FIA GT1 World Championship, Zolder - Qualifying Race Report

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport took their first ever FIA GT1 World Championship victory in the Qualifying Race this afternoon. After the team's #37 Lamborghini Murcielago started from pole position, it was the #38 sister car that won an incident packed race.

As with most races at Zolder there was chaos in turn 1 just after the start. Pole sitter Nicky Pastorelli and Stefan Mücke collided, with Richard Westbrook and Bas Leinders unable to avoid the spinning cars. Leinders retired his Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT #40 on the spot, while Pastorelli and Westbrook completed the lap but then retired in the pit lane. Mücke retired a few laps later.

Nick Catsburg in the Exim Bank Team China Corvette and Frederic Makowiecki in the Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT took advantage and got out of the mayhem in first and second. Markus Winkelhock, who had started in twelfth place took third.

Ten laps into the race Martin Matzke in the Belgian Racing Ford GT hit teammate Vanina Ickx as the two Fords went into the Villeneuve chicane. Both cars spun, suffered damage and returned to the pit. A small fire had to be extinguished on the rear brakes on one car and with a rear wing knocked of the other car it was race over for Belgian Racing.

Catsburg was able to fight off Makowiecki for a while and despite the pressure from the Ford GT he was able to keep the gap at a few tenths of a second. But just before the pit window opened Makowiecki found a gap and passed the Corvette in turn 2. Catsburg immediately pulled into the pit lane for his mandatory stop as Makowiecki continued.

Like at the opening round at Abu Dhabi the Hexis AMR team performend a magnificent pit stop, albeit on the #4 Aston Martin DBR9 this time. The Aston of Andrea Piccini came in from sixth on the track and a quick pit stop meant it was back just behind the Exim Bank Team China Corvette. At the chicane the Aston – now driven by Christian Hohenadel - passed the Corvette and moved into second place.

Hohenadel knew he had a chance of taking the lead and when the Marc VDS Racing Team pit stop didn’t exactly go as planned the Hexis AMR car moved into the lead of the race.  Martin returned the Marc VDS Ford GT to the track in seventh place, but then lost two more positions at the chicane. The #40 Ford dropped from first to ninth in the matter of one lap.

With 20 minutes left in the race Hohenadel was now leading the race, with the Corvette of Mike Hezemans and the Lamborghini of Marc Basseng not far away in second and third. None of the drivers was able to pull away and the gap between the top three remained at just a second.

Just a few laps before the end of the race Basseng’s Lamborghini was side-by-side with the Corvette of Mike Hezemans. Basseng did win the battle and moved into second place, the German now with only one target: the Aston Martin of Christian Hohenadel.

Basseng quickly closed the gap to Hohenadel and a battle for the lead was imminent, but after a minor contact the Aston Martin’s suspension failed coming onto the straight and Basseng was able to move into the lead. Hohenadel parked his car at turn 1 and retired from the race.

With Basseng now unthreatened he went on to win the Qualifying Race and finished 3.251 seconds clear of the Exim Bank Team China Corvette of Mike Hezemans. The battle for third place was fought all the way to the finish as Karl Wendlinger completely closed the gap to Alex Müller in the final laps. Müller claimed third place just 0.063 seconds clear of Wendlinger’s Lamborghini.

The teams will be back in action tomorrow for a 30-minutes long warm up session as well as the Championship Race, which starts at 14:45 local time.

MtC