Callaway Competition wins and scores a 3rd in Austria with a performance for the ages

Marvin Kirchhöfer and Jeffrey Schmidt piloted the # 77 C7 GT3R Corvette to victory on Sunday June 13 at the beautiful Red Bull Ring in Spielberg Austria.

Gridded 2nd, Marvin got past the pole-sitter # 33 Audi R8 of Dennis Marschall in a spectacular start.

He held off a relentless pursuit by the Audi after a 45-minute stoppage to repair the barrier damaged by a lap 1 collision and head-on crash by the # 22 Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel (fortunately not injured).

Jeffrey led from the mandatory driver change and pulled away in numerous re-starts, thanks to the grunt of the LS9 engine.

It was a performance for the ages, overcoming a smaller 50mm air restrictor imposed in the wake of a 3rd place podium finish on Saturday.

Schmidt qualified 9th that day, just 0.505 seconds off the pole in a field of 27 cars.  The # 77 gained 3 places after the mandatory pit stop; moved up to 4th place and then captured 3rd with 14 minutes left, punctuated by a penalty and recovery following a yellow flag.

Saturday’s winner was the # 92 SSR Performance Porsche 911 GT3.R of Michael Ammermüller and Mathieu Jaminet, in a repeat from Oschersleben.

Results compiled by Wayne Ellwood

The team travels to the Netherlands on July 9-11 to race at Zandvoort.