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GT1 World Championship Silverstone – Qualifying Race Report Starting drivers in grid order 7 Enge Race Report The #24 Reiter Lamborghini was dropped 3 places on the grid apparently after repeating the offence of not respecting the circuit's boundaries – That left the Haase/ Kox machine starting in 11th.
From the off it was relatively neat and tidy, Michael Bartels though felt he’d been squeezed rather hard, the #1 Maserati putting a wheel in the dirt, briefly dropping back to fourth into Copse before toughing out a gutsy line and regaining third as the pack streamed round. Peter Dumbreck in the #23 Sumo Power GT Nissan was right on the Maserati’s tail.
There was a coming together in the pack behind though, Christopher Nygaard in the #8 Young Driver AMT DBR9 turning the #34 Triple H Maserati around at Copse, the Aston suffering a left rear blow out and the Maserati substantially delayed, dropping right back to the back of the field from a mid grid starting slot. Lap 1 order #7,9,1,23,22,10,25,13,24,14,40,37,5,28,11,12,2,33,4,3,41,34,8 pit
Tomas Enge though was away and clear, the #7 Aston pulling away from the chasing #9 Hexis DBR9 of Thomas Accary – 1.6 seconds after lap one became 3.4 after lap two with the pursuing trio behind the Astons (Bartels / Dumbreck/ Campbell Walter) separated by a single second. Piccione was also drawing closer to JCW’s rear, the #10 Hexis Aston clearly keen to join the party! A bad start for Triple H got much worse when Altfrid Heger pitted in the #33 car, an ecu problem was diagnosed but it took time to exchange the unit, almost ten laps lost, the car’s race was effectively already over. Kumpen (#14 Phoenix Carsport Corvette) and Haase (#24 Reiter Lamborghini were duelling too – Kumpen eager to get by, Haase keen not to allow that to happen, getting squirrelly under braking there was some contact from the Vette to the Lambo before finally Kumpen made his way by, up to 9th with Maxime Martin in the #40 Marc VDS Ford looking to take advantage too.
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mins Pastorelli was another early pit caller in the #38 AllInkl.com Lamborghini, reporting a vibration in the right front – The team changed the wheel, took a good hard look in the wheel arch and seemed to find something that confirmed the Germans report – The Murcielago rejoined just ahead of the delayed #8 Aston Martin, Nygaard and Pastorelli then duelling in splendid isolation for lap after lap.
As the 20 minute mark approached Piccione found a way by JCW for 6th with Kumpen moving past Hennerici for 8th on lap 9. The dominant force in Abu
Dhabi was the #5 Matech Ford but the car seemed out of sorts for much of the
day, restricted to a battle between Thomas Mutsch and the #11 Mad Croc corvette
of Nicolas Armindo for a lowly 13th place before Mutsch pushed a little too hard
at Becketts, the Ford spinning out and losing two laps to the rest of the
field. The delayed Matech ford finally rejoined right in front of the race leader – That cemented a move already underway that was seeing Enge’s early advantage gradually whittled away. Pit window open and Kuismanen was first to rumble down on the limiter, Oliver Gavin eager to show that progress could be made back up through the field. Accary pitted next time around but was delayed slightly, baulked as the Matech Ford also made its way pitwards. No real harm done though and all too soon half the field seemed to be heading down the pitlane together to effect their compulsory stops. The next three circuits saw all of the major runners having stopped but then the timing screens flashed up a message that would change the overall running order dramatically. Three cars, the #34 Maserati, #23 Nissan (at that stage running fifth) and, most crucially of all the leading #7 Aston Martin were assessed drive through penalties for crossing the white line on pit entry. That would cost the Aston the overall lead, and there was more of the same to come. The #1 Maserati was the last of the frontrunners to pit, Andrea Bertolini climbing aboard. The Italian though stalled the MC12 on restart and took more than a handful of seconds to get the car moving again. At around the same time Darren Turner, now aboard the #7 Aston, took the car’s drive through, costing time and track position. All too soon though came the news that the team had been reported for a second time for the same offence as Turner pitted for the drive through. The second offence cost the #7 car a stop/go and a further 30 seconds or so of track time. It had been a disastrous few minutes for a car which had dominated the first half of the race. For Darren Turner though, now down in 7th, it was fight back time. The front of the race though had taken on a very different look, the two Hexis cars were now running 1,2 (#9 leading #10 by around 7 seconds with the #1 Maserati now 2.3 seconds behind in third slot. There were other battles underway further down the field meanwhile, Warren Hughes was chasing Hezemans hard for 5th slot and the battle for 12th place was being particularly closely contested, 5 cars (both MadCroc Vettes, both SRT Nissans and the #37 Lamborghini) were fully engaged).
Turner’s first target was Warren Hughes and he was closing in courtesy of some fast lappery, the race’s fastest lap (2:00.536) bringing him in reach of the #22 Nissan. A lap or two later he was up to sixth, the pair going side by side out of Club and the Aston grabbing sixth around the outside of Vale. Oliver Gavin meanwhile had made his way by both SRT Nissans and Bouchut’s Lamborghini before joining formation behind Maassen. Turner’s attention had now turned to Hezeman’s 5th place – battle joined and the Aston was reeling in the Corvette. Back in the madness of the
middle ranking runners there was trouble for SRT (a team that could well do
without it on form thus far!) Ara was looking for a way by Wendlinger in the
sister car, took a cheeky and ill-advised look up the inside at Copse and less
than a lap later turned the #3 GT-R into a spin at Brooklands. All this
for 15th place – The post race debrief must have been a frosty
affair! Into the last ten minutes and whilst Krumm won his battle with Kox for 8th position, Hezemans hit trouble, spinning in his efforts to fend off Turner and dropping back behind both the Aston and Hughes’ Sumo Power Nissan, both of these men were now homing in on Jos Menten, currently holding 4th place in the #25 Reiter Lamborghini.
Turner made it by on Lap 27 and Hughes too made the move a couple of corners later. Rather less neat and tidy was Enrique Bernoldi’s assault on the #24 Lamborghini of Peter Kox for 9th position, the Maserati man going for a gap that truly wasn’t there and inflicting damage to both the Lamborghini and MC12. Justice really wasn’t done though as the #2 car grabbed the place. Down to the final lap and the order at the front was sorted – Accary taking the flag with 3.5 seconds still in hand over team-mate Piccione – an easing of the pace right at the end allowing Bertolini to close right in at the very end.
There was still a final battle for Hezemans though as Michael Krumm had sniffed an opportunity to grab 7th, the pair running side by side through the final two turns ahead of a drag race to the line – The Corvette man keeping the place by just a tenth of a second.
A great result then for Hexis - But with a wet race looking likely on Sunday could things turn around again? Post Race Quotes Karl Wendlinger, Swiss Racing Nissan, No.3 “We have made an improvement since qualifying this morning. The car is more consistent over the distance and we have some more changes to make for tomorrow’s race to help stability. We are still learning the car and it is clear to see that we only did a small amount of testing before the season began. We still have much to learn." Warren Hughes, Sumo Power Nissan #22 "My race went very well which was a surprise. We were unable to find the car’s true potential in practice due to only having access to four sets of tyres but I was pleasantly surprised by the speed of the car in the earlier qualifying session today. "One concern we did have in the qualifying race was that we were unable to sustain consistent lap times in Jamie’s first stint because of the weight of the car is quite high up. For my stint in the second part of the race we adjusted the tyre pressures and the consistency was very good from then on. "The new Silverstone circuit is different. The old circuit was very good with some fast sweeping corners such as Bridge but they have done a good job with the revised layout. I suppose the only section they could improve is the real slow corners but coming out of Abbey on to the National Straight is exciting to drive." Oliver Gavin, Mad-Croc Racing Corvette #12 "My race was pretty eventful but the pit stop was a little bit slow because the engine was taking it’s time to fire. Once we got back on track it was confusing as to who had and hadn’t made pit stops. "After the stops I quickly caught a Nissan and Lamborghini but it was very difficult to get by them because these huge rear wings generate a lot of air turbulence and you lose a lot of down force at the front of the car which makes it tricky to pass. "Eventually I managed to get by them and came up against my team-mate and we had a good dice to the end of the race. It was going to take some contact to get by him fully so I thought I’d leave it until tomorrow’s Championship Race. "I really enjoyed racing on the new Silverstone Circuit and there are some great overtaking opportunities. It’s fun and challenging and I think it suits different cars in different places so you really have to think about where to pass people. I look forward to racing on it again tomorrow." Markus Palttala, Mark VDS Ford #41 "The race was a little bit difficult because we didn’t have much pace and lost a lot of track time in Friday’s practice. We didn’t get the set-up right but it’s a good learning step and we have to look forward to the future and do a better job. "The circuit is surprisingly bumpy but there are some good sections to overtake. I really miss Bridge corner - it was my favourite corner but overall the new one is cool and I I’ve always loved Silverstone anyway." Jos Menten, Reiter Lamborghini #25 "My race went very well until the last few laps when I made a couple of mistakes which wasn’t good on my part. I didn’t really have any opportunities to pass because I was mainly out there on my own throughout the race away from the other cars. The new circuit is nice and the new corners are very good. It was a new experience which I enjoyed and I look forward to coming back to Silverstone." |
