26.06.08 Three wins in a row for Wolfgang Kaufmann

For the third time this year, Wolfgang Kaufmann and his team mate from Belarus, Alexander Talkanitsa managed to win the Citation cup in the FIA-GT Championship.

Wolfgang Kaufmann and Alexander Talkanitsa

AT Racing Corvette C5-R GT1

After the classic venues of Silverstone and Monza, win #3 happened at the short, only 2.7 km in length, Adria Raceway near Venice.

In setting the car up for this track, top speed hardly mattered; on the other hand, good brakes and solid turn-in characteristics for the many 2nd gear corners were needed. The weak sport of this whole package were the tyres, mandated by the FIA and initially developed for GT3 competition. “We get maybe three or four properly quick laps out of these tyres before the grip goes away drastically”, Kaufmann explains the problem.

In free practice, Wolfgang Kaufmann turned a few set-up laps with the Corvette C5-R GT1 before Alexander Talkanitsa got time to familiarise himself with the unfamiliar track. For the opening stint of the race, it was again Kaufmann's turn until an early pit stop, and a solid middle stint by Talkanitsa. The closing laps, in darkness, again belong to Kaufmann: “With tyres and brakes fading in the last few laps, I had to reduce my speed a little. Victory in the Citation Cup was more important for us than a few quick laps.”