EU3: Oschersleben: Muhlner Motorsport weekend summary

Muhlner Motorsport scores FIA GT3 points in Oschersleben
Wins in the Porsche marque standings in both races

Francorchamps / Oschersleben. The Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium based Muhlner Motorsport Team entered two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S cars in the European FIA GT3 Championship round in Oschersleben.

The UK based Canadian Mark Thomas was once again sharing the number 39 car with the Czech Jara Jirik, with whom he shared the car in Monza. There, the pair had been best placed Porsche, ahead of their team-mates.

Tom Cloet (Belgium) and Tim Bergmeister (Germany) were sharing the number 40 car, this is the car which is currently enjoying success in the ADAC GT Masters, where the Muhlner Team are leading both the drivers' table - by 12 points - and the teams' championship.

Starting from 4th on the grid, Bergmeister moved up to third and started pressurising for second when he heard that he had received a drive-through penalty for an alleged jump-start. This dropped him to 16th but he then charged through the field, scorching a succession of fastest laps into the tarmac. After the driver change, Cloet brought the car home a good 11th and top Porsche.

Thomas did the first stint with the other Muhlner Porsche, handing over a half distance to Jirik who brought the car into 12th place and second Porsche - giving the team a one-two in the Porsche rankings.

The result put Thomas into a 2 point lead of the Porsche Cup category of the FIA GT3 series.

The Sunday race started at 11am and was determined by a safety car which came out just as the pitstop window opened. Tom Cloet was at the wheel of the 40 car and had just radioed in that he wanted to change as early as possible to Bergmeister and came direct into the pits. It was just at this point that the safety car joined the circuit so the unfortunate timing meant that they lost a lap and were only able to make 22nd at the flag.

Jara Jirik was to drive the 39 car until half distance but the tactics were quickly amended in light of the safety car. Jirik changed at just the right time to Thomas, this put them into the top ten and the Canadian then pushed hard to close up on the leading Porsche. Having got up to 7th, he pushed a bit too hard and spun, dropping back to 10th. He then pushed again, managed to pass the leading Porsche and finished a good 8th overall. He now leads the Porsche category with an increased four point advantage.

"This weekend we've proved that we can get point scoring results - if we hadn't had the drive-through penalty on Saturday, we'd have done so in both races" was Bernhard Muhlner's summary of the weekend.

-credit: mm