FIA GT CHAMPIONSHIP

OSCHERSLABEN

BACK TO WINNING WAYS IN FIA

Tim Sugden returned to the top step of the podium in the FIA GT Championship round at Oscherslaben in Eastern Germany on Sunday in the most emphatic way after setting pole position and fastest GT2 lap in the 3 hour race.    After a 3 month period when a succession of problems had caused him to battle through the field or fail to finish Sugden and his driving partner Emmanuel Collard were delighted to take their third joint International win of the year.

The other #66 GruppeM Porsche of Mark Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller finished second and the one-two result confirms GruppeM as the FIA GT2 Team Championship winners.    The points move Collard and Sugden, currently lying second, closer to Lieb and Rockenfeller who lead in the driver’s title race with four races still to run.

The #88 car of Sugden and Collard had led the race from the start and was only headed by the #66 car when their pit stop took somewhat longer due to a sticking wheel nut but Collard, who took over at that stop was able to reel the #66 car in and retake the lead before handing back to Sugden for the final 40 laps of the race

Following the major accident that caused their dramatic 4th place finish in the last FIA race, the 24 hours of Spa the GruppeM team found that the shell of the #88 car was too badly damaged for a permanent repair and had to build a completely new car for this race in their hectic programme.   The win was therefore just reward for the hard worked mechanics as well as compensation for the drivers 

For a full details see GruppeM report on www.dailysportscar.com (see links section)