Starting the race in 6th position with Matech Ford GT1 n°5, Romain Grosjean, keen to get on the podium, overtook several cars during the first minutes of the race. Then in 4th position, he entered the pit lane for the driver change while the race was neutralized by a safety car. Through an incredible job by the pit stop crew, the driver change was made in 29 seconds ! Thomas Mutsch left the pits in first place. For the next 25 minutes, he resisted the pressure from Darren Turner in the Aston Martin and finally crossed the finish line as winner !
The race of Rahel Frey, in car n°6 wasnʼt so lucky. On the second lap, she was hit by a competitor and remained stuck on the gravel for several minutes, while the safety car intervened. Rahel had to return to the pits for checks before returning to the racing. The driver change was made without problem and Cyndie
Allemann finished the race in 18th position. As leader of the FIA GT World Championship Matech Compétition leaves Brno with good news before the 24 Hours du Mans where both two cars will be raced by the Swiss team.
Matech Ford GT1 n°5
Thomas MUTSCH : « Thanks to the team for a great pit stop…it was just incredible. Going out in first place…was really great work. I was just trying to leave a small gap behind the safety car to come up to full speed on the main straight and from that point on Darren was always that little bit quicker, but I kept on going, trying to make no mistakes….and was watching out that he didn’t come too close when approaching a corner, as he was much quicker on the straights. I’m really happy with the result, and I have to thank Matech and the team for giving me such a good car. It was really great to win in front of Sintez this weekend, and to leave the circuit in the lead.».
Romain GROSJEAN : « Great job of the team ! We know that we were good here, even if the qualifying and the first race weren’t good, the Championship race was perfect ! Winning here with our partners was really a great result and now we need to be focused on Le Mans !».
Matech Ford GT1 n°6
Cyndie ALLEMANN : « It’s a little bit disappointing because the warm up was good this morning. We make some changes on the car, but it was the wrong way, and during the race it was to hard to push the car. We also miss a little bit of speed to be on top ! ».
Rahel FREY : « I was happy during the warm up because we improved the car and the balance was good. I did a good start but a driver pushed me out and I’m so sorry for the team because they did such a good job ! Then I came back on track, gave the car to Cyndie and we finished the race »
Team Manager Martin BARTEK : « It’s incredible, I’m so happy ! Now we can see that the team is an important part of the victory, it’s not only the car or the drivers. We show what we are able to do ! Everything was perfect, Romain did a good job and we were lucky thanks to the safety car, we did a quick pit stop ! I’m very proud of the team and of the drivers, and I hope things are going to be like this for a long time! »
Source : Matech Competition