FIA GT3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - ZANDVOORT REVIEW

Markus Palttala finished 6th and 9th in the last two FIA GT3 European Championship rounds in Circuit Park Zandvoort last weekend. Palttala shared the Fischer Racing Ford GT #13 with a fellow Finn Jesse Krohn who joined the team to get his first taste of GT racing after years in single-seaters. The Finns was competitive throughout the weekend but slow pitstops in both races hampered their chances of finishing on the podium.

Palttala was disappointed after 1st qualifying which was interrupted twice by red flags and finally ended prematurely due to a heavy crash by the sister Ford GT of Mikko Eskelinen, but the experienced Finn nevertheless managed to place the car on the 3rd row for Race 1 after qualifying 6th. Palttala moved up to 5th before the 1st corner but was pushed wide dropping back to 6th. Palttala charged hard to move up but was unable to pass the more powerful Mercedes SLS holding 5th and he finally came in for a driver change in 6th position handing over to Krohn. A slow pitstop saw Krohn resume racing just outside of top 10 but the young Finnish star was a man on a mission taking the Ford GT back to 6th during the last half an hour of the race.

"I was pissed off after qualifying because my run was interrupted twice by red flags and I didn't get a chance to go for it. Luckily my lap before the interruption was good enough for P6 although it was at least a second short of what I should've done. You can either go out immediately or gamble a bit and this time the waiting hurt us. The start was OK and I passed Demoustier's SLS. He then gave me a tap and slipped by and I got stuck behind him losing a lot of time. At the same time I had to defend from another SLS so I just decided to keep the place and save the tyres for Jesse. We lost about 10 seconds and several positions in pitlane but Jesse drove really well bringing us back to 6th. He did a few nice overtakings and he was as fast as the top guys. Just a lap before pitting I was on the tail of the Reiter Lambo that finished 3rd and Jesse was quicker than their 2nd driver so on a perfect day we should've finished on the podium."

For Race 2, Krohn qualified 14th just 0,4sec from 3rd position showing how close and competitive the championship is. He then made an excellent start moving up to 9th during the first lap. The top 5 cars were pulling away but Krohn held his own in the group from 6th to 12th and he handed the car over to Palttala in 9th. Another miserable pitstop saw Palttala return racing in 14th position. Like his teammate the day before, Palttala was one of the fastest on track in the end but managed just to squeeze back in the top 10 before the race was over.

"I think it's a bit optimistic to say that we could've been in top 3 today even without the delay in pits but it's not that far off. I was lapping quicker than the leaders as soon as I got rid of the Schubert BMW that seemed wider than the circuit itself. We both fell back seconds per lap during that fight. As soon as I passed him he disappeared from my mirrors, but by then the cars ahead were too far away. With a good pitstop I would've been able to run my own race and I'm sure that at least another top 6 was more than realistic."

"It's tough to take on the new cars with our 5-year-old Ford GT especially when this year's BoP was nothing short of catastrophical, but our car was well set for Zandvoort and with Jesse we were one of the strongest driver pairings that weekend, so I'm a bit disappointed we did not manage better than 6th and 9th in the end. Simply put, we messed it all up in the pits this time. It was still a positive result for the team to finish off a very tough season in FIA GT3 scoring points in both races. Also, I knew Jesse was good but it was still a positive surprise how quickly he got on top of all the new things and how maturely he drove in his first ever GT race. Thanks to everyone at Fischer Racing for their hard work this year, it was a real pleasure to drive for them!"