07-08-08: Germany's Oschersleben circuit witnessed a hectic weekend of racing as it hosted the third double round of the FIA GT3 European Championship and the third triple round of the FIA GT4 European Cup racing series.
In GT4, current champion Eric De Doncker had to use all his experience to maintain his lead in the standings. The Belgian driver, in his Motorsport 98 Ford Mustang FR500C, delivered a solid performance on the tight, twisting track to finish third in the first race and second in the second. The weekend was dominated by British driver Alex Buncombe and his RJN Motorsport Nissan 350Z.
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"My team, Insulco Motorsport 98, and I were ready for a tough weekend and that's just how it turned out," said De Doncker. "I needed to score as many points as possible and I am glad I managed to finish third and second. Unfortunately, I had a suspension failure halfway through the second race and was forced to withdraw. Despite the tough competition, the Mustang performed to its best and helped me keep the lead in the standings."
As in GT4, the top of the GT3 leaderboard is dominated by the blue oval, although the Ford GT driven by Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch lost the top position. However, the Matech GT Racing team managed to secure second, third and fourth in the driver's standings, despite a chaotic weekend of spins and collisions at Oschersleben.
Saturday's race was dominated by the Ford GT driven by the Italian-German duo of Luca Pirri and Jürgen von Gartzen, while on Sunday it was the Corvette driven by Matzke and Skula that claimed victory.
Mark Deans, Ford of Europe's Motorsport Director, summed up the performances of the American muscle cars over the weekend. "We are absolutely delighted with the job the Ford cars are doing in both GT3 and GT4, with the highly skilled support of Matech and Insulco Motorsport 98. It is a thrill to see these cars competing so effectively, especially the Mustang, an iconic vehicle which is still winning races after more than forty years."
The next stop for the FIA GT4 European Cup is in Spa-Francoschamps, Belgium, homeland of Eric De Doncker, on August 3rd. The FIA European GT3 Championship takes a longer break and is back on September 14th in Brno, Czech Republic.
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