FIA GT1 World Championship Abu Dhabi - Preview
Ratel Gets His Show On The Road Again - Or Did He?

Despite political unrest throughout the region the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship will kick off this weekend with the opening round at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The start of a championship that has also had lots of unrest in recent months, but one that is now ready for the “Battle of the Brands” on March 25-26.

After a decent start in 2010 with 24 cars at the start teams, media and drivers voiced their concern over the new season as several teams and sponsors seemed to drop out and the costs of racing in GT1 World went up. But despite all the concerns Stephane Ratel and his people managed to get ten teams to sign up for the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship. The major disappointment before the start of the season is the disappearance of Maserati and Vitaphone Racing Team – the 2010 FIA GT1 World Champions.

It remains to be seen if the quality of the field can be maintained throughout the season as several teams have already indicated they have signed drivers for the first couple of rounds only. But nevertheless we say hats off to SRO for pulling it off so far.

Changes for 2011 include the increase of tyres to be used per event from four to six sets, while the top six cars in the Qualifying Race of each round will now get points. Success ballast regulations have also been changed with the winner of the Qualifying Race now getting 10kg ballast and the winner of the Championship Race getting 30kg instead of 40kg in 2010. Weight reduction will be given to teams finishing outside the top eight in the Qualifying Race and outside the top four in the Championship Race.

Teams And Drivers

Last week the FIA announced the 10 teams taking part in the 2011 season and in recent weeks most teams have confirmed their drivers. These announcements included some very unexpected names, ranging from hardly known drivers to very experienced ones.

Aston Martin DBR9

All four Aston Martin DBR9s will return to the FIA GT1 World Championship this season and the same teams that ran them in 2010 will enter them.

Hexis Racing

#3 Clivio Piccione – Stef Dusseldorp
#4 Andrea Piccini – Christian Hohenadel

After a season in which the team finished in second place in the Teams Championship and saw its 2010 driver Frédéric Makowiecki take third place in the Drivers Championship with some solid races, Hexis AMR has changed most of its line-up for the 2011 season.

Piccione is the only driver that has been retained for the GT1 World squad and he will be joined in the #3 by 2009 German F3 Cup runner-up Stef Dusseldorp. It will be the Dutchman’s first season in GT racing. This isn’t exactly the lineup that you expect to see battling for podium positions.

The #4 will see highly experienced GT driver Andrea Piccini – who finished on the podium in Abu Dhabi in 2010 – making his return to the FIA GT Championship. His teammate will be reigning FIA GT3 European Champion Christian Hohenadel. Unlike the sister car the #4 has a strong line-up and this Aston Martin DBR9 should be able to fight for the podium slots.

Young Driver AMR

#7 Alex Müller – Tomas Enge
#8 Stefan Mücke – Darren Turner

Never change a winning team is often heard but Young Driver AMR disrespected that rule and Enge and Turner were split up for 2011. Fortunately for both drivers they will get very experienced teammates – which also leads to the question why the team is still named Young Driver AMR. With their new line-up Young Driver AMR is one of the main title contenders.

In the #7 car Alex Müller replaces Christoffer Nygaard and brings loads of experience. The German didn’t have the best of seasons in 2010 but still managed to collect one podium finish in the underperforming Triple H Team Hegersport Maserati. Together with Tomas Enge he will form a strong pair that should be considered potential race winners.

In the #8 Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke will race together – another strong line-up that doesn’t need any introduction and should also be considered race win candidates.

Corvette C6.R

Up until last week nobody expected a Corvette C6.R on the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship and many people were surprised when four cars were announced. Questions were raised after quick research at Sebring last weekend and we were not surprised to see only two cars on the latest Abu Dhabi entry list – entered by the same teams that ran together as Mad-Croc Racing. For now they have the benefit of the doubt as this deal seems to have been a last-minute deal.

DKR Engineering

#47 Jean-Claude Police – Laurent Cazenave

DKR Engineering was the second team that ran the Mad-Croc Racing operation last season and will be back as an independent team in the FIA GT1 World Championship at Abu Dhabi. At the Yas Marina Circuit DKR Engineering will race with two drivers that already raced a GT3-spec Corvette Z06 in the 2010 FFSA GT Championship, Jean-Claude Police and Laurent Cazenave. They are unlikely to be troubling the other teams in Abu Dhabi.

Exim Bank Team China

#11 Mike Hezemans – Nick Catsburg

Mike Hezemans racing a Corvette in the FIA GT Championship seems to be normal, but in 2010 he only did a partial season. This season the Dutchman is back in a Corvette with Exim Bank Team China, the entry that will be run by Selleslagh Racing Team. In Abu Dhabi Hezemans will be joined by 23-years old Nick Catsburg. Catsburg is the reigning Eurocup Mégane Trophy and will be racing in the FIA GT3 European Championship this season. He recently tested the Nissan GT-R in Japan and will do selected rounds in the FIA GT1 World Championship.

The team will not have a second car at Abu Dhabi and it remains to be seen how their 2011 season will unfold.

Ford GT

Towards the end of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship there were indications that Marc VDS Racing would leave the championship, leaving constructor Matech Competition on its own – or no Ford GTs at all. Between that moment and the start of the new season much has changed. Marc VDS Racing will enter two cars under its own banner and two other cars will be entered under the Belgian Racing name. Matech Competition has disappeared.

Belgian Racing

#9 Antoine Leclerc – Vanina Ickx
#10 Martin Matzke – Milos Pavlovic

The Belgian Racing line-ups were only finalized in the last two weeks and 2008 FFSA GT champion Antoine Leclerc was the first driver signed to race for Belgian Racing in 2011. This week it was announced that Leclerc will be joined in the #9 car by Vanina Ickx, who was initially only going to drive with Belgian Racing at the second round in Zolder.

In the #10 car the team signed Czech driver Martin Matzke, who raced in GT3 Europe between since 2007. Former single-seater driver Milos Pavlovic will join Matzke at Abu Dhabi. As all four drivers are new to GT1 so it remains to be seen what they can do – but don’t expect top results at Abu Dhabi.

Marc VDS Racing Team

#40 Bas Leinders – Marc Hennerici
#41 Maxime Martin – Frédéric Makowiecki

One of the first teams to announce its line-ups for the 2011 season Marc VDS Racing Team secured the services of the third and fifth placed drivers in the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship to join Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin.

The #40 Ford GT will be driven by Bas Leinders and Marc Hennerici. The German driver was really consistent in 2010 – despite driving the underperforming Corvette. Marc VDS Racing Team will gain a lot from his experience, the team will just have to hope that Bas Leinders will keep his cool and can drive a consistent season as well. In that case this car should be able to fight for podium places occasionally.

After finishing third in the 2010 season with Hexis AMR Frédéric Makowiecki will join Maxime Martin in the #41 Ford GT in most of the races in 2011. The combination of the vast GT experience and speed of Makowiecki as well as the experience of Martin could make this a podium candidate at Abu Dhabi – especially as the Ford GT won at Abu Dhabi in 2010.

Lamborghini Murcielago LP670 R-SV

Impressive in some rounds and disappointing in others, that could well be the summary of the 2010 season for the Lamborghini Murcielago. This season Reiter Engineering will not be running as a team and it has sold its cars to Swiss Racing Team. Reiter Engineering finished third out of ten classified teams in 2010, All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport and Swiss Racing Team were ninth and tenth.

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport

#37 Marc Basseng – Markus Winkelhock
#38 Dominik Schwager – Nicky Pastorelli

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport had a difficult 2010 season and scored over two-thirds of its points in the final three race weekends. This season the team hopes to do better than that, but it remains to be seen what the influence of Reiter not taking part with its own team is.

Marc Basseng has been retained and will drive the #37 car again. In 2011 former DTM and one-time Formula 1 driver Markus Winkelhock will join him, replacing Christophe Bouchut.

The #38 crew will once again be Dominik Schwager and Nicky Pastorelli. The pair did quite well given the circumstances in 2010 and could do well if they would have just a bit more luck. Both the #37 and #38 are likely to fight for podium positions on that occasion though and not for race victories.

Swiss Racing Team

#5 Karl Wendlinger – Peter Kox
#6 Max Nilsson – Jirí Janák

Othmar Welti’s team disappointed with the Nissan GT-R last season and decided to switch to the Lamborghini for this season. It has bought the cars from Reiter engineering but recent GT1 Committee decisions related to (spare) parts that should have been bought by the team have sparked doubts on the viability of this team.

Looking at the line-up there is nothing wrong with the #5 car. Austrian Karl Wendlinger will be joined by Reiter’s factory driver Peter Kox. Wendlinger and Kox form one of the best and most experienced line-ups in the 2011 season and if the team can get the car to perform as it did in 2010 race wins should be possible.

Max Nilsson has re-signed with Swiss Racing Team despite a poor 2010 season and will race in the #6 Lamborghini alongside Jirí Janák. Janák raced Porsches in recent years but did not raise enough money to compete outside in 2010. For now Janák is only confirmed for Abu Dhabi. Don’t expect the #6 to play a major part at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Nissan GT-R

James Rumsey’s team Sumo Power GT had a decent first year in 2010, taking a couple of wins and finishing sixth in the Teams Championship. As Swiss Racing Team dropped out at the end of the season Rumsey stepped in and bought the two cars to form JR Motorsport. All four JRM Group entries have strong line-ups so expect the Nissans to fight for wins this year – if not the World Championship title.

JR Motorsports

#22 Peter Dumbreck – Richard Westbrook
#23 Michael Krumm – Lucas Luhr

Having shared a car in 2010 Peter Dumbreck and Michael Krumm have been split up for the new season. Both drivers will have an experienced fellow countryman joining them in what could be considered as very strong line-ups.

In the #22 former Matech Competition driver Richard Westbrook will join Nissan Peter Dumbreck. Michael Krumm meanwhile will get company from former Porsche works driver Lucas Luhr in the sister car. With Nigel Stepney again acting as team manager and chief engineer the team has everything to fight for race wins and the title.

Sumo Power GT

#20 Enrique Bernoldi – Ricardo Zonta
#21 David Brabham – Jamie Campbell-Walter

Jamie Campbell-Walter is the only driver from last year that will be racing in the Sumo Power GT colors, the Briton re-signed by Sumo Power GT after a good season. Highly experienced Australian David Brabham, whose last GT1 experience was with Aston Martin - winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2007 and 2008, will join him in the #21.

Driving the #20 Nissan GT-R are Enrique Bernoldi and Ricardo Zonta. Both Brazilians know what it is to win in the FIA GT1 World Championship, albeit in different cars. Although not yet experienced with the Nissan GT-R the pair should be able to adapt to the car quickly and start racing for victory soon afterwards.

Given the cars and drivers now confirmed for the opening round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship, we should be able to see some interesting battles with highly experienced teams fighting with relative inexperienced teams. Stephane Ratel will probably have his fingers crossed for a nice race weekend in Abu Dhabi – hoping that there will be even more quality drivers in the other rounds of the season. So do we, but we also hope that all 18 cars will make it through the races and will be back at Zolder…

Marcel ten Caat