Audi S4  2001  -  2002 

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Michael Galati finished third at Canada's Mosport Park Round Three of the 2001 Speedvision World Challenge GT series, his team-mate Derek Bell unfortunately a DNF after being hit by another car. Galati's third place finish drops him six points behind RealTime Racing's Peter Cunningham in the GT championship. Cunningham took the win at Mosport easily, leading all 29 laps.

May 20th was race day for the Speedvision GT's, and the day was mostly bright and warm at the magnificent Canadian road course. Galati and Bell had qualified third and sixth, respectively. At the start Bell got a very good jump on the cars in front of him, and was running comfortably in the top five for the opening stages of the race. However, Bell admitted that while he was talking with the TV commentators shortly into the race, he missed a shift which cost him several positions.

Just a few laps later, Bell was punted off course by one of the Corvette's, and made hard contact with the wall, seriously damaging his Audi S4 Competition and putting him out of the race. Not long after, Tommy Safar's Saleen Mustang experienced a serious fire on course, causing a full-course caution while the car was extinguished and recovered.

At the restart, the race leader inexplicably slowed on the front straight as the field ran toward the green flag, causing the three cars behind him (including Galati, running fourth at the time) to slam on the brakes, and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed cars all ran into each other. Galati ran into the third placed BMW, damaging the front end of his Audi S4 and (as was discovered later) damaging his radiator, which leaked for the remainder of the race. "Everybody checked up [on the restart] and I got into the back of McMillin," said Galati. "I hit him pretty hard and it hurt my car because my front splitter was pointing straight up. I thought we were done. "At the start, I got a good launch, but the car just bogged down and everyone went past." Galati was rewarded at the end of the day with the Rogaine "Hair Raising" Pass of the Race, when he passed Johannes van Overbeek and Phil McClure in turn five.

Galati made up one more position, into third place, but the damage to his front end aerodynamics (among other factors) kept him from advancing further, and he was forced to settle for the third spot on the podium. Galati's third-place finish earned him an additional 20 pounds of "REWARDS" ballast (lead weight), and he will start the fourth round of the 2001 World Challenge at Lime Rock Park carrying a total of 90 pounds of lead "success" ballast.

Galati's car is completely repairable prior to Lime Rock, and the team spent the Monday after the race at Mosport repairing the crash damage to his car. Bell's car was too seriously damaged to conveniently repair on the road, and so a backup car will be brought in for Bell at Lime Rock, while his regular race car will be repaired back at Champion Racing's Florida shops and will return to competition at Round Five in Detroit.

Mosport Speedvision GT Results:

1. (1), Peter Cunningham, W. Bend, Wis., Acura NSX, 29 laps

2. (2), Mike Fitzgerald, Phoenix, Ariz., Porsche GT3 Cup, 29 laps

3. (3), Michael Galati, Olmstead, Ohio, Audi S4 Comp., 29 laps
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21. (6), Derek Bell, Sussex, England, Audi S4 Comp., 3 laps, Crash/DNF