Dominik Kraihamer has excelled in his first ever GT3 double driving stint at round 2 of the CZ Masters at the Autodrom Most, where he finished 2nd and 3rd on the podium racing for the Sauto.cz Racing Team.
He took pole position Friday (1:35.289) in the field of GT3 entries on the one timed lap he completed in the Lamborghini Gallardo #29 racing for Sauto.cz Racing Team (which is his regular Team s-berg Racing car). Kraihamer then did one additional lap as the third driver in the Czech Sauto.cz Racing #15 Lamborghini (also prepared by s-berg Racing) to be 2nd quickest of the GT3 entries (1:35.519), just off his pole time in the #15 car.
The 19-year old Salzburger then lined-up to start the three-hour race on Saturday afternoon from the second row in the #29 Lamborghini behind the three DTM entries, ahead of the #15 car on row 3. He was in 3rd by the end of lap 1 and then took P2 in just over half an hour, also setting what would be the best lap for the team in the second round race (1:38.247).
Dr Joseph Piribauer, who had been second fastest in the GT3 category in the morning warm-up, assumed the driving role on lap 42, where the #29 Sauto.cz car rejoined the race 4th amidst some extremely close competition, keeping in mind that the Porsches make one less pit stop due to their variation in fuel consumption. Piribauer put in a huge effort to run consistently with the laptimes of the class pace-setters to move up to 3rd by lap 55, before handing the car to fellow Austrian Gerhard Tweraser for the final hour. He’d been fast during Friday’s practice and was hoping to bring the Lamborghini home for a podium finish that eluded them at the opening round of the series last month. At exactly the same time, Kraihamer jumped into the #15 car, which was sitting in 8th position.
Tweraser was into 2nd behind the Sauto.cz Mercedes DTM of Tomas Enge within three laps of taking the wheel, but suffered some issues with the brakes and had to pit temporarily. He lost 3 places in the process, but pushed the car to its limit in the closing laps for a brilliant 2nd place overall and the leading GT3 car across the line. The #15 Lamborghini had been a fraction slower than it’s team car in the first two hours, but Kraihamer made up 4 positions until he also had an unscheduled pit stop just 7 laps from the chequered flag. After a rear tyre was changed and he was back on the circuit in 5th, Kraihamer showed his ability to get the maximum out of the car, when he continued to get faster in the final laps, clocking the best time for the #15 in lap 97 (1:39.429).
At the end of the race, Kraihamer was classified 2nd and 3rd on the ‘all-Sauto.cz’ podium, accepting the trophies for both places after the unusual feat of being the only driver to compete in two cars in the same race. His personal commitment to the racing was impressive and recognisably the reason why both Lamborghinis were winners at Most. There was no doubting his race fitness either, as he claims he was feeling good after two hours in the car in the heat of the afternoon.
“Although the temperature in the car was getting extreme, I was not affected by it and as you can see, set me best time in the #15 car in the final lap after we’d fixed the problem with the tyres. It was a great race and I knew that we could be successful for Sauto.cz this weekend because the car preparation our team at s-berg had done was ideal. I owe this to great opportunity to Charouz Racing, s-berg, my sponsors Safe Invest, Fuchs and all our other valuable partners who support us in 2009."
From now on the focus will be on karting. Kraihamer will participate in the second round of the Rotax Max Euro Challenge.
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