After a long off-season, the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship finally starts this weekend at the scenic track of Portimão at the Portuguese Algarve coast. For the third consecutive year, Fischer Racing enters the top league of European GT3 competition with two Ford GT. The two V8-powered American supercars will be driven at the season opener by Mikko Eskelinen (FIN)/Christoffer Nygaard (DAN) and Markus Palttala (FIN)/Paulo Bonifacio (BRA).
The driver-paring Eskelinen/Nygaard is well known from last year’s championship, the two Scandinavians will start 2011 into their second common season in the European championship. A new face in the Ford GT in the European Championship, but not to the Fischer Racing team, is Paulo Bonifacio. The experienced Brazilian already had a successful outing with the Fischer Racing-Ford GT in a race in Spain last year. New to the team is the fast and experienced Markus Palttala. The 33-year old Finn raced last season in the GT1-spec Ford GT in the GT1 World Championship and also knows the GT3-Ford GT inside out.
„I’m really happy that we will start into our third season with the Ford GT with a very strong driver line up”, Fischer Racing team principal Hardy Fischer says. „Mikko and Christoffer proved to be good team last season and can built on their experience in their second season. With Markus and Paulo, we also have a good driver line up in our second Ford GT. Paulo drove one race for us last year, and Markus proved to be a very strong competitor to us last season, so we really learned how quick he is. The Portimão round last season was quite successful for us, the track seams to suit mid-engined cars like our Ford GT. With a good driver line up and a strong and reliable car, we travel very optimistic to Portugal.”
The 2011 calendar of the FIA GT3-European Championship contains six rounds, four in conjunction with the GT1 World Championship. In August, the FIA GT3 European Championship will race in Russia for the first time. In this years championship, almost 30 cars of eight different brands fight for championship honours. The races will be broadcasted LIVE by Pan-European motorsports channel Motors TV.
Source : Fischer Racing