was not easy. I got to up second and I stayed there for some time to conserve the tyres and the fuel consumption. Towards the end of the stint, I pushed as hard as possible to give the best position possible to my team-mate, but it was not enough for victory.

I must also congratulate my team-mate for having withstood the pressure and brought the car over the line, well ahead of the Ferrari and claiming the second step of the podium, and, of course, all praise to RWS who gave us an excellent car with which we were always in the top places.”

Antonio García