FIA GT3 Dubai – Qualifying Report and Times
Updated
© Mark Howson

Fog isn’t the first weather element that one associates with a desert, but there was enough of it over at the airport that the safety helicopter couldn’t take off to get to the circuit. As a result, proceedings were subject to a 30 minute delay, with unknown consequences for the timetable – might there be a requirement for headlights later in the day?

When qualifying eventually got under way at 9.30, both sessions proved to be entertaining and suggested that the races should follow suit.

The three cars still contesting the 2007 championship were very much in the thick of the action, with times that indicated that theirs were evenly matched driver pairings:

#38 Kessel Racing Ferrari 430
Gilles Vannelet 2:04.224 (1st Q1)
Henri Moser 2:04.691 (5th Q2)

#18 Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z06R
Luca Pirri 2:04.547 (2nd Q1)
Jurgen von Gartzen 2:04.186 (3rd Q2)

#19 Riverside Corvette Z06R
Arnaud Peyroles 2:05.467 (7th Q1)
James Ruffier 2:03.365 (2nd Q2)

Star of the morning was Frederic Makowiecki, who spent most of the second qualifying session improving on the fastest time that he set in the first half of the session, to finally finish with a 2:02.722 as the time ticked away. There was undoubtedly still more time in the car.

The Ascaris performed well, with Jonny Lang besting Phil Quaife by a tenth to qualify the Berlanga #31 on the better side of the third row to the Damax #28. In the second session, Rory Bertram improved on Lang’s time to qualify sixth; could the 2006 British GTC champion’s luck be about to change after a wretched season?

For the Porsches in the field, ‘disappointing’ would be a huge understatement; with the best of the quartet being Peter Snowdon in the Tech 9 Porsche #1 in only 29th place. James Pickford (right) had been hoping for a top ten qualifying place in the #5 Trackspeed Porsche, but a water pump failure curtailed his session at three laps and Richard Williams was forced to watch qualifying instead of partaking.

The Matech Ford GTs finally took to the track, having been granted special dispensation to race. The problem concerned the race seats that had been fitted since Brno. The new seats did not have head rests, whereas the original (and more importantly, homologated) did have. Should anybody protest the Fords, their weekend will be over; but that is unlikely to happen. In the circumstances, Thomas Mutsch’s 2:06.878 (16th in Q2) wasn’t a bad effort.

Apex Motorsport’s two Jaguar XKRs continued to find pace during the morning, with Karim Al-Azhari improving by a second and Neil Cunningham finding a further half second; both drivers qualifying 23rd. Chris Ryan and Stuart Scott made similar progress in the #47, qualifying in 29th and 33rd.

More gearbox problems hit the reduced RPM squad, with Bradley Ellis suffering an H-pattern failure after just five laps of the second session. His 2:06.502 was enough to qualify in 15th place, with Ed Morris qualifying in the same position for the first race.

The Lamborghini Gallardo didn’t feature as highly as expected, but Jean-Denis Deletraz put his circuit knowledge to good use to set the fastest marque time; 2:04.752 in Q2. This was more than a second faster than the next Lambo time; not bad for first time out.

The first race was scheduled to begin at four o’clock, and by lunchtime the schedule seemed to have caught up with itself. Perhaps headlights would not be required after all.

Qualifying - Race One
1 #18 Luca PIRRI ITA Corvette Z06R GT3 2:04.547
2 #23 Diego ALESSI ITA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:04.993
3 #17 Jiri SKULA CZE Corvette Z06R GT3 2:05.022
4 #31 Jonathan LANG GBR Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:05.121
5 #38 Gilles VANNELET FRA Ferrari 430 2:05.163
6 #28 Phil QUAIFE GBR Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:05.263
7 #19 Arnaud PEYROLES FRA Corvette Z06R GT3 2:05.467
8 #25 Manuel RODRIGUES FRA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:06.304
9 #22 Mauro CASADEI ITA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:06.624
10 #32 Howard SPOONER GBR Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:06.627
11 #20 J-F LE ROCH FRA Corvette Z06R GT3 2:07.030
12 #39 Paul WARREN GBR Ferrari 430 2:07.047
13 #24 Ettore BONALDI ITA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:07.061
14 #15 Lloyd LA MARCA SUI Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 2:07.359
15 #8 Ed MORRIS GBR Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 2:07.414
16 #26 Jean-Claude LAGNIEZ FRA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:07.611
17 #13 Hans KNAUSS AUT Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 2:07.694
18 #34 Ian KHAN GBR Ferrari 430 2:08.000
19 #35 Philip WALKER GBR Ferrari 430 2:08.020
20 #43 Mikael FORSTEN FIN Ford GT 2:08.182
21 #27 Ron MARCHAL NED Aston Martin DBRS9 2:08.208
22 #14 Vadim KUZMINYKH RUS Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 2:09.172
23 #46 Karim AL-AZHARI GER Jaguar XKR GT3 2:09.266
24 #36 Michel MHITARIAN FRA Ferrari 430 2:09.283
25 #45 Stefan V CAMPENHOUDT BEL Ford GT 2:09.476
26 #29 Robert HISSOM USA Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:10.346
27 #37 Freddy KREMER GER Ferrari 430 2:10.491
28 #9 Jean-Claude RUFFIER FRA Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 2:11.777
29 #1 Peter SNOWDON GBR Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:11.890
30 #4 David ASHBURN GBR Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:13.152
31 #16 U BERBERICH-MARTINI GER Corvette Z06R GT3 2:14.298
32 #5 James PICKFORD GBR Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:14.311
33 #47 Stuart SCOTT GBR Jaguar XKR GT3 2:17.881
34 #6 George MacKINTOSH GBR Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:19.508
35 #44 Romain BERA FRA Ford GT 2:20.226
36 #21 S LACROIX-WASOVER FRA Corvette Z06R GT3 44:12.125

Qualifying Race Two
1 #26 Frederic MAKOWIECKI FRA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:02.722
2 #19 James RUFFIER FRA Corvette Z06R GT3 2:03.365
3 #18 Jurgen VON GARTZEN GER Corvette Z06R GT3 2:04.186
4 #23 Alex FRASSINETI ITA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:04.499
5 #38 Henri MOSER SUI Ferrari 430 2:04.691
6 #31 Rory BERTRAM NED Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:04.718
7 #15 Jean-Denis DELETRAZ SUI Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 2:04.752
8 #25 Julien RODRIGUES FRA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:05.083
9 #34 Stephane DAOUDI FRA Ferrari 430 2:05.272
10 #29 Juho ANNALA FIN Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:05.559
11 #17 Martin MATZKE CZE Corvette Z06R GT3 2:05.624
12 #14 Jaromir JIRIK CZE Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 2:05.795
13 #16 Klaus LUDWIG GER Corvette Z06R GT3 2:05.876
14 #39 Chris HYMAN GBR Ferrari 430 2:05.901
15 #8 Bradley ELLIS GBR Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 2:06.502
16 #43 Thomas MUTSCH GER Ford GT 2:06.878
17 #45 Kenneth HEYER GER Ford GT 2:06.952
18 #24 Mattia PAVONI ITA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:06.974
19 #32 James KAYE GBR Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:07.097
20 #9 Kevin MOREL FRA Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 2:07.610
21 #27 Jean-Yves MALLAT USA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:07.980
22 #28 Phil KEEN GBR Ascari KZ1R GT3 2:08.409
23 #46 Neil CUNNINGHAM NZL Jaguar XKR GT3 2:08.601
24 #13 Jan DANIS SVK Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 2:09.127
25 #22 Gian Marino ZENERE ITA Aston Martin DBRS9 2:10.779
26 #35 John GREASLEY GBR Ferrari 430 2:10.830
27 #1 Tom HAINES GBR Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:11.367
28 #37 Konstantin IOANNIDIS SUI Ferrari 430 2:11.437
29 #47 Chris RYAN GBR Jaguar XKR GT3 2:12.890
30 #6 Jonathan SIMMONDS GBR Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:14.153
31 #4 Tarek ELGAMMAL AUS Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 2:16.465
32 #36 Nicolas COMAR FRA Ferrari 430 2:16.918
33 #44 Maxime DUBRULLE FRA Ford GT 2:20.399
34 #20 Marc SOURD FRA Corvette Z06R GT3 2:25.12

Stop Press
It appears that there have been developments since qualifying, and significant ones at that.

“It is a bad day for Kessel Racing,” said a deeply aggrieved Gilles Vannelet. “They have cancelled my pole time because they said I set my fastest sector time under waved yellows, which leaves me fifth; lots of other drivers did the same, but only my time has been cancelled.

“And now they are saying that the car is not valid. They kept it in parc ferme for three hours after qualifying and we don’t know if we are able to race for points.”

It appears that a measurement was taken post qualifying from the top of the rear screen to a specific point on the rear wing that was deemed to be 7mm beyond the limit. The team is adamant that no changes have been made and believe that it must be due to a season’s worth of downforce.

With just 45 minutes to go before the race, a stewards’ decision is still awaited; but a revised grid has been published which shows that the #38 has been demoted to the back of the grid, where it will be joined by three other cars; most significantly the #19 Riverside Corvette of Peyroles and Ruffier.

If this is how things stand, the advantage now swings right back towards Luca Pirri and Jurgen von Gartzen; starting from pole and with 31 cars between them and their rivals for the title.