FIA GT1, Interlagos - Preview
Another Crown For Bartels & Bertolini In Brazil?

The FIA GT1 World Championship travels to South America for the final two rounds of the inaugural season of the FIA’s newest World Championship with the Drivers’ title possibly being decided during the first weekend at Interlagos in Brazil. While this is the first visit to Brazil for the FIA GT1 World Championship, many of the teams and drivers have raced in other championships at Interlagos, including in 2006 for the Mil Milhas, which was organised by Antonio Hermann of SRO Latin America and won by current GT1 driver and former FIA GT Champion Christophe Bouchut, with Brazilian star drivers, Nelson Piquet, Nelson Piquet Jnr and Helio Castroneves, in an Aston Martin.

A win in Round 7 in Portugal extended the lead of Vitaphone Racing’s Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels in the Driver’s Championship and, despite a disappointing weekend in Round 8 at Navarra, their lead was further extended when their nearest rival, Thomas Mutsch, failed to score any points in Spain.  The reigning FIA GT Champions are currently 35-points ahead of the rest of the field and as long as they still have a 33-point advantage at the end of the Championship Race in Brazil, they will be crowned as the inaugural FIA GT1 World Champions.

The last round at the Circuito de Navarra in Spain provided a great setting for the final European round of the 2010 season, with the Reiter Lamborghini pairing of Brazil’s Ricardo Zonta and Germany’s Frank Kechele dominating the proceedings by starting from Pole Position and taking wins in both the Qualifying and Championship Races.  Their efforts helped to close the gap in the Team Championship, with their Reiter team now just 18-points behind title leaders, the Vitaphone Racing Team.

In recent races the Reiter Lamborghinis have been providing a consistent podium challenge with Ricardo Zonta and Frank Kechele winning at Spa Francorchamps at the end of July and Peter Kox and Christopher Haase recording a hard-won second place at the Nürburgring.  The All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghinis have been just as competitive this season but a combination of bad luck and mechanical problems have left the team with fewer points than their performances have deserved and the team will be hoping for a change of fortune as the FIA GT1 World Championship heads to South America.

The Corvette Z06 is the only car of the six represented in the GT1 World Championship yet to win a Championship Race in 2010.  The Phoenix Racing / Carsport team have been close on several occasions, with Marc Hennerici and Andreas Zuber taking victory in the Qualifying Race in Round 1 in Abu Dhabi and third in the Championship Race in Germany and Portugal with Hennerici and Alexander Margaritis.  The Mad Croc Racing Corvette of Xavier Maassen and Jos Menten claimed Qualifying Race victory in Belgium and Pertti Kuismann is now partnered by former Dutch Touring Car Champion Duncan Huisman, who formed a successful duo in the Belgian GT Championship. The two Corvette teams will be looking to finally set the record straight by taking a win on Sunday as the season draws to a close.

While the nr1 Maserati MC12 of Bertolini and Bartels continues to move closer to the Drivers Title by consistently scoring points in every round, the nr2 car of Portugal’s Miguel Ramos and Brazil’s Enrique Bernoldi has been struggling to match their team mates. Strong performances in France and Belgium have underlined the pairing’s speed on track will hopefully bring them their first podium of the season this weekend.  The Triple H Team Hegersport Maserati cars have also been celebrating some strong performances with podium finishes in France and Belgium for Altfrid Heger with co-driver Alex Margaritis at Paul Ricard and Alex Müller at Spa-Francorchamps, while Alessandro Pier Guidi and Nico Verdonck finished second in the Qualifying Race in Navarra.

With two race victories in Abu Dhabi and the Czech Republic and podiums in Belgium and Portugal, to his credit, Thomas Mutsch is currently in second place in the Driver’s Championship in the Matech Competition Ford GT Matech. 

Since Round 5 in Belgium he has been paired with reigning FIA GT2 Champion Richard Westbrook.  The performance in Algarve would have netted them more points but for a poor qualifying performance that saw them start towards the back of the grid but the pairings fight for their second podium finish is certainly one of the highlights of the 2010 season.

 Spain saw a disappointing weekend for the nr5 Ford GT, with no points scored, and they will hope to return to the podium again in Brazil to keep Mutsch’s championship aspirations alive.  Portugal also saw a return to form for the Marc VDS run Ford GT, with Maxime Martin and Bas Leinders qualifying on the front row of the grid and finishing in 5th place in the Championship Race.  At Navarra the Martin and Leinders took a top 3 finish in the Qualifying Race but unfortunately failed to score in the main event of the weekend.

"Navarra was not that bad for us, even though the tire wear gave us some problems", said Leinders. "We've discovered a possible solution, which we will try during practice. But there are two other key factors that will play: the altitude of the Interlagos track and the long climb at the end of the lap. Both are not really an advantage for the power of our engine. I hope we can make up for the lost time of the last sector by using the excellent qualities of our Ford chassis on the other parts of the track. In San Luis as well, there is a long climb, but there the difficult part are the twisty bits. Only a couple of inches next to the ideal driving line there will be a layer of dirt and rubber, which might cause a lot of precarious moments and even crashes. We will have to be very careful on the unique Argentinean track. I think we should perform better in Brazil that in Argentina, but both races will give us an excellent opportunity to create a surprise. Let's hope we can end the 2010 season on a high!"

The Nissan GT-R has been one of the revelations of the new FIA GT1 World Championship.  The Sumo Power GT team have recorded a race win at their home circuit at Silverstone, with Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter claiming the world famous Tourist Trophy. This was followed by two podium finishes for the sister car of Michael Krumm and Peter Dumbreck in the Czech Republic and France and a strong performance by both cars in Portugal, including a win in the Qualifying Race for Krumm and Dumbreck.  Hughes and Campbell-Walter had a excellent weekend in Spain, taking third place and 15 Championship points in the main event. 

“Interlagos should suit us, with its fast, flowing corners and the big uphill straight,” said Dumbreck. “There are a couple of slow corners that won’t be good for the Nissan GT-Rs but I think we will be in a much more competitive situation than we were in at Navarra. The really important thing for us is to get it all together for qualifying. We have to qualify well so we can avoid the mid-pack danger zone at the start of the race. We got that right at the Portimao round and came out of the weekend without a scratch on the car. If we can get that right at Interlagos then we should be looking at some good results. We retired ay Navarra so we’re in a good position in terms of tyres too.”

The Swiss Racing Team have not matched the performances of the British team but have been steadily improving race by race and with two rounds of the season remaining will be looking to score well in Brazil; "I have never raced at Interlagos but as the track is very famous as it’s the home of the Brazilian Grand Prix, I am really excited about racing there,” said Seiji Ara. “It looks like a high-speed race track which I believe will suit the Nissan GT-R well. Our tactics are simple: we will just push very hard in qualifying to get a better starting position by optimising the performance of the Nissan GT-R, and then race consistently to grab championship points."

The Aston Martin DB9 has had a turbulent season with strong performances at some tracks and then falling back at others.  The Young Driver AMR pairing of Tomas Enge and Darren Turner have enjoyed the view from the top step of the podium in Germany and recorded a podium finish at Enge’s home race at Brno in May. A strong performance in Spain netted the pairing a 4th place; “We prepared a lot in the simulator for the last two races, so we know what to expect when we will hit the track for the first time. I haven’t raced on either of the two tracks yet, so I’m really looking forward to the experience. Interlagos seams to be one of those great Grand-Prix-circuits, a type of track on which we already have been successful this season. San Luis is the last race of the season, we have to be strong there, because that race will decide where it puts us in the championship.”

Team-mates Christoffer Nygaard and Stefan Mücke have recorded two 5th place finishes, but an accident in Free Practice in Spain damaged the car beyond repair, leaving Nygaard and Mücke on the sidelines for the rest of the weekend.  Frederic Makowiecki recorded a podium finish for the Hexis AMR Aston Martin at Silverstone in May the day after taking victory in the Qualifying Race with Thomas Accary.  Makowiecki has been partnered with Yann Clairay since Round 6 in Germany and in Spain they finally stepped onto the podium with a fine 2nd place.  Clivio Piccione and Jonathan Hirschi have two 4th place finishes to their credit in the nr10 Hexis Aston Martin.

Weekend Schedule (All times local - UK +2hrs, CET +3hrs)

Friday
10:55-12:15 Free Practice
15:30-16:50 Pre-Qualifying

Saturday
09:00-10:00 Qualifying
14:30-15:30 Qualifying Race

Sunday
09:20-09:50 Warm-Up
15:00-16:00 Championship Race