EU3: Adria: Callaway Competition weekend summary

Callaway Competition handicapped by wrong tyres

Callaway Competition was once again handicapped by the wrong tyres at the second round of the FIA GT3 European championship at the Adria Raceway in Italy. Due to the regulations, Callaway Competition had to compete with the Corvette Z06.R GT, developed and built by Callaway Competition in Leingarten/Germany, on the same tyres that already led to problems at the season start.

"After the immense problems which we had in Silverstone, we have pleaded the FIA for a harder tyre compound. But tyre supplier Michelin could not provide this compound yet." explained team principal Ernst Wohr. From bad to worse, Callaway Competition was also penalised with a additional 50kg ,,Balance of Performance" weight. "After the problems with the tyres we had at Silverstone I can only hardly understand why we get an extra 50kg into our cars," Wohr showed little understanding for the decision.

On the narrow and with only 2.7 km distance shortest track in the calendar, the additional weight hurt. The short track requires a steady change from accelerate and hard brake manoeuvres. With competitors with 150 kg lighter cars, a difficult assignment for the two Callaway-Corvette driven by Jurgen von Gartzen (Germany) / Arnaud Peyroles (France) and Wolfgang Kaufmann (Germany) / Luca Moro (Netherlands).

In the first race on Saturday afternoon von Gartzen and reigning European champion Peyroles finished tenth, Kaufmann/Moro finished two positions behind her sister car in twelfth position.

The second race on Saturday evening was the first night race in the history of the FIA GT3 European championship. Von Gartzen/Peyroles repeated their tenth place from the first race, Kaufmann/Moro finished 16.

,,With our own power we can't fight for victories at moment," said Ernst Wohr after the two races. ,,Now we hope for a quick intervention and a fair classification of our Corvette Z06. R GT3 by the FIA up to the next race at Oschersleben."

Success in the GT4-Cup

But there were also successful moments for Callaway Competition in both races of the GT4 Cup. For the first time Tobias Guttroff (Germany) and Jens Richter (Germany) drove an Corvette C6 GT4, developed and built by Callaway Competition. In the second race on Saturday Jens Richter lead the race with the GT4-Corvette and also scored the fastest lap of the race. Guttroff/Richter eventually finished sixth. ,,The quickest lap of Jens Richter showed the potential our GT4- Corvette," was Ernst Wohr happy with the performance of Guttroff/Wohr in their first GT4 Cup race.

-credit: calc