GT1 World, Slovakia Racing - Qualifying Race Report

Filip Salaquarda and Toni Vilander won the Qualifying Race of the FIA GT1 World Championship at the Slovakia Ring. In an exciting race that had drama from start to finish the AF Corse pair managed to beat its rivals and take the first win for AF Corse and Ferrari in the FIA GT1 World Championship.

The start of the race was delayed after Andreas Zuber in the #8 Exim Bank Team China Porsche 911 GT3 R suffered an oil leak on his way to the grid. Fifteen minutes after the scheduled race start, the cars started their race behind the safety car. Zuber rejoined on the second lap - but quickly stopped his car again when he heard a noise and the team told him to stop.

Four laps into the race and still behind the safety car the rain started to come down, causing more problems for the teams. At the end of lap five, with umbrellas now visible all around the track the safety car came in and the race got underway properly. Dusseldorp retained the lead into turn 1, but was soon passed by Toni Vilander, who had started from fifth on the grid but had already moved up into second position in turn 1. After one lap at full speed Vilander had a 1 second lead over Dusseldorp and Jarvis. Behind them Francesco Castellacci ran wide at turn 1.

As Vilander pulled away at the front the battle behind him heated up and on lap 9 it was Alvaro Parente who passed Stef Dusseldorp. Further behind the Vita4One Racing BMW's battled with the Reiter Lamborghini's.

Dusseldorp pitted on lap 10, handing over the McLaren to Fred Makowiecki. The Hexis Racing pitstop was slower than the pitstop of the Vita4One Racing Team and the #1 McLaren rejoined just a couple of tenths ahead of the BMW Z4 GT3 of Yelmer Buurman.

Race leader Toni Vilander, Hexis’ Alvaro Parente and Oliver Jarvis were the last three drivers to pit after thirteen completed laps. Salaquarda rejoined ahead of Fred Makowiecki, with Demoustier behind, followed by a chasing Yelmer Buurman in the BMW. A couple of corners later Buurman passed the McLaren. After fourteen laps Salaquarda was 1.120s ahead of Makowiecki and 4.540s clear of Buurman.

Fast laps set by Makowiecki meant he rapidly closed the gap to Salaquarda, but he wasn’t able to pass the Ferrari. In fact Makowiecki lost a position on lap 19 when he was passed by Buurman. By then Makowiecki’s teammate had already stopped on the side of the track with smoke coming from his McLaren, a potential problem looming for the #1 McLaren?

As track conditions deteriorated Makowiecki’s race went sour and he started to drop down the order. First Tomas Enge and Markus Winkelhock passed him, then Frank Stippler and Matt Halliday did as well.

A stunning drive by Tomas Enge meant the Czech driver caught Buurman on the last lap and put his Lamborghini Gallardo next to the Dutchman's BMW to take second place. At the front Filip Salaquarda stayed out of trouble and after 25 laps he crossed the line to take the win for AF Corse. Enge finished second, 4.5 seconds behind Salaquarda. Buurman secured third place for Vita4One Racing Team.

For Hexis Racing a bad race ended even worse. A very slow last lap saw Makowiecki dropping behind Pavlovic and Jäger. Makowiecki stopped the car just after crossing the line.

MtC