Third double for Oreca in Hockenheim

Despite the championship leaders Olivier Beretta and Karl Wendlinger missing the Hockenheim race, the team came through to take their third double of the season.

Jean-Philippe Belloc and Dominique Dupuy started from pole, and never looked under threat, completing 161 laps of the 2.6 km circuit in the maximum three hours.

His first win also gives Belloc the lead in the driver's championship.

Justin Bell, sharing the #1 Oreca Viper with Luca Drudi, had a much harder task, starting from tenth on the grid after set-up problems all weekend.

'That was the hardest race I've ever done in the Viper,' Bell said afterwards. They pulled the car up to second by the end of the first round of changeovers and an extremely efficient pit-stop.

After that the car kept the pace, and began closing on their sister car towards the end.

'It crossed my mind to push it,' Bell said. 'But Belloc would only have pushed too.'

The Lister Storms put up a good fight, and it looked as if third place would go to the new #34 Lister Storm driven by Hezemans and Hart. However, a starter motor failure left them stranded after the second pit stop.

'We had bad luck. But the car has great potential' Hezemans said.

Third place went to the Konrad Motorsport Porsche 911 GT2, driven by Franz Konrad and
Bob Wollek.

Julian Bailey, who shared the #25 Lister Storm with Sugden and Campbell-Walter, rose through the field to take fourth after starting ninth on the grid. This despite a tangle with Ni Amorim's Chamberlain Viper in the early stages of the race.

Fifth and sixth went to the Freisinger and Roock Porsches - a sign that the combination of new restrictor sizes and the tight track pulled the field much closer together.

The line-up of Stephane Ortelli and Claudia Hurtgen, who were well placed for a good finish, suffered more problems, this time with the gearbox of their Roock Racing Porsche 911 T2.

The second Chamberlain Viper, driven by Christian Vann and Christian Gläsel, was on a one-stop strategy, and was almost certain of fourth place, when the car failed to restart after a last minute splash and dash.

'With hind-sight, we could have made it,' Hugh Chamberlain said. Rejoining in 12th, they have at least managed to rid themselves of all their penalty ballast for the round in Hungary next weekend

FIA GT Championship 1999,
Round 3 : 500km of Hockenheim
Provisional Results

Ps.Ql.No. Driver , Car Laps
-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- -----
1 1 2 Belloc/Dupuy Oreca Chrysler Viper GT 161
2 10 1 Bell/Drudi Oreca Chrysler Viper GT 161
3 3 6 Konrad/Wollek Konrad Porsche 911 GT2 159
4 9 25 Bailey/Sugden/C-Walter Lister Lister Storm 159
5 13 15 Kaufmann/Ligonnet Freisinger Porsche 911 GT2 158
6 8 4 Arhlé/Haupt Roock Porsche 911 GT2 156
7 15 21 Belmondo/Gosselin Belmondo Chrysler Viper GT 156
8 16 8 Neugarten/Goueslard Haberthur Porsche 911 GT2 155
9 11 5 Eschmann/Hulverscheid RoockSport Porsche 911 GT2 155
10 14 10 Euser/Buurman Marcos Marcos Mantara LM 155
11 20 9 Bucci/Casadei Haberthur Porsche 911 GT2 153
12 17 19 Glasel/Vann ChamberlainChrysler Viper GT 153
13 22 78 Schwach/Straaten/Schwach Seikel Porsche 911 GT2 145
14 19 16 Jurasz/Hane Freisinger Porsche 911 GT2 135
15 2 3 Hürtgen/Ortelli Roock Porsche 911 GT2 125

Not Classified

77 Nearn/Palmberger/Smith Seikel Porsche 911 GT2 114
33 Vosse/Dufourney GL PK Chrysler Viper GT 111
24 Felbermayr/Felbemayr RWS Porsche 911 GT2 108
23 Piattier/Werner Belmondo Porsche 911 GT2 108
69 Ried/Ried/Vuillaume Proton Porsche 911 GT2 105
34 Hezemans/Hart Lister Lister Storm 104
22 Clérico/Rostan Belmondo Chrysler Viper GT 103
18 Amorim/Seiler ChamberlainChrysler Viper GT 19

Weather Conditions: sunny and hot
Fastest Lap : 1:03.505 JP Belloc 2 Viper on lap 4
Track Length : 1.6392 Miles