Just in time for Christopher Haase’s home race the pilot from Upper Franconia celebrated his long-awaited success in the FIA GT1 World Championship under the eyes of many of his fans.
The Eifel region again lived up to its name with freak weather and offered the GT World Championship heavy showers, sunny periods and wafts of mist at the Nürburgring. Due to constant rain during the free practice sessions the pilots did not get the chance to do tests under dry conditions and were left with little room for comparable times.
Therefore, Peter Kox (Haase’s partner) was forced to complete the first dry qualifying session without any references. “It was pretty much like a lottery, nobody knew exactly what their position was in the free practice because the weather changed constantly,” says Peter Kox. Kox (46, NED) reached the Top16 with P11 in Q1 and qualified the Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S REITER Engineering for Q2. “At first we had some difficulties warming up the tyres on the front axle. Then we changed the pressure of the tyres. That helped a lot,” explains Haase. Christopher Haase qualified for Q3 by reaching the Top8 with P6 in his qualifying session. After having modified the pressure of the tyres again before Q3, Peter Kox reached the first row and position 2 for the qualifying race on Saturday afternoon.
After some bad collisions after the start the field got mixed up after the first turn. Christopher Haase received a heavy hit on the right rear side.
The 22-year old was forced to drive over the curbs. During the next laps the car reacted with vibrations. Haase took P4 and fought with the Vitaphone-Maserati (Bartels) and the Young Driver-Aston Martin (Mücke) for every meter. “I was able to leave the Aston Martin behind. The Maserati was in front of me and I tried to force him to make a mistake. But there was no chance to pass it. We fought hard but fair. That was real fun,” says Christopher Haase.
During the pit stop the whole extend of the damage from the collision at the start became obvious. A long piece from the right rear rim was missing and it was only a matter of time until the tyre would be damaged. Kox took over the Lambo in P4. It started to rain. Reiter Engineering changed to wet tyres. Just the right moment. After his stop Kox was able to comfortable keep his third place until the end. Peter Kox went into the first turn after the start (P3) with special care. “I did not want to risk too much but I kept P3 nevertheless. Then I tried to drive as good as possible and avoid mistakes,” says Kox. The Dutch pilot came into the pit in P3.
The Reiter team did a great stop and Christopher Haase managed to pass Hexis Aston Martin after one lap and soon reached P2. “The race was pretty hard. It was not easy at all to keep the Corvette (Margaritis) behind me. The Corvette is able to brake later, it is faster on straights and the Corvette is actually also a little superior in technical matters.” However, it was not enough to pass. Haase defended his second place adamantly. Margaritis touched his car more than once and forced Haase over the chicane during one heavy touch. Haase kept his place and finished the race in P2. “Peter drove a great race so that I had excellent starting conditions. Also the team did an incredible stop. Great job. I am very happy with this result for my home race. I am especially happy that so many fans came this weekend to see this,” says Christopher Haase happily.
The next race takes place on 19th of September 2010 at the Algarve (POR).
Source : Christopher Haase