EU3: Silverstone: Callaway-Corvette preview

Strong Callaway-Corvette presence in FIA GT3

Dutch royal driver joins Callaway Competition

Silverstone / Leingarten, 29.04.2010. [FIA GT3 European Championship] Callaway Competition starts into the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship with two Corvette Z06.R GT3 at this weekends season opener in Silverstone (GB). The two Corvette Z06.R, developed and built by Callaway Competition in Leingarten/Germany, will be driven in this years 12-race European Championship by Christian Hohenadel/Daniel Keilwitz (D/D) and Marius Ritskes/Bernard van Oranje (NL/NL). Bernhard van Oranje is a member of the Dutch royal family and makes this maiden appearance in a Callaway-Corvette in Silverstone. The strong presence of Callaway built Corvette is completed by four cars from Callaway's latest customer Team Graff Racing from France and Toni Seiler Racing from Switzerland.

The still young racing season 2010 brought already plenty of success for the Callaway built GT3-Corvette. Karim Al-Azhari won just recently the UAE-GT-Championship in a House of Portier/TAM Auto Engineering-Callaway Corvette, while Graff Racing scored a double victory in their first race with Corvette in the French FFSA GT Championship. A Pole Position in the German ADAC GT Masters season opener completed the success of Callaway built Corvette in April.

"We improved the Corvette Z06.R in some details in the recent month, and travel very confident to Silverstone", Callaway Competition team boss Ernst Woehr says ahead of the European season opener. "With Christian Hohenadel and Daniel Keilwitz, we have a very strong driver pairing and I'm sure they will raise some eyebrows this season. In our second car we have with Marius (Ritskes) and Bernhard (van Oranje) a very strong team of the bronze-drivers. Both have tested the Corvette during the last weeks and were instantly quick."

Also Callaway customer teams Graff Racing and Toni Seiler Racing start well prepared and with strong drivers into their first season in the FIA GT3 European Championship. "Toni Seiler forms a very competitive team with Frenchman Dino Lunardi, and our 2008 European champion Arnaud Peyroles starts this season with our new French customer team Graff Racing."

With six Callaway built Corvette entered in this years European Championship, the Corvette squad is second strongest contingent in terms of numbers in this year's championship. Callaway Competition is one of the most successful teams in the FIA GT3 European Championship and claimed the 2007 team championship and the 2008 drivers title. At the season opener in Silverstone, the Callaway-Corvette will be faced with strong opposition of more than 30 competitors from eight different brands. The 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship contains 12 races at six events all over Europe.

-source: callaway