FIA GT1 World Championship
Circuit Paul Ricard HTTT
July 3rd – 4th, 2010

After a promising start of the fourth FIA GT1 World Championship round the weekend on the Paul Ricard HTTT in the south of France ended disappointingly for 22-year old Christopher Haase and his partner Peter Kox (Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV, REITER Engineering).
Haase was satisfied with the free practice sessions.
“It went quite well for us. P2 is a good result. I only drove four laps in the first free practice session. In the second one I was able to drive longer, with worn-out tyres, though. It was a little disadvantage for me because I was lacking the experience with new tyres.”
Peter Kox participated in the first qualifying session and managed to place the Reiter-Lambo above the top16 hurtle in Q2. Haase qualified the duo for Q3 with P7 and Kox drove a 2:04.028, reaching start position 2 for the Lamborghini for the qualifying race early Saturday evening.
“These 30 minutes were very hard,” Christopher Haase said after the qualifying race.

After the start Haase passed the leading Vitaphone-Maserati (Bertolini, Bartels), taking the top position. The Maserati in the second pushed the Haase Lamborghini a lot.
Haase kept the tailgater at bay at the expense of the performance of his tyres.
„There were a few dicey situations but I was able to keep him at bay, “ says Haase. “However, it did not take long and the tyres, especially the rear tyres wore out. This is always a problem. As a result I was forced to give in to the pressure, in order to be able to finish.”
The GT pilot drove into the pit in fourth place. The Reiter team did a perfect stop and Peter Kox came back to the track in P2.
Kox had a clear run and finished the race in P2.
“Christopher drove a fantastic race. He had a lot of pressure from behind which he managed well. I had to be very careful with the car in order preserve the tyres and the finish the race in this place,” says Peter Kox.
Kox started the championship race from P2 behind Bertolini’s and Bartels’ Maserati. After the start Kox reached the top. Race control ruled it a jump start and penalized it with a drive-through. Up until the pit stop the Dutch pilot managed to push forward from P21 to P17.
Haase went back into the race without any prospect of points. All tyres had worn out too quickly..
“The car was not navigable. It is very frustrating to have to drive in the back and not be able to compete effectively,” Christopher Haase says disappointedly.
The next FIA GT1 World Championship race will take place on the Spa – Francorchamps on July 29th – 31st.



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