Hans Reiter had five Lamborghini Gallardo cars under his control for last weekend's opening round of the new FIA GT3 Championship, and achieved four top twenty finishes over the two days of racing. His gentlemen drivers were nearly all new to this level of racing, competing against the likes of Klaus Ludwig and Anthony Reid, Enzo Calderari and Lilian Bryner, and Reiter was very pleased with the overall performance of all his team and feels there is a good deal of potential for the future.   

"The cars all ran fairly trouble free for four days, and I have to say I've been impressed with the drivers and what they have achieved this weekend. Five cars was a big job for Reiter Engineering and, apart from a few small issues, everyone has something to feel happy about. Our team is full of people who are new to GT racing and we have every reason to look forward to doing even better at the next round."

Young Dutch driver Dennis Retera in the Reiter Engineering managed S-Berg Racing Lamborghini (no. 36) achieved, with his Czech team mate Jaromir Jirik, the best result of the weekend by finishing in 8th place in today's second race. This result is all the more remarkable for any of the following reasons, let alone the combination. They started from 34th on the grid; both drivers were competing in the wet for the first time in their lives; it was their first race of the weekend as they had been unable to start yesterday due to a gearbox problem which happened in qualifying; Jirik drove his stint in excruciating pain after tearing a calf muscle in his left leg as he got in the car. "I was crying with the pain but was determined to do well as Dennis has got us into such a good position. I've been to the medical centre now and they told me I've torn the muscle." 

Other strong drives through the field, both today and yesterday, came from Jürgen von Gartzen and race newcomer, Marius Ritskes (no. 14) and Albert von Thurn und Taxis (no. 13). Twenty-two year old von Thurn und Taxis has only been racing for a few short years and, away from racing, is an economics and theology student. His previous racing experience includes selected Italian GT races and the Lupo Cup Series, so his performance over the weekend was pleasing to both himself and his team boss, Hans Reiter.
 

Having made up a huge number of places from his 28th starting place on the grid, he handed over the car to his Italian team mate Vittorio Zoboli who, this weekend, unfortunately had problems both with the track conditions and the traffic and wasn't able to capitalise on his German team-mate's strong performances.

The yellow Lamborghini Gallardo (no.35) of Florian Scholze and Andreas Mairzedt had a more difficult weekend. Scholze comes from the Clio Cup and Mairzedt from karting so GT3 was a completely new world for them. Hans Reiter was happy to see how they managed over the weekend, having been under enormous pressure. Bernhard Müller and Michael Trunk really enjoyed their weekend's racing, despite the disappointment of not finishing yesterday (though they were classified).  

Bernhard Müller (D) - Car no. 15.  Race 1. 30th Race 2 DNF "Unfortunately I got hit today by a Maserati at Becketts on my 2nd or 3rd lap and that not only pushed me off but bent the rear rim and damaged the door on our car. I came in for a security pit stop and that was ok and then, when my team mate Michael Trunk was in the car he said the vibrations were getting too much and it was not safe to continue."

Marius Ritskes (NED) - Car no. 14.  Race 1 13th, Race 2 19th "Yesterday was the first race I ever did in my life - I've only had a racing licence since Thursday! Peter Kox introduced me to Reiter Engineering last year and I tried a few laps in a Murciélago then. I tested over the winter and now find myself in this Championship. To have two top 20 finishes with no damage to the car - I'm pretty proud of that, and really looking forward now to the next race."

by Fiona Miller