Merely 72 hours after one of his strongest Fujitsu V8 Supercar team performances at Queensland Raceway last Sunday, Team Jayco Falcon V8 Supercar driver David Russell found himself on the other side of the world at Germany’s famed Hockenheim circuit, at the wheel of a latest specification Reiter Engineering built Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3 car.
Driving for the first time on this fast circuit that is the home to the German Formula One Grand Prix, the Australian V8 Supercar driver quickly acquitted himself to this state of the art GT sportscar, managing to better the best lap time set in the day in the same car by Team Lamborghini driver Peter Cox by some 2/10ths of a second.
Russell was in Germany at the request of his Bathurst 12 Hour enduro partner Roger Lago who has purchased this outstanding GT3 car ahead of next year’s event. Russell partnered with Lago and Matt Kingsley to win Class B honours at this year’s event at Mount Panorama, 18 laps ahead of their nearest rival, while also finishing 5th overall.
“What an incredible experience,” said Russell of his test day in Germany.
“Once the guys from Reiter Engineering knew that I was right on the pace in the car, they were happy to make a number of set up changes that I wanted and that resulted in the fastest lap of the day, on worn tyres. I was pretty happy with that, first time out at the challenging Hockenheim circuit and in this impressive GT3 car. I can’t wait until next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour to show what Roger and I can do in it,” He added.
“It has been a hectic week, I have slept in a bed for just one night since Monday! The rest
was spent on aeroplanes and at Hockenheim, but it was well worth it. I also took the time to meet with some other racing contacts in Stuttgart and while it was a packed schedule it was certainly well worth it.”