LELYSTAD, 7th of October 2008 – This weekend, the Donkervoort Racing team competed with two D8 GT’s in the last races of the FIA GT4 season. This event was held on the Circuit of Paul Almagnac in Nogaro (France). Just like the previous races, the results for Donkervoort were satisfying; a podium place was reached in each of the races.

Due to the rainy weather conditions during the qualifying, rain tires were an absolute must for the GT4 as well as for the Sports Light series. This immediately showed the potential of the Sports Light class, which normally has to race with road tires while the GT4 can race on slick tyres, according to FIA regulations. Because of the rain, both classes now had to drive on comparable tyres and with this, Donkervoort reached an overall pole position during the first qualifying and a pole position in the Sports Light in the second qualifying.

The races were characterized by little misfortunes, mechanically as well as through the involvement in a race incident. In the first race, the turbo tube of car number 103 burst. In race three, Stéphane Wintenberger (car 102) was involved in an race incident with an Aston Martin, which fully crashed the side of Wintenberger’s D8 GT. In spite of the very stiff and strong carbon fibre body of the Donkervoort, both Wintenberger as well as Michael Mallock in the Aston Martin had to give up prematurely.

Nevertheless, all races were finished with podium places for the Donkervoort Racing team. The first race resulted in a second place for Wintenberger, race two ended in a second place for Donkervoort and a third place for Wintenberger. The final race was characterized by a close battle between KTM-driver and Sports Light Champion Christopher Haase and Donkervoort. Haase managed to finish first, just before Denis Donkervoort, who won the second place.

Despite of the small troubles Donkervoort Racing encountered, it looks back with great satisfaction to the first GT4 season. The new Donkervoort D8 GT has proven its potential. Even though Donkervoort Racing only participated in the last three events of the season, Wintenberger and Donkervoort managed to obtain a fourth and fifth place respectively in the GT4 Sports Light championship. Therefore, the expectations for next season are very high.