Brno – FIA GT3 Championship – Race 1 Report
A Fair Tussle At The Front

There were 38 starters for the first of two one hour races - but rather fewer would successfully complete lap one.

First casualty was the #26 Hexis Racing Aston Martin, Jean-Claude Lagniez punted from behind into turn one, the DBRS9 ending up in the gravel with substantial rear bodywork damage. The car cruised round to pit and retire. Worse news still for the hapless French Aston Martin squad was an almost identical incident for their #25 car on the opening lap, both cars out of the race.

Much worse was to come later in the lap though, as the #11 Morgan Aero 8, with Jean-Francois Le Roch at the wheel, spun on the exit of a fast right hander, tagging the #14 Gallardo of Vadim Kuzminykh as he recovered which fired the Lamborghini into the path of the luckless #31 Team Berlanga Ascari of Paul Gibson, the KZ1R being launched with heavy damage, the destroyed remains grinding to a halt on the outside of the circuit - with the Morgan, Lamborghini and the #2 Tech 9 Porsche of Peter Snowdon stranded in the middle of the circuit. All were out on the spot with drivers reportedly, and mercifully, unhurt, with a Trackspeed Porsche also caught up in the carnage but rejoining – cue the Safety Car.

Erik Janis did a fantastic job of taking full advantage on the restart, the #15 Lamborghini getting a substantial advantage over the chasing #18 Corvette of Luca Pirri and the #44 Matech Ford GT of Romain Bera, the Ford trailing a substantial smoke trail that seemed to have no effect on the performance.

Behind this group, with Janis steadily puling away clear, a five car squabble developed (above), with the #38 Ferrari of Gilles Vannalet leading the train from the #45 Ford GT of Michael Forsten, the #17 and #19 Corvettes and the #23 BMS Scuderia Italia Aston Martin of Alex Frassineti, the Czech driven #19 Corvette making great early progress but then fading as the Aston came on strong. A stint-long battle between the Aston and the #45 Ford was good to watch, but the Aston couldn’t grab the position

First of the leading cars to pit was the #38 Ferrari at around the halfway mark, Henri Moser taking over the reins of the Championship leading prancing horse before the 3rd, 4th and 5th placed cars all pitted together with 26 minutes remaining, the leading pair pitting next time around.

The solo Damax Ascari meanwhile was assessed a 69 second stop/go penalty after Wesley Fongenie stopped – 69 seconds earlier than the pitstop window.

Pit stops all done and the big loser was the #44 Ford, the Ford GT swallowed up as the stops wound out by a pair of Corvettes and the Ferrari. The Czech-driven C6 though had faded and the previously second placed #18 car had faded a little too, Jurgen von Gartzen now trailing a charging James Ruffier in the #19 C6.

Jaromir Jirik meanwhile had been handed a 15 second lead by Erik Janis, but Ruffier was starting to carve chunks out of that: three seconds a lap was the difference and with 12 minutes remaining the Corvette was right on the tail of the #15 Gallardo, with traffic ahead.

A minor delay behind an RPM Viper and the Corvette was through, immediately pulling away with von Gartzen now closing in on the Lamborghini too, nine seconds back with 10 minutes remaining, Henri Moser still very much in touch with the #17 Corvette too.

Behind this leading group the Czech crewed Corvette was slowly falling into the clutches of the #11 Lamborghini, started by Martin Rich but now hurtling up the order in the hands of Andrew Thompson, up into 6th at this point, having passed the fading #23 BMS Aston and the #44 and #45 Ford GTs. Thompson though would not quite have enough in hand to catch the Corvette.

Six minutes remaining and the battle for the final podium positions was well alight with the Ferrari now right on the tail of the von Gartzen Corvette, and both were beginning to snap at the heels of Jirik.

A dawdling Porsche baulked the Gallardo and the Corvette took immediate and full advantage to grab second place.

It was now all about third and Moser too had got a run on the Gallardo, Jirik though shut the door very firmly indeed into turn one and the chase continued. Throughout all of this, the backmarking #4 Porsche had stayed ahead of the Gallardo and on the racing line: Meno Kuus finally ceded but it had given Moser the opportunity to get the upper hand and as the pair came to lap another of the Ferraris, the Gallardo took the outside line and the Ferrari went inside, Moser grabbing third in a very gutsy move.

A fair tussle for the overall honours had lifted the gloom of another race which leaves several of the teams with much to do ahead of tomorrow’s second 60 minute encounter. A 38 car starting grid tomorrow will be a minor miracle after the lap one shenanigans, while for the Porsche runners the desperate run in 2007 continued again, both Tom Cloet and Jon Barnes having late race dramas, Sean Edwards revealing from the commentary box that in a snap equalisation session yesterday neither Jean-Marc Gounon, nor Christophe Bouchut had managed to get a Porsche within five seconds of the Ascari “And that wasn’t the quickest.” Phil Quaife brought the #1 Tech 9 car home as best of the 997s, albeit in 17th position overall.
GG

Result
1 19 C Peyrolles/Ruffier Corvette Z06R GT3 1:00:09.572 26 laps
2 18 C Pirri/Von Gartzen Corvette Z06R GT3 1:00:16.802 26
3 38 F Vannelet/Moser Ferrari 430 1:00:20.938 26
4 15 L Janis/Jirik Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:00:21.861 26
5 17 C Skula/Matzke Corvette Z06R GT3 1:00:26.238 26
6 11 L Rich/Thompson Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:00:28.880 26
7 23 AM Frassineti/Alessi Aston Martin DBRS9 1:00:47.058 26
8 45 FGT Forsten/Soulet Ford GT 1:00:48.146 26
9 44 FGT Bera/Dubrulle Ford GT 1:00:52.404 26
10 27 AM Marchal/Freitas Aston Martin DBRS9 1:00:52.939 26
11 34 F Khan/Daoudi Ferrari 430 1:00:58.666 26
12 37 F Kremer/Seefried Ferrari 430 1:01:21.274 26
13 8 D Lang/Ellis Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 1:01:22.287 26
14 10 L Ritskes/Haase Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:01:23.038 26
15 13 L Knauss/Grobl Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:01:29.389 26
16 32 AS Spooner/Greenhalgh Ascari KZ1R GT3 1:01:35.571 26
17 1 P Deverikos/Quaife Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 1:01:46.471 26
18 5 P Williams/Cloet Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 1:01:59.079 26
19 7 D Duqueine/Mortimer Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 1:02:22.554 26
20 22 AM Maggi/Zenere Aston Martin DBRS9 1:00:16.131 25
21 36 F Comar/Rambeaud Ferrari 430 1:00:19.288 25
22 4 P Ashburn/Kuus Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 1:00:25.186 25
23 39 F Warren/Hyman Ferrari 430 1:00:30.179 25
24 9 D Pernaut/Morel Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 1:00:45.441 25
25 50 M Lafitte/Sturdza Morgan Aero 8 1:01:14.955 25
26 35 F Greasley/Walker Ferrari 430 1:01:56.110 25
27 49 M O'Neill/Lafitte Morgan Aero 8 1:00:11.501 24
28 6 P Paillard/Barnes Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 55:29.615 23
29 43 FGT Bartek/Mutsch Ford GT 1:01:01.521 23
-- 20 C Lacroix-Wasover/Sourd Corvette Z06R GT3 30:48.021 11
-- 29 AS Fongenie/Ward Ascari KZ1R GT3 31:38.288 11
-- 16 C Berberich-Martini/Ludwig Corvette Z06R GT3 19:40.314 7
-- 26 AM Lagniez/Makowiecki Aston Martin DBRS9 3:18.796 1
-- 31 AS Gibson/Gibson Ascari KZ1R GT3 0
-- 25 AM Rodrigues/Rodrigues Aston Martin DBRS9 0
-- 14 L Kuzminykh/Danis Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 0
-- 2 P Snowdon/Keen Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 0
-- 51 M J-F Le Roch/Scheier Morgan Aero 8 0