Fischer Racing showed the potential for a possible Top-5 finish in the fourth round of the FIA GT3 European Championship in Le Castellet/France. During the second of two races in the south of France, the two Fischer Racing-Ford GT driven by Mikko Eskelinen (FIN)/Christoffer Nygaard (DNK) and James Emmett (GBR)/Markus Palttala (FIN) were running in strong fifth and seventh position, when bad luck prevented both Ford GT to finish in the point ranks.
In the first race on the former Formula 1-track at the French Rivera, Eskelinen/Nygaard finished in tenth position and grabbed one championship point. Emmett/Palttala finished solid 17th in the almost 30 car strong field. „Mikko gave me the car in a good position and I was able to overtake some competitors until the end of the race. If the race would have been one or two laps longer, I would have had the chance to finish in a even better position”, Christoffer Nygaard said after the race.
Sunday’s second heat started a bit more promising for Fischer Racing, even if Markus Palttala and Christoffer Nygaard had to cope with a 19th and 20th place on the starting grid. As soon as the lights turned to green, both Fischer Racing-Ford GT chased trough the field. Until the mandatory driver change, Nygaard was already in fifth position, meant he gained not less then 15 places! But soon after Nygaard handed the Ford GT to Mikko Eskelinen, a broken drive shaft ended the strong race too early. „We seam to have a really streak of bad luck, that prevented us from taking good points today”, Mikko Eskelinen said disappointed after the race. Markus Palttala also drove a strong opening stint and handed the Ford GT in seventh place to James Emmett, who finally finished 15th in his first ever FIA GT3-weekend. Markus Palttala was not so unhappy with the weekend in France. „My aim is to fight for the podium or at least for a top-five finish. This weekend I shared the car with James Emmett, who drove the Ford GT here for the first time. Due to that, we had a different approach for this weekend. I worked very well together with James and he did a really good job. He improved with every session and we had a trouble free weekend.”
„We certainly had a good speed and the chance to grab some good points in the second race, but we lacked a bit of luck this weekend”, Fischer Racing team principal Hardy Fischer said. „Now we hope for more luck in the two ultimate rounds this season at Slovakia and in the Netherlands. Both tracks are new for us, but seam to be handling tracks well suited for our Ford GT.”
Source : Fischer Racing