Having witnessed a hugely dramatic conclusion to the British GT Championship last month, it is a delight to report that the FIA GT3 championship finale contained even more drama and excitement.
Frederic Makowiecki withstood a very impressive challenge from James Ruffier in the first half of the race, but a stop/go penalty for the #38 Ferrari of Henri Moser and Gilles Vannelet seemed to have handed the Championship trophy to Luca Pirri and Jurgen von Gartzen. However, a late safety car bunched up the cars and heralded an extraordinary final ten minutes, during which Vannelet fought his way past Pirri (to an eventual second place) to snatch title victory from the jaws of defeat.
The race was won by the Scuderia Italia DBRS9 of Diego Alessi and Alex Frassinetti, the first win of the season for an Aston Martin. Jonny Lang and Rory Bertram added more silverware to the Ascari trophy room by claiming third, after yesterday’s second.
Race 2 Result 1 23 AM Frassineti/Alessi Aston Martin DBRS9 1:00:54.498 27 143.46 2 38 F Moser/Vannelet Ferrari 430 1:00:55.915 27 1.417 143.41 3 31 AS Bertram/Lang Ascari KZ1R GT3 1:00:56.842 27 2.344 143.37 4 18 C Von Gartzen/Pirri Corvette Z06R GT3 1:00:57.824 27 3.326 143.33 5 43 FGT Mutsch/Forsten Ford GT 1:01:08.776 27 14.278 142.90 6 34 F Daoudi/Khan Ferrari 430 1:01:11.955 27 17.457 142.78 7 32 AS Kaye/Spooner Ascari KZ1R GT3 1:01:12.089 27 17.591 142.77 8 44 FGT Dubrulle/Bera Ford GT 1:01:12.440 27 17.942 142.76 9 26 AM Makowiecki/Lagniez Aston Martin DBRS9 1:01:16.540 27 22.042 142.60 10 45 FGT Heyer/Campenhoudt Ford GT 1:01:16.685 27 22.187 142.60 11 15 L Deletraz/La Marca Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:01:16.991 27 22.493 142.58 12 25 AM Rodrigues/Rodrigues Aston Martin DBRS9 1:01:17.926 27 23.428 142.55 13 13 L Danis/Knauss Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:01:20.383 27 25.885 142.45 14 28 AS Keen/Quaife Ascari KZ1R GT3 1:01:20.825 27 26.327 142.44 15 17 C Matzke/Skula Corvette Z06R GT3 1:01:27.071 27 32.573 142.19 16 16 C Ludwig/Berberich-Martini Corvette Z06R GT3 1:01:31.294 27 36.796 142.03 17 14 L Jirik/Kuzminykh Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 1:01:38.599 27 44.101 141.75 18 29 AS Annala/Hissom Ascari KZ1R GT3 1:01:45.406 27 50.908 141.49 19 46 J Cunningham/Al-Azhari Jaguar XKR GT3 1:01:15.034 26 1 LAP 137.38 20 5 P Williams/Pickford Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 1:01:23.929 26 1 LAP 137.04 21 21 C Charriol/Lacroix-Wasover Corvette Z06R GT3 1:01:24.951 26 1 LAP 137.01 22 4 P Elgammal/Ashburn Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 1:01:35.543 26 1 LAP 136.61 23 47 J Ryan/Scott Jaguar XKR GT3 1:02:02.216 26 1 LAP 135.63 24 37 F Ioannidis/Kremer Ferrari 430 1:02:42.820 26 1 LAP 134.17 25 36 F Comar/Mhitarian Ferrari 430 1:01:18.217 25 2 LAPS 131.98 26 6 P Simmonds/MacKintosh Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 1:02:12.675 25 2 LAPS 130.05 Not Classified 19 C Ruffier/Peyroles Corvette Z06R GT3 35:27.948 17 D.N.F. 155.13 39 F Hyman/Warren Ferrari 430 38:28.217 17 D.N.F. 143.01 9 D Morel/Ruffier Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 19:50.397 9 D.N.F. 146.81 8 D Ellis/Morris Dodge Viper Competition Coupe 30:40.089 9 D.N.F. 94.97 35 F Greasley/Walker Ferrari 430 38:26.304 6 D.N.F. 50.51 20 C Sourd/J-F Le Roch Corvette Z06R GT3 21:58.247 5 D.N.F. 73.65 27 AM Mallat/Marchal Aston Martin DBRS9 6:57.033 3 D.N.F. 139.69 24 AM Pavoni/Bonaldi Aston Martin DBRS9 2:55.224 1 D.N.F. 110.82 22 AM Zenere/Casadei Aston Martin DBRS9 0 D.N.F. N/A 1 P Haines/Snowdon Porsche 997 GT3 Cup 0 D.N.F. N/A
