FIA GT1 World Championship, Abu Dhabi - Championship Race

Seventeen cars were on the grid for the Championship Race at the Yas Marina Circuit this evening for what would be an exciting race. The #40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT did not make it to the grid for unknown reasons.

Right at the start the Nissan GT-Rs of Peter Dumbreck and Enrique Bernoldi passed the Ford GT of Maxime Martin, taking the All-Inkl.com Lamborghini with them. Four abreast they went into turn 1, only to see Markus Winkelhock running a bit wide and slotting in behind the Ford again.

With Bernoldi unable to get rid of his rivals the cars behind the leading Nissans started to close in and when Brabham set the fastest lap of the race despite being in eleventh place it was clear that the frontrunners would be together until the pit stops. A drive through penalty (abusing track limits at the start) for Brabham on lap seven meant the Australian dropped further down the order.

At the front however things stayed the same and ten laps into the race the top eight was still within five seconds of each other. Stefan Mücke, who had started from the back of the grid, moved his #8 Young Driver AMR Aston into seventh place on that same lap by passing the #23 JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R of Lucas Luhr. In the process Luhr suffered a left front puncture on his Nissan and returned to the pit.

Just before the pit window opened Maxime Martin completed a surprise attack on Dumbreck and moved into second place. He immediately went after the Sumo Power GT Nissan of Bernoldi and the two leaders came into the pit on the next lap, together with Clivio Piccione in the Hexis AMR Aston #3 and Mücke in the Young Driver AMR Aston.

All eyes were on the fight between Marc VDS Racing Team and Sumo Power GT and as the two cars were released Frédéric Makowiecki ran straight into the Nissan of Ricardo Zonta. The two cars exchanged paint for a few meters down the pit lane before going into the tunnel and towards the pit exit. Zonta had to come in again at the end of his lap as he suffered a puncture in the incident. The Ford escaped without damage.

After the #22 JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R had also made its pit stop Westbrook returned the car to the track just in front of Makowiecki. He wasn’t leading the race though as thanks to an amazing pit stop the Hexis AMR Aston #3 of Stef Dusseldorp was now some six seconds ahead of the Nissan and the Ford. Nicky Pastorelli was the last frontrunner to make a pit stop, but teammate Dominik Schwager lost valuable time, as he was unable to restart the Lamborghini after the team had finished the pit stop.

Makowiecki was then taken out of the fight for victory as he was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release after his pit stop. Marc Basseng took advantage of the penalty and moved his Lamborghini up into third place. Zonta was also called into the pit to have his seatbelts checked.

With rookie Dusseldorp now in the lead Westbrook went into attack mode and tried to close the gap to the Aston Martin DBR9 as soon as possible. The gap did indeed get smaller lap after lap and with just eight minutes left in the race Westbrook was all over the back of Dusseldorp’s car. Despite having almost no experience in a GT car yet Dusseldorp was having none of it and kept the Nissan behind him all the way to the finish. After 31 laps and a very impressive stint the Dutchman crossed the line in first place, much to the delight of his French team. Westbrook finished 0.474 seconds behind in second place and Marc Basseng secured a well-deserved podium finish for All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport.

Marcel ten Caat