The Grid.co.uk    the national & club motor racing website - est1998          

Home

  News

  Features   Calendar   News Archive 11/56 MotorSport
        Reports          Gallery         Links         Classified
 

The next round of the Telefonica Speedy Brasil GT3 Championship will take place on 12th and 13th July at the Sao Paulo circuit, where the Ford GTs will make a point of emphasising their domination in this first Brazilian competition based on GT3 regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brazil GT3 Championship

Ford GTs amass victories at Curitiba, Sao Paulo et Brasilia 

As well as dominating the FIA GT3 European championship, taking victories in the German ADAC GT Masters and not forgetting the two successes in the British GT Championship, the Ford GTs of the Swiss Matech team are also competing in the Telefonica Speedy Brazil GT3 Championship, a part of the Latin American branch of SRO.  

Right from the start of the competition in April at the Curitiba circuit, the former F1 driver Ricardo Rosset together with the film director Walter Salles Jr set the tone ending the first round in 2nd place, prior to producing a splendid victory the following day with the Ford GT #12, the car immediately showing its potential. This performance was then confirmed at the Sao Paulo track in mid-May with a further victory for Rosset and Salles Jr. 

Last weekend it was the turn of the third round of the Brazilian championship at the Brasilia circuit where a second Ford GT put in an appearance. Having initially started the competition racing a Dodge, Xandy Negrao and Andreas Mattheis decided to opt for the car built and developed by Matech. A Ford GT that would definitely not go unnoticed aided by it’s highly attractive livery.  

It did not take long for this change of car to make it mark, particularly as, for once,Rosset and Salles Jr were unlucky and were forced to retire. This left Negrao and Mattheis at the wheel of their GT winning the first race ahead of a Porsche and a Dodge! 

The following day the Ford GTs put on a real exhibition, claiming the first double of the season with Rosset and Salles Jr taking the chequered flag ahead of Negrao and Mattheis  With no less than four victories under their belts, the Fords are quite obviously the car to have and now lead the Brazilian competition, with Negrao and Mattheis topping the points on 44, closely followed by Rosset and Salles Jr on 38. 

"I’m really delighted with these results, especially regarding the second Ford GT, only freshly delivered two weeks before the race ", Martin Bartek, the owner of Matech Concepts, commented. "This quite clearly proves the high degree of precision and reliability shown by our team. Without a single doubt the Ford GT Matech has reached the level of a turn-key product, both reliable and highly performing..."