Callaway Competition Director...
Callaway Competition Director Ernst Woehr holds the '09 ADAC GT Masters Team Championship trophy high as Phoenix Audi R8 team manager Dirk Theimann holds his Second Place trophy. Callaway Competition beat the Phoenix team by 15 points. (Photo by Alexander Trienitz)
For 2009, the team was renamed Callaway Competition, and it competed in both the FIA GT3 series and the German ADAC GT Masters series. Negative balance-of-performance rulings by the FIA made the Corvettes noncompetitive throughout the GT3 season, so the team wisely poured additional effort into winning the GT Masters championship. It entered three cars to face an onslaught of factory-backed Audi R8s. Once again the reliable and wickedly fast Corvettes prevailed and captured the Team Championship. They took five Firsts, three Seconds, and three Thirds in 14 races to beat the factory Audi team by 15 points.
On October 1, 2009, the team delivered a new Z06R.GT3 to TAM Auto Engineering in Dubai. The new car, driven by Karim Al-Azhari for the House of Portier, is competing in the eight-race 2009-2010 Total UAE GT Championship. With four back-to-back victories, the Z06 is on its way to capturing another championship for the Callaway Competition supercar. TAM Auto Engineering prepares the car and crews it for each race. In addition, one Callaway Competition technician attends each race to support the team.
As this is written, the small shop in Leingarten is preparing for the 2010 season. The Callaway Competition team will continue to build and campaign one of the most successful racing Corvettes in the marque's history. While it's hard to match Corvette Racing's C-5R and C6.R successes, it's important to remember that this is a private effort driven by passion, dedication, and engineering excellence, not cubic dollars. Stay tuned, as we know there's more to come from Callaway Competition in 2010.
James Ruffier takes the checkered...
James Ruffier takes the checkered in First Place at the final race in Dubai to secure the '08 FIA GT3 Drivers Championship with fellow wheelman Arnaud Peyrolles.
Toni Seiler leads a factory...
Toni Seiler leads a factory Audi and teammate Luca Ludwig at the '09 ADAC GT Masters race at Oschersleben. Seiler and Christian Hohenadel finished Third, while Ludwig and Marc Hennerici won the race. (Photo by Burkhard Kasan)
Karim Al-Azhari pushes his...
Karim Al-Azhari pushes his Callaway Competition Z06.R in front of a new Porsche GT3 Cup S to secure his fourth consecutive victory in the Total UAE GT Championship. With performances like these, Al-Azhari could well secure a fourth championship for the mighty Callaway Competition Corvettes.