Brazilian Racing News: Zonta Wins FIA GT Opener
24 April 1998
Mercedes-Benz had their first one-two-three win in the history of the FIA GT Championship at the opening round of the 1998 Championship in Oschersleben, Germany. Ricardo Zonta from Brazil and german Klaus Ludwig scored the win after Porsche didn't finished because of mechanical problems on both of its factory cars. 'I had a difficult race, after being pushed out by Schneider and returning in sixth position' said Ricardo Zonta. 'But I gave the car to Klaus when I was leading with 55 secs over the second Mercedes' completed Zonta. `I think we have discovered a new star in my co-driver Ricardo Zonta,' said Ludwig. `He gave a mature performance to allow me to take the wheel at the first pitstop. From there it was relatively easy.' Jean-Marc Gounon finished 49.946s behind the winners, in a Team Persson Motosport CLK-GTR. Marcel did a great job over the first two hours of the race,'said Gounon. `I'm very happy to have taken second place for Persson on their maiden outing in the GT series.' The 1998 FIA GT Championship circus reconvenes for round two at Silverstone on May 17th. 1998 FIA GT Championship Oschersleben results 1 Ricardo Zonta/Klaus Ludwig, Mercedes CLK-GTR, 3:14:21.274 2 Marcel Tiemann/Jean-Marc Gounon, Mercedes CLK-GTR, 3:15:21.220 3 Bernd Schneider/Mark Webber, Mercedes CLK-GTR, 2 laps 4 Alexander Grau/Andreas Scheid, Porsche 911 GT1 98, 3 laps 5 Eric Bernard/David Brabham, Panoz GTR, 7 laps 6 Olivier Beretta/Pedro Lamy, Chrysler Viper (GT2), 11 laps 7 Karl Wendlinger/David Donohue, Chrysler Viper (GT2), 12 laps 8 Bruno Eichmann/Sascha Maassen, Porsche 911 GT2, 14 laps 9 Franz Konrad/Nick Ham, Porsche 911 GT2, 15 laps 10 Tony Seiler/Martin Stretton, Porsche 911 GT2, 15 laps 11 Michael Trunk/Bernhard Mueller, Porsche 911 GT2, 15 laps 12 Cor Euser/Harald Becker, Marcos LM600 (GT2), 15 laps 13 Michel Neugarten/Gerd Ruch/Marco Spinelli, Porsche 911 GT2, 16 laps 14 Ni Amorim/Goncalo Gomez, Porsche 911 GT2, 16 laps 15 Michael Bartels/Armin Hahne, Porsche 911 GT1 98, 17 laps 16 Yannick Dalmas/Allan McNish/Bob Wollek, Porsche 911 GT1 98, 18 laps 17 Andre Arle/Ratanakul Pruirat, Porsche 911 GT2, 18 laps 18 Uwe Sick/Axel Rohr, Porsche 911 GT2, 18 laps 19 Horst Felbmayer Sr/Horst Felbmayer Jr Porsche 911 GT2, 19 laps 20 Gerold Reid/Patrick Vuillaume, Porsche 911 GT2, 22 laps