FIA GT3, Silverstone -  Race One Report
First Win Of The Season For AF Corse

AF Corse won the first race of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone this afternoon. Federico Leo and Francesco Castellacci dominated the third round of the 2011 championship with their Ferrari 458 Italia GT3.

Leo had a clear start and maintained the lead as the cars went through turn one for the first time. Markus Palttala followed in second place, with Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof taking third from Edward Sandstroem. Behind them, Joakim Lambotte and Dan Brown got into a fierce battle for fifth place, until Lambotte spun his Mercedes and dropped to 15th place.

At the front Leo was unable to get rid of Palttala and the gap between the Ferrari and the Ford was around one second for the first nine laps of the race. But on lap 10 Palttala had to come in to the pit as his Fischer Racing Ford GT suffered a right rear puncture. This meant that the Finn dropped to the back of the field and promoted Mayr-Melnhof and Sandstroem to second and third. Dan Brown was following right behind them.

As the pit window opened the top four stayed out for the first two laps. Dan Brown was the first to come in - but unfortunately for Brown and teammate Glynn Geddie, the AF Corse team was unable to restart the car and a good race came to an end in the pits.

Sandstroem stayed out for another lap as the leaders came in to hand over their cars to Francesco Castellacci and Albert von Thurn und Taxis.

Despite the compensation time added to their mandatory pit stop, the AF Corse Ferrari team gained more time by staying out for some extra laps and Castellacci returned to the track some 15 seconds clear of the second placed Lamborghini of von Thurn und Taxis. The BMW Z4 GT3s of Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Jeroen den Boer were just behind.

On lap 20 Von Thurn und Taxis succumbed to the pressure of the Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW of Al Faisal and ran wide, which allowed Al Faisal to move into second place. Jeroen den Boer, Maxime Martin and Mike Parisy quickly closed in on the Lamborghini. Den Boer was then passed by Martin and Parisy and within a lap both the Aston Martin and Mercedes were also ahead of the Lamborghini.

Two laps after passing von Thurn und Taxis for third place, Maxime Martin made his move on Al Faisal and took second place. Castellacci was still far away though and with just a handful of laps remaining it was impossible for Martin to catch the Ferrari.

In the final laps the Reiter Engineering Lamborghini dropped down the order even further and would eventually finish in eleventh place. On the last lap Mike Parisy caught Al Faisal’s BMW and moved into third place. Not the present the Saudi driver wanted on his birthday.

After 28 laps Francesco Castellacci crossed the line to win the third round of the 2011 season, the first victory for AF Corse in this season. Maxime Martin finished second in his LMP Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9, ten seconds behind the race winner. Parisy took third place for Graff Racing.

Elsewhere, Matt Griffin and Joe Osborne had good stints, taking, respectively, the #21 MTECH Ferrari from 17th to eighth and the #22 United Autosports Audi from 22nd to 15th. Both deserved more for their efforts.

MtC