A successful season comes to an end with Rob Austin Racing as 2009 European GT4 Champions

 

 

Rob Austin Racing finished up the European GT4 championship with mixed results at the final round.
The team turned up at the Portamiao circuit with Hunter Abbott and Henry Fletcher in one of the teams Ginetta G50 GT4 cars and Joe Osborne driving solo in the other. With both cars in the fight for the championship going in to the final round a potential 1,2 championship finish in the teams debut season was on the cards so hopes were high.

Sadly for Hunter and Henry, to spite their great pace in practice and qualifying Hunter was forced off line in the heat of battle and a chunk of tire rubber somehow ended up in the engine bay and eventually found its way in to the oil pump belt. With no oil pressure that was the race over and with terminal engine damage and no where near enough time to fit a replacement it was game over for the number 6 car.

Joe however was keeping his cool and staying out of trouble for two solid results and most importantly of all enough to take the title making Joe Osborne and Rob Austin Racing 2009 European GT4 champions…. Congratulations Joe.


2009 GT4 Driver Standings

1 Joe Osborne 66
2 Alex Buncombe 57
Lucas Ordoñez 57
3 Pierre Brice Mena 56
4 Michael Mallock 55
5 Kevin Veltman 36
6 Henry Fletcher 35
Hunter Abbott 35
7 Maxime Martin 30
Ludovic Sougnez 30
8 Tom Dunstan 23
9 Lorenzo Casé 22
10 Vladimir Hladik 22
11 Nigel Moore 19
12 Michael Broadhurst 18
13 Alexander Pugachev 16
14 Cédric Sbirrazuoli 11
15 Jody Firth 10
16 Roberto Aranha 9
17 Mauro Casadei 8
Michael Simpson 8
Stewart Linn 8
18 Jens Richter 8
Tobias Guttroff 8
19 Rick Pearson 4
Matt Hamilton 4
Derek Palmer 4
20 Raphaël Van Der Starten 3
21 Gianni Giudici 2
André Grammatico 2
22 Tom Langeberg 1