ADRIA, 16th of May 2009 – After the start of the FIA GT4 season at the race track of Silverstone two weeks ago, the second races of the season were driven this weekend at Adria International Raceway in Italy. In the GT4 Supersports series a first place was obtained by Donkervoort Racing by Stéphane Wintenberger and a second place was obtaining by Denis Donkervoort. Nevertheless, Donkervoort Racing experienced a difficult weekend, characterized by strikes of bad luck and damages.
 
Race 1
Race 1 was a heated battle for the third and fourth place in the overall GT4 classification for Denis Donkervoort. Unfortunately this battle was rudely interrupted by a kamikaze move by a Porsche 997. Due to the very close racing in the GT4, eight cars were driving extremely close to each other during the race. When the Porsche 997, coming from a seventh place, tried to obtain fifth place by braking as late as he possibly could, he lost control over the car and catapulted Denis Donkervoort sideways in the course of the event. Both cars were unable to continue the race. Because all this happened right before the finish flag, Denis Donkervoort still finished second in the Supersports series behind Stéphane Wintenberger, who managed an excellent first place.

Race 2
As a result of Race 1 only two Donkervoorts took part in Race 2: Frenchman Stéphane Wintenberger and Dutch/Swiss Nico Pronk. Wintenberger had a terrific start and soon climbed up to a seventh place overall. In the battle for the sixth place Wintenberger stranded caused by a touché while perfectly overtaking a BMW M3. The BMW was penalized by race control with a drive through penalty for this action. Nico Pronk fought hard for the last podium place with the KTM X-bow, but ended up next to the track in an ultimate attempt to overtake and could therefore not finish the race.

All in all it seems that the battle for the points of the championship keeps getting more intense in the GT4 series. Unfortunately, this meant as less successful weekend for Donkervoort Racing this time. What did become apparent is that the Donkervoort D8 GT’s keep getting more and more competitive with the GT4 series and race at the head of the field. The next races in Oscherleben, Germany, are therefore looked forward to with great optimism.

The provisional calendar for this season:
Sunday, June 21st 2009              Germany            Oschersleben
Saturday July 25th                      Belgium              Spa-Francorchamps
Sunday, August 23rd 2009           Belgium              Zolder
Sunday, September 13th 2009     Portugal               Algarve