FIA GT1, Sachsenring - Qualifying Race Report
A Well-Earned Victory For Makowiecki & Martin

Marc VDS Racing Team won the Qualifying Race at the Sachsenring this afternoon. A perfect pitstop strategy and strong performances from Maxime Martin and Fred Makowiecki meant that the #41 Ford GT was able to fight its way back from twelfth to first.

Under braking into Turn 1 for the first time things went wrong for two of the four Ford GTs. Antoine Leclerc in the #10 Belgian Racing Ford GT tapped the #40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT of Marc Hennerici into a spin. Most cars managed to avoid the stranded Ford, but Christoffer Nygaard was unsighted and ran into it. It was game over for both the #40 and the #9 Ford GTs.

As a result of the incident the Safety Car was deployed. At the end of the third lap the Safety Car came back in and the race was restarted. Soon after Nick Catsburg was the next to retire, spinning into the gravel during a battle with the JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R of Michael Krumm.

Until the pitstops the top four remained unchanged, with Pastorelli leading Piccione and Turner. Still far behind them, Fred Makowiecki was pushing hard and quickly passed several other cars in his fight to get back to the front.  Having passed the two JR Motorsports Nissans quite easy there was contact with Alex Müller. The Ford GT continued  as if nothing had happened, the Aston Martin spun.

When the pit window opened the top three came in right away. A very slow pit stop for All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport meant they dropped behind the two Astons, but ,with Makowiecki still out on track and still flying, all was far from decided.

Makowiecki came in for his mandatory stop right before the pit window was set to close and after handing over the car to Maxime Martin and a very quick pit stop by the Marc VDS Racing Team pitcrew the Ford GT returned to the track, just ahead of Stef Dusseldorp in the #3 Hexis Aston. Third after all the pitstops was Warren Hughes in the #20 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R.

It soon became clear that the Ford GT was in a class of its own and nobody would be able to catch it. Dusseldorp saw the Ford disappear on the horizon, but there was no pressure from behind for the Dutchman either. The battle for third place was more intense, though, as was the battle for sixth - the final point in the Qualifying Race - with cars trailing each other over the Saxony circuit.

In the final laps Christian Hohenadel tried to pass Richard Westbrook multiple times, but instead of taking fifth he dropped down a position when Dominik Schwager passed him. A lap later positions changed again when Westbrook and Schwager tangled, sending the Lamborghini into the grass.

Stefan Mücke meanwhile managed to pass Warren Hughes two laps before the end of the race, promoting the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin to third place.

After 43 laps Maxime Martin secured a well-earned Marc VDS Racing Team victory after a strong comeback from the Ford GT, with Stef Dusseldorp finishing in second place at 6.683 seconds. Stefan Mücke crossed the line in third place.

MtC