Mixed weekend in Slovakia sends FIA GT3 title battle to the wire

The FIA GT3 European Championship will go down to the wire at Zandvoort next month following a weekend of mixed fortunes for points leaders Francesco Castellacci and Federico Leo.

The series was making its maiden trip to the Slovakiaring and the newly built circuit produced plenty of close, competitive racing, with five driver pairings making the podium across the two races.

The opening run was won by the Heico Motorsport entry of Brice Bosi and Dominik Baumann, the Mercedes duo beating the AF Corse Ferrari of Castellacci and Leo to the victory. Claudia Hürtgen and Csaba Walter completed the podium in their Need for Speed Team Schubert-run BMW Z4, the pairing’s first top-three since the season-opening race in Portugal.

They would repeat the result in race two, though the cars in front of them were not those who’d headed the first run. Philippe Giauque and Mike Parisy took the win, a major boost to their title aspirations, ahead of the Gravity-Charouz entry of Leonid Machitski and Jaroslav Janis. With all three pairings aboard Mercedes-Benz machines it was a perfect day for the German marque.

Meanwhile the table-topping AF Corse car had a race to forget as Castellacci spun into the gravel whilst hunting down the leaders. The Italian recovered the car to the pits, losing a full lap in the process, and the Ferrari would eventually finish a lowly 21st.

That means that the Giauque-Parisy car now trails the AF Corse duo by a reduced gap of 14 points heading to the season closer, whilst erstwhile second place duo Maxime Martin and Gael Lesoudier are a further two points in arrears. The title will be decided at Dutch venue Zandvoort over the weekend of October 15/16.

Watch the FIA GT3 European Championship on Motors TV


James Weeks