The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998
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Matech Racing Ford GTs Matech make it a stunning double in the Brasil GT3 Championship!
Having kicked off the season in April at the Curitiba circuit, the Brazilian GT3 series, organised by SRO Latin America, held its final round on 29-30 November at the F1 circuit of Sao Paulo. There the Ford GTs, built and developed by Matech, made a significant impression. In fact, as from the 2nd race of the season, the movie producer Walter Salles and former F1 driver Ricardo Rosset were on the highest step of the podium, soon to be joined by Andreas Mattheis and Xandy Negrao, who started off the season at the wheel of a Viper, before taking delivery of their own Ford GT straight from the Matech GT Racing workshops. The rest hardly requires further comment, with 4 victories for Salles and Rosset, it was the performance of Mattheis and Negrao which stood out. The produced 6 wins at the wheel of their Mattheis Motorsport Ford GT on their way to the Brasil 2008 title, all before the final round at Sao Paulo. And just to rub it in they also won the final race, bringing their total number of successes to … 7 in one single season. The champion’s Andreas Mattheis and Xandy Negrao, ending the season with 116 points, some 16 points ahead of Walter Salles and Ricardo Rosset, and as such making it a double for the Ford GTs!. In the teams’ classification Mattheis Motorsport share the laurels with Full Time Sports, whilst GT Racing, the team that entered the Ford of Salles and Rosset, find themselves in 3rd place. It goes without saying that these Ford GTs Matech put up a magnificent performance in the Brasil GT3 championship, which enjoyed a successful initial season. Undoubtedly these Swiss carwill once again be playing a leading role in the South American continent in 2009. In the meanwhile, a further glass of champagne is in order… pics Miguel Costa Jr.
European GT3 Championship The Ford GT Matech team clinch the title in European FIA GT3 Championship!
On Friday, as per the timing of the United Arab Emirates, the 36 muscle cars took the start of the 60 minutes race, with the Matech GT Racing drivers giving it their all in order to safeguard their chances of winning the drivers’ title, and at the same time ensuring that the teams’ title would go to the Swiss team. «Another excellent overall result », Martin Bartek, the man in charge of the Matech organisation commented, «with Ellis and Mortimer on the podium, Khan and Mutsch in 4th place and Pirri-Von Gartzen in 8th, this time nothing could stand in our way from popping the champagne cork in the team rankings. I must admit that this European title is the culmination of unrelenting hard work during these last two years. For Matech GT Racing, a team that only saw the light of day in February 2007, it is an extraordinary achievement that clearly illustrates the way in which our car was built, developed and managed. Heartiest congratulations to all the members of the team and our thanks to Ford Racing USA and Ford of Europe for having believed in us! As for the drivers’ title, the verdict fell on Friday also, with an honourable final 3rd place shared by Thomas Mutsch, Ian Khan and Bradley Ellis, Alex Mortimer finishing 4th in the overall ranking as he had not competed in the first round. Places which these Ford GT tamers might well have improved on this Saturday….however climatic conditions had other ideas, as the final race of the year was purely and simply cancelled as the result of flooding on the Dubai Autodrome! «First and foremost I wish to congratulate Arnaud Peyroles and James Ruffier, who definitely deserve their 2008 title. This duo, which has consistently progressed throughout the championship season, was simply unbeatable here in Dubai », Martin Bartek continued. «However after the 1st race the drivers’ vice-champion title remained perfectly in reach. Unfortunately the violent storm that hit the city during Friday night and Saturday morning converted the Autodrome, built entirely without any drainage system, into a water-ski circuit and put an end to all our hopes! For the Matech GT Racing team it is rather saddening that it should end in this manner, especially when one travels so far with the entire team and the back-up required. A rather rowdy end of season for the European FIA GT3 Championship, a competition that saw the Matech Ford GTs constantly up in the forefront these last two years, clinching no less than 6 victories during the 2008 season alone. With a first international crown amply deserved, all that remains for the Swiss team is to carefully manage the inter season prior to eventually defending their title next year … and who knows, making it perhaps a double by grabbing also the drivers’ title. In the meanwhile, champagne! pictures Steven Nesta
FIA GT3 European Championship / 5. Nogaro Matech GT Racing clinch two further podium places and close in on the title
The penultimate round of the FIA GT3 European Championship was held this weekend on the French circuit of Nogaro, where the Matech Racing Ford GTs were up amongst the leading pack. Right from the qualifying sessions Luca Pirri (#19) and Bradley Ellis (#21) were amongst the top 3 for the first race, a performance repeated by Thomas Mutsch (#20) in the second race. The first 60 minutes race, held on Saturday saw that the Ford GT Matech Racing of Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan could quite clearly put a claim to a place on the podium. Unfortunately the Monaco based driver found himself ousted by a Corvette, and even though the stewards opted not to sanction the incident, it was quite obvious that the manœuvre carried out by said Corvette was incorrect. An incident which had little influence on the championship rankings, in as much that the Corvette of Ruffier also had to throw in the towel. Meanwhile the other GTs were showing their colours with Jurgen Von Gartzen and Luca Pirri taking the chequered flag in an excellent 2nd place, some 6 seconds down on the winners, whilst the British duo Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer just missed the bottom tread of the podium, but still gainedvaluable points with their 4th place. On Sunday, fate dogged the #20 of Mutsch and Khan who were perhaps not getting the better of the Corvette of Ruffier and Peyroles, but nevertheless they did crossed the line in 2nd spot, which was a good result for them in the drivers championship. Unfortunately 5 laps from the finish the car’s gearbox jammed; "This is our first retirement of the season due to a technical problem ", Martin Bartek, the man in charge of Matech GT Racing commented.”A pretty impressive score all the same. Unfortunately this failure comes about most probably at the worst moment of the season, because the Corvette drivers have now been able to create a break in the championship. With 8 points down it’s going to be a complicated assignment in Dubai.” Slotted in 4th place a few lengths from the finish Luca Pirri attempted a rather optimistic attack in the last bend resulting in nudging a Porsche. The stewards of the course reckoned the manœuvre was avoidable and decided to inflict a 30 seconds penalty on the Ford #19, relegating it to 11th place overall. Fortunately Matech GT Racing’s honour was saved thanks to the British duo of Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer, who produced a remarkable comeback from a 20th place on the grid. A brilliant final rush ending with a 3rd place, and the final step on the podium! "A super result which we can be truly proud of ", Martin Bartek continued.”By gathering all these places on the podium we are ever more harvesting points for the team championship. With the last rendezvous in sight we now have 90 points, as compared to 64 of our nearest rivals. We can therefore state that the laurels are definitely coming our way." However for Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan the assignment will be more difficult in the final round at Dubai, but it is a well know fact in motorsport that nothing is decided until that final chequered flag has dropped. And so all teams are now heading off for the United Arab Emirates, where a final round comprised out of two races is to be held during the weekend of 5th and 6th of….December!
Brno Mutsch-Khan and Matech GT Racing lead the championship!
However the trend did not continue into qualifying, especially for the Ford GT #19 driven by Luca Pirriet and Jürgen Von Gartzen, who experienced two broken belts resulting in not only their absence for the second timed session but also the start of the first of two races on Saturday . A first race did not go down well for the Swiss team, the #21 Ford GT of Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis was pushed into the gravel trap by an Ascari, whilst Ian Khan, who was climbing up through the pack up to 10th , having started in 20th, before handing over to Thomas Mutsch. The latter made a small mistake, after a lengthy driver change-over, in the final bend while trying to get the better of an Ascari, both the Ford and the Ascari spun, relegating the Matech Ford into 10th place. Frustrating! However on Sunday matters where different for the Ford GTs, their drivers all puting in great performances. Having started from the back of the grid for missing second qualifying, the #19 of Pirri and Von Gartzen climbed back into 9th place as the result of an excellent effort lasting an hour, just missing out on the points. Starting 8th in qualifying as the result of a penalty for overtaking during a yellow flag, the #21 of Bradley and Ellis was involved in a collision at the start but still managed to take the chequered flag in 7th spot, the Brits scoring two points. As for the #20 of Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan, they had a great start only to be hit by an Aston Martin. Despite this the German driver soon took over the lead, building a 10 second lead before handing over the wheel to his Monegasque team mate.
"Full proof that one should never give up hope ", Martin Bartek, the team owner commented.”The first day’s racing wasn’t favourable to us, as compared to the second. We are back leading the drivers’ and teams’ championships and we clinched another victory. On the other hand on a technical track which did not allow them to make full use of their power the Mustang FR500GT3s experienced a difficult weekend, not made any easier due to clutch problems. Notwithstanding all that Eric De Doncker and Scott Maxwell managed to make the finish, with a top 20 in the 2nd race, whilst their other team mates Graham and Bera had bad luck..." In the FIA GT3 drivers’ championship Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch are back in front, taking advantage of the poor result of Ruffier and Peyroles in the second race. They are now two points clear of the French duo. On the team front the Matech GT Racing domination continues, with a 27 points lead over their nearest rivals.. The following rendezvous is scheduled on the French circuit of Nogaro on 4th and 5th October.
Brasil GT3 Championship / Rio de Janeiro The Ford GTs continue to dominate!
Last weekend, the Rio de Janeiro circuit welcomed the 5th meeting of the Brasil GT3 Championship, with all competitors starting on the second part of the national Grand Touring competition, specifically reserved for power beasts in the GT3 category. And the least one can say is that once more all eyes were on the Ford GTs, with Walter Salles and Ricardo Rosset taking command of the first race, whilst Andreas Mattheis and Xandy Negrao, driving the second Ford GT, had to content themselves with an 8th place. With this Salles and Rosset took over the lead in the championship, and the situation was later confirmed after the second race, which saw the Ford GTs clinch a brilliant one-two. However, this time around Mattheis and Negrao had the final word, finishing ahead of Salles and Rosset. This means only one thing; these cars built in the German workshops of Matech GT Racing thoroughly dominated the rest of the pack. A situation clearly reflected in the provisional championship standings, seeing Walter Salles and Ricardo Rosset presently have 62 points, in fact…..just one more than Mattheis and Negrao. As for their closest rivals, they have now been relegated and are more than 20 points down, a good omen for the future. This Brasil GT3 Championship, which is now half way through its season, will continue at Santa Cruz on 11th and 12th October, prior to heading off to Curitiba on 15th and 16th November and then moving on for the final meeting in Sao Paulo on 29th and 30th November. In other words a total of 6 races in which undoubtedly the Ford GTs will outshine, more than ever looking to clinch the first Brazilian GT3 crown. A situation which differs somewhat from that experienced in Germany, where unfortunately the Fords have enjoyed limited success in the ADAC GT Masters, at the Eurospeedway Lausitz. Notwithstanding the fact that Kenneth Heyer and Marc Hennerici distinguished themselves during the free practice and qualifying sessions, with notably Marc Hennerici grabbing a pole position, race circumstances prevented the car entered by the Matech GT Racing team from putting in a good performance. But there’s no question of giving up. At the final meeting on the Sachsenring being held on the 20th and 21st September the Ford GT has every intention of ending the season in the same way that it started, namely by clinching a couple of victories! However before this date Matech will be heading off for Brno, in the Czech Republic, where the FIA GT3 championship is being held this coming weekend, and the Ford GTs as also the Ford Mustang FR500GT3s will be back on the international scene, with the firm intention of excelling. Ian Khan, Thomas Mutsch, Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer are more than ever on the list for the European title, whilst Matech GT Racing is still amply dominating the team standings. Rendezvous at the end of the week-end, when we will draw up the balance sheet of the 4th of the 6 meetings of the FIA GT3 European championship.
FIA GT3 Championship / Oschersleben (D) First victory for Pirri and Von Gartzen !
This time they were back on track under rather different conditions as they were carrying ballast imposed by the Governing body. "It goes without saying that this additional 140 kilos of ballast, as compared to the initial weight of the car is definitely felt ", Martin Bartek, the man in charge of the Matech GT Racing team commented. "In roughly one month the car has had its weight increased by 100 kilos, which in turn has an important effect on the gentlemen-drivers in GT3, who quite logically find it difficult to adapt to such weight differences, and therefore handling, in such a short period of time …" However this did not deter Thomas Mutsch from testing the limits of himself and the car by snatching pole position for the second round at the track. An additional pole for the Matech team, and proof that notwithstanding the latest regulatory ballast, the Ford GT is and remains one of the faster cars in the GT3 category. The first race of the weekend on started badly for Matech GT Racing, losing the cars of Kahn-Mutsch and Ellis-Mortimer in the first braking zone, net result a particularly destructive pile up for the Ford GTs. All hopes now lay on the remaining car of Luca Pirri and Jurgen Von Gartzen. The pair then proceeded to drive a near perfect race, finding themselves in 2nd place overall, before taking over the lead and retaining their advantage. "After this chaotic start we were fully decided to play it safe ", Luca Pirri explained.”But when I found myself in 2nd spot I put on the pressure and went all out for victory. Something we managed to achieve with Jurgen ! This is our first success at the wheel of the Ford GT, and following its two victories at the beginning of the season the car is well on the way to greater successes …" Having set off from pole in Sunday’s race, Thomas Mutsch unfortunately had a puncture in his left front tyre on the first lap! Once this was changed the German set off even more determined than ever, setting some remarkable lap times. Mutsch set the fastest race lap, although he was never in contentionthe as the #20 finished the race well down the field due to the time lost in the pits. The #21 driven by the British pair of Ellis and Mortimer experienced brake problems, probably as the result of an accident incurred during the first race. However they still managed to finish in 17th place. Von Gartzen at the wheel of the #19, handed over the drive to Pirri in 5th position at the half-way mark, but all hopes were dashed when a Ferrari spun sideways immediately in front of Pirri. Impact was unavoidable! The Matech team were present with two Ford Mustang FR500GT3s in the capable hands of De Doncker-Jeannette and Bera-Graham. Unable to gain much advantage on this rather technical circuit, the Mustangs had a difficult time, Bera and Graham saving the honours in the first leg by taking the chequered flag in 22nd place.
ADAC GT Masters 2008 / Norisring The Ford GT Matech once more confirms it’s top speed
The Matech GT Racing team were present with the Ford GT #5 in the capable hands of the German pairing Marc Hennerici and Kenneth Heyer. Right from the free practice sessions these two drivers were fully at ease in this unusual environment, registering a best lap time of 52"757. This result was later to be confirmed during the qualifying sessions, Kenneth Heyer recording the 4th best time for the first race, while Marc Hennerici held his own with an incredible 51"719 giving him pole for the race 2. Their demonstration once again showed the competitiveness of the Ford GT, which was carrying a 140 kg handicap ballast imposed by the FIA and ADAC. Kenneth Heyer made an excellent start on Saturday in the first race of the weekend, although he was careful not to make any mistakes on this unforgiving circuit. Holding 4th place he brought the car in to the pits after 25 minutes to hand over to Hennerici. However although the latter had planned to drive a steady race to the finish, a technical problem forced him to return to the pitlane. Putting that to the back of their minds the Matech GT Racing team were determined to redress matters on Sunday, Marc Hennerici leaving the pack behind him right from the start. This second race then suffered a lengthy neutralization period due to an accident, during which the positions were turned upside down several times. Having set-off in 5th place after the compulsory pit-stop, Kenneth Heyer was determined to work his way through the field but gearbox problems put a premature end to his race. Despite the poor results for the Ford GT at the Norisring, notwithstanding the numerous race incidents, Hennerici and Heyer still found themselves in 4th place in the championship. But it goes without saying that the potential of this car, bred by Matech GT Racing, is now well proven by it’s permanent position at the ‘sharp end’ of the field.
ADAC GT Masters / 2. Nürburgring New strong performance of Matech GT Racing still ahead in the championship !
Marc Hennerici and Kenneth Heyer were the drivers on duty in the Eifel mountains, racing the remaining #5 Matech Ford GT. The team took in account that it would be difficult to score as good as they did a few weeks ago, given the success ballast of 40 kg following both victories in Oschersleben. And what’s more the FIA again reduced the size of the air restrictor of the Ford GT. All together, the Matech Ford GT now carries 80 kg more than the original homologation weight, but still showed a strong pace during free practice. Heyer and Hennerici were twice second quickest in free practice and qualified fourth and third on the grid. But things all went wrong right after the start of the first race on Friday. Due to a delayed start procedure, the complete grid of the ADAC GT Masters, over 20 cars, arrived together at the first corner. The #19 Corvette hit the Ford GT of Heyer at the back and as a result of the impact; Heyer crashed right into the car in front of him. The crash was impressive and the damage even more so… As it was the case in Oschersleben and in Monza, the Matech GT Racing mechanics did a wonderful job through the night getting the car ready before the start of the second race on Saturday. A big round of applause for the mechanics in the team! Hennerici and Heyer came home second, after a thrilling duel with the #1 Lamborghini, finally won by the American Ford GT pairing. The difference between Heyer and his opponent was only 6 tenths of a second… “Again, I want to thank the entire team”, explains Martin Bartek. “The second place is the result of the hard work of our staff and what’s more our team, Matech GT Racing, still is leading the team’s championship. Last but not least, Marc Hennerici and Kenneth Heyer are still second in the drivers standing together with Thomas Mutsch and Jürgen Von Gartzen, who competed the first round in Oschersleben with us. Once more, the Ford GT, developed by our team, showed very strong.”
FIA GT3 European Championship 2008 / 2. Monza Two additional victories for the Ford GTs Matech Racing !
Following on from the spectacular start at Silverstone, with the two victories of the Ford GTs of Mutsch and Khan, the Matech Racing team headed on down to Monza, for the following round of the FIA GT3 European championship. Notwithstanding the temperamental weather conditions, both the free practice as also the qualifying sessions proved that the three Ford GTs entered by the Swiss team were on tune, the power beasts achieving impressive grouped results; 3rd, 4th and 5th places for the first leg, prior to Thomas Mutsch clinching another pole position allowing him to take on the morning heat in full confidence. This Saturday the first of the two FIA GT3 races were marred by numerous incidents and accidents, and unfortunately the Matech Racing team didn’t come out of it unscathed... "Two of our three cars were involved in accidents, Ian Khan seriously damaging the #20 following contact with a Porsche, Luca Pirri, at the wheel of #19, hit a Lamborghini at the end of the straight ", the team manager, Martin Bartek told us. "Not only would our mechanics need to work through the night to bring the cars up to scratch, but the Stewards of the Meeting decided to inflict penalties resulting in losing places on the grid for the following day, the two Ford GTs finding themselves on the 6th and 18th row of the grid !" Luckily our #21, driven by the British pair Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer, had a perfect race, battling it out through to the line with a Corvette before achieving a great victory, leaving the Ford GTs unbeaten in the 2008 competition. An excellent result backed up by the 6th place of the Ford Mustang FR500GT3 Matech Racing of the Belgian Eric De Doncker and the Canadian Scott Maxwell, confirming the ever increasing evolution of this power beast, whilst the drivers drove a perfect race managing to avoid the clashes and accidents. On top of that the Matech team gained some additional points in the team championship...
The outcome of this Monza rendezvous is that Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan retain the lead in the drivers’ championship, whilst Bradley Ellis and Alex Mortimer now figure in 3rd and 4th place. When it comes to the teams; complete domination by Matech, with no less than 49 points... in fact 33 points ahead of the 2nd placed team. The team are now heading for the Nürburgring, where the 2nd meeting of the ADAC GT Masters, the German GT3 championship is being held this weekend. FIA GT3 European Championship, Round Three, Monza , Italy Provisional Results
FIA GT3 European Championship, Round Four, Monza , Italy Provisional Results
Notes: Car 43 – 77 second penalty. Car 20 – 63 second penalty For results and further information on the FIA GT3 European Championship, visit www.fiagt3.com
FIA GT Championship/German ADAC GT Masters ADAC GT Masters 2008 / Oschersleben An ‘almost’ perfect week-end!
Starting off in free practice the Swiss team showed the way thanks to Mutsch and Von Gartzen. The pairing then followed this up in qualifying with each in turn claiming pole position. As for Heyer and Hennerici, they would start from the 9th and 3rd spots on the grid respectively. Saturday’s round was marked by spectacular accident for Kenneth Heyer, the front of his Ford GT #5 lifting up by a meter at the beginning of the straight as the result of coming into contact with a Lamborghini. Even thought the powerful car weaved from left to right across the track, no other competitor hit him, everyone getting off with no more than a scare. Needless to say all this was soon forgotten when Thomas Mutsch and Jürgen Von Gartzen scored an excellent victory, with their closest rivals some 25 seconds down on their finishing time! On Sunday the Matech GT Racing team managed even better, clinching a remarkable double. This time around the honours went to Heyer and Hennerici who finished on the top step of the podium, the Ford GT #5 taking the chequered flag just ahead of the #6 of Mutsch and Von Gartzen ! "Taking into account our results at Silverstone, as also those this weekend at Oschersleben, we have proven that the Ford GT, developed and built by Matech Concepts, is not only fast but definitely reliable ", Martin Bartek, the man in charge of the Swiss team commented, after the podium ceremony. Also at the weekend in at the Interlagos circuit, near Sao Paulo, the Ford GT of the ex-F1 driver Ricardo Rossett, teame with film maker Walter Salles took two pole positions for the second meeting of the Brazilian GT3 championship. The car, also from the Matech workshops, had some bad luck during the first heat when it was hit by a Lamborghini, however the two drivers then managed to reset the clocks, with perfect Swiss precision, by grabbing a superb victory ! "I’m more than satisfied with the work put in by the team during the seasonal recess ", Martin Bartek continued.”The countless overtime hours sacrificed in this project since December 2007 have finally come to fruition this weekend. The Ford GT Matech Racing has proved to one and all that it is capable of imposing itself in a variety of fields at the same time, highly promising for the future. Next week the Monza circuit will play host for the second round of the FIA GT3, and the entire team, having started on a successful note has every intention of keeping it that way..."
Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan score two victories with the Ford GT Matech Racing at Silverstone
Things started very well for Matech in the first race on Saturday. Ian Khan made a good start before he was forced to brake heavily in Copse to avoid a spinning car, the result of which put him back in 22nd place, despite starting fro row 6., Martin Bartek, the team manager commented.”the best was still to come". Khan soon recovered and was soon back up flirting with the top 10 prior to handing over to Thomas Mutsch. The latter completed the race taking the Ford GT Matech #20 into the lead to clinch its first victory, in fact the second in its short career following on from the success gained in the streets of Bucharest last year. The entire team were also delighted seeing that Morris and Ellis, who had become acquainted with the Ford GT’s handling during this meeting at Silverstone, rounded off this success with a well deserved 11th place overall, highly encouraging for the future. The only down side were the technical problems which hindered Luca Pirri and Jürgen Von Gartzen during this first day. The car went off track during the qualifying sessions, but the team did everything in their power to ensure that the two drivers were back on track for the weekend..." And for the second leg of the weekend, Thomas Mutsch set-off from pole position, having set the best GT3 lap time of the weekend, clocking a 1'50"237. As expected the German dominated the first part of the race, before handing over to Ian Khan. The latter fell back into third prior to putting on the pressure; climbing back up and finally lapping the leading Corvette 3 laps before the finish. The outcome was that the Ford GT #20 scored its second win of the weekend!
As for the Mustang FR500GT3s, they had a difficult weekend as the result of track conditions not really suited to these powerful American cars. The team of Eric De Doncker and Scott Maxwell came out best, with a 21st in the first race, notwithstanding a broken splitter, followed by a 24th place the following day. "The Mustang is definitely progressing in the right direction, but what is lacking for this car is to find some other fast drivers keen on carrying on with the further development ", Martin Bartek continued . "Our objective in the mid-term is to feature up amongst the top 10, and with some hard work carried out in close collaboration with Ford Racing, I’m fully convinced that we can get there..." Well worth keeping a close eye on, with the following FIA GT3 meeting being held at Monza on 17th and 18th May...
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In
addition to the presence of the 3 Ford GTs in the European FIA GT3
Championship, the German ADAC GT Masters and the sporadic appearance in
other national competitions run under the GT3 regulations (British GT
Championship, Championship of France FFSA Grand Touring), the Swiss
Matech GT Racing team have also found themselves in the Brasil GT3
Championship this season. This via both Mattheis Motorsport and the GT
Racing teams, who have adopted the Ford GT… and made excellent use of
it! 
At
the close of a spectacular and gripping season the Swiss Matech GT
Racing team took the teams’ crown on Friday during the final round of
the European GT3 Championship, held on the Dubai Autodrome. This circuit
in the United Arab Emirates appeared to suit the Ford GTs, as was proven
during the free practice sessions, Mortimer-Ellis, Khan-Mutsch and Pirri-Von
Gartzen never being out of the top-10. This was later confirmed during
the two qualifying sessions, with Bradley Ellis producing the best lap
time in the first session. 
At
the weekend, 12-13 September, the FIA GT3 championship was back on
track at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic. A natural and
undulating track which seemed to go down well with the Ford GTs entered
by the Matech GT Racing team, as was proven during free practice. 
The
latter took full advantage of a perfect driver change-over, holding the
lead and finally crossing the line in 1st! 
After
two exceptional meetings at Silverstone and 
The
season’s third meeting of the ADAC GT Masters championship was run
alongside the DTM at legendary Norisring at the weekend, a street track
with cars constantly brushing up against the barriers and where there is
usually a very large crowd. 
After
two wins in the opening weekend of the ADAC GT Masters, the German GT3
Championship, Matech GT Racing only entered one Ford GT in the second
meeting of the year at the Nürburgring. The races were held during the
weekend of the mythic 24 Hours of the Ring. “We didn’t find a final
agreement yet for our second car for the remaining of the season”,
explains Martin Bartek, team manager of the Swiss team. “One of our cars
was heavily damaged in Monza last week, so we didn’t want to take any
risks at all. We hope to finalize a deal before the third meeting of the
series that will take place on the Norisring on June the 27, 28 and
29.” 
This
Sunday’s race saw radio liaison problems between the team and the
drivers. Result: two of the three Ford GTs came in for their pit-stop
out of the regulatory time window. As such Mutsch-Khan and Pirri-Von
Gartzen received a Stop & Go... which they didn’t serve out, taking
advantage of a regulation allowing a car not to re-enter the pitlane as
from the moment a penalty is imposed less than 5 laps from the end of
the race. Obviously a time sanction is imposed once the chequered flag
has been taken. This resulted in the two Ford GTs being relegated into
3rd (Mutsch-Khan) and 14th (Pirri-Von Gartzen) places. And what about
Ellis-Mortimer in all this ? On the top tread of the podium no less !
Another victory thanks to a faultless race... "After the crashes on
Saturday, these two new victories of the Ford GTs are as excellent as
they are unexpected ", Martin Bartek continues.”They are in fact a great
way of rewarding the team of mechanics who worked so hard throughout the
night, even cutting out the damaged roll cage of the #20, before
re-welding same under the watchful eyes of individuals approved by the
FIA ! I believe that this weekend Matech Racing has performed miracles,
far beyond anything seen at this level of competition...." 
This
weekend, at the Oschersleben circuit the ADAC GT Masters, (the German GT
championship run to FIA GT3 regs), had its first outing. The Matech GT
Racing team was present with two Ford GTs; the #5 to be driven for the
entire season by Marc Hennerici and Kenneth Heyer, and for this meeting
the #6 in the hands of two FIA GT3 European Championship drivers, namely
Thomas Mutsch and Jürgen Von Gartzen. 
After
winter of testing the Swiss Matech Racing team finally got to back to
the real business this weekend at Silverstone with the opening round of
the European FIA GT competition. In the pitlane the team had a virutal
armada on display. There was the Ford GTs for Luca Pirri and Jürgen Von
Gartzen (#19), Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan (#20) and finally Edward
Morris and Bradley Ellis (#21). Next to them were the trio of Ford
Mustang FR500GT3s, being tamed by Eric De Doncker and Scott
Maxwell (#22), Thierry Blaise and Nigel Greensall (#23) and also Romain
Bera and Ron Marchal (#24). 
"Impossible
to have dreamt of a better way to kick off the season ", Martin Bartek
said at the end of the weekend. ”And the 7th place of Ellis and Morris
once again rounded off and added to our success. On the other hand I
feel very sorry for Pirri and Von Gartzen who experienced nothing but
bad back luck during the weekend. Having started from the pitlane as
they had not driven a single lap during the second qualifying session,
the Ford GT #19 brilliantly worked its way up through the pack only to
be hindered by a flat tyre having driven over some debris. When things
just don’t want to go your way..."