FIA GT1 World Championship - Yas Marina - Qualifying Race

24 entrants became 21 starters for the opening Qualifying race of the 2010 GT1 World Championship.

The #6 Matech Ford was eliminated after Natacha Gachnang's huge qualifying accident. The #34 Triple H Maserati meanwhile stalled on its way to the grid and was pushed to a place of safety.  The #41 Ford meanwhile was a late starter after reporting clutch problems.

The race start saw immediate incident as the #2 Vitaphone Maserati spins at the very first corner and is hit by the #7 Young Driver Aston of Tomas Enge.  Both cars suffer damage, the MC12 to the rear of the car and the Aston damage too to the right rear.  Both make it around to the pits but no further.  The #12 Mad Croc Corvette meanwhile also stopped on Lap One - With the #41 Ford making it out late but only managing a couple of laps we're down to 18 runners within just a couple of laps.

“The start was like a Formula Ford race,” said Jamie Campbell-Walter, when he finished his stint. “There were cars going everywhere."

The first 10 minutes of the race meanwhile were conducted under a Safety car as the lap one damage is dealt with, the race order:

13-11-1-24-5-40-33-8-10-25-37-38-22-3-4-9-23-2(P)-41-7(P)

50 minutes remaining and racing proper resumed - Hennerici in control at the head of the pack.  Christopher Haase though in the #24 Lamborghini was under pressure from Romain Grosjean in the #5 Matech Ford, the ex Renault F1 man has been the revelation of the weekend, his pace a real head turner.  Haase did a good job of keeping back Grosjean for a couple of laps but on Lap 5 into Turn 8 the Swiss was through into 4th.

A little further back a 4 car battle for 7th had been settled in favour of the #8 Young Driver Aston of Stefan Mucke ahead of the #33 Masarati of Altfrid Heger. 
 
Lap 6 and Mucke was still on the move, grabbing sixth place from Maxime Martin under braking into turn 8 Heger meanwhile closed in too on the Marc VDS Ford.

Up ahead of this group though Grosjean was making further progress, lap 7 and he was alongside Bartels in the #1 Maserati, up the inside and through into 3rd place.  He wasn't done yet though, he closed right in on the second placed #11 Phoenix Carsport Corvette of Alex Muller.  He grabbed the place from the Belgian at Turn 8 (again!) on the following lap - setting the fastest lap of the race as he did so - 2:08.971

That left the lead gap - #13 to #5 as 2.127s, the gap closing further as Grosjean improved his fastest lap once again (2:07.966) with the order behind - 13-5-11-1-24-8-40-33-25-10-22-3-4-23-37-9-38-14
   
With pace of that order it didn't look as if it would be long before Grosjean relieved Hennerici of the lead of the race - It wasn't! Lap 10 as the pit window opened saw the #5 Ford GT sweep into the race lead as #13 pitted.

#3-23-13-9 and 38 meanwhile all pitted as soon as possible with #1-40-33-25-22-4 following next time around.

Grosjean still led of course, the Ford still to pit and on Lap 12 he stayed out once again as #10 and #37 pitted.

The leader and the #11 Corvette finally pitted on lap 13, The Ford though would cede the race lead after the pit stops, Thomas Mutsch trailing the #13 Corvette of Andreas Zuber as the Austrian asserted himself with the fastest race lap thus far - 2:07.157

Lap 15 and as #11 passes 24 at (where else?) T8 for 6th place the order, now with the pit cycle completed #13-5-1-11-24-8-40-33-9-10-25-3-22-23-4-38

The closing laps of the race saw early exits for both the #38 and #24 Lamborghinis as, with 10 minutes remaining the leader headed Mutsch by 10 seconds with the Ford man a comfortable 14 seconds clear of Bertolini in the #1 Vitaphone Maserati.

Lap 24 and disaster for Xavier Maassen as the #11 Corvette slows then pulls off the circuit trailing smoke - 4th place a distant memory!

Zuber by now was in cruise mode, the final 2.3 second gap flattered his pursuer, a great run from the Pole setting car - The team though will have had a bittersweet post-race celebration, knowing full well that the 10 place grid penalty meted out to all of the Vettes was about to strike - For now though the #13 crew took the laurels as the first race winners in the inaugural GT1 World Championship

Race Result
 
1 #13 Phoenix Carsport Zuber/ Hennerici Corvette C6.R 1:00:34.886 26 Laps
2 #5 Matech Mutsch/ Grosjean Ford GT Matech +2.273 secs
3 #1 Vitaphone Bertolini/ Bartels Maserati MC12 +4.308 secs
4 # 8 Young Driver Nygaard/ M?cke Aston Martin DBR9 +37.808 secs
5 # 33 Triple H Margaritis/ Heger Maserati MC12 +43.535 secs
6 # 40 Marc VDS Leinders/ Martin Ford GT +45.608 secs
7 # 9 Hexis Makowiecki/ Dumas Aston Martin DBR9 +54.118 secs
8 # 10 Hexis Piccione/ Hirschi Aston Martin DBR9 +1:07.155 secs
9 # 3 Swiss Racing Wendlinger/ Moser Nissan GT-R +1:12.583 secs
10 #25 Reiter Zonta/ Daniel Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S +1:13.649 secs
11 #23 Sumo Power Krumm/ Dumbreck Nissan GT-R +1:15.161
12 #4 Swiss Racing Ara/ Nilsson Nissan GT-R +1:19.330
13 #22 Sumo Power Hughes/ Campbell-Walter Nissan GT-R +1:27.725
14 #11 Phoenix Carsport Maassen/ M?ller Corvette C6.R 23 laps
15 #24 Reiter Kox/ Haase Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 20 laps
16 #14 Phoenix Carsport Hezemans/ Piccini Corvette C6.R 20 laps
17 #38 Munnich Pastorelli/ Schwager Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 17 laps
18 #37 Munnich Jager/ Basseng Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 12 laps
19 #41 Marc VDS Palttala/ Kuppens Ford GT Matech 2 laps
20 #2 Vitaphone Bernoldi/ Ramos Maserati MC12 1 lap
21 #7 Young Driver Turner/ Enge Aston Martin DBR9 1 lap 
N/C #12 Mad-Croc Salo/ Kuismanen Corvette C6.R 0 laps
DNS #34 Triple H Bobbi/ Longin Maserati MC12
DNS #6 Matech Gachnang/ Allemann Ford GT Matech