FIA GT1, Interlagos – Championship Race Report
Title Race Still Alive As Local Boys Take The Honours
 
The large partisan Brazilian crowd went wild when Xandi Negrao took the chequered flag in the nr2 Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12 to win Round 9 of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship for himself and co-driver Enrique Bernoldi, who celebrated his first victory in the World Championship and his first GT win since Paul Ricard in 2009.  Second place went to Darren Turner and Tomas Enge in the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9. 

The nr7 Aston Martin led for the majority of the race but Negrao put Turner under immense pressure, forcing his way into the lead on lap 29.  Turner held on to claim their second top-three finish of the weekend, just ahead of the nr13 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Corvette of Alex Margaritis and Marc Hennerici.  Championship leaders Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels finished in 9th and now lead the title race by 28 points from Enge and Turner.  The nr5 Matech Ford GT finished out of the points despite a spirited fight up the field, ending the title aspirations of Thomas Mutsch.

It was Tomas Enge who held the lead from pole position as the 22 car grid thundered along the main straight into the first corner. 

Everyone made it around the Senna S, with Peter Dumbreck in the nr 23 Sumo Power Nissan holding onto the rear of the leading Aston Martin, while Clivio Piccione in the no10 Hexis Aston Martin was being pressurised by the nr2 Vitaphone Maserati of Enrique Bernoldi, with the Brazilian sweeping into third place on lap 2.
 
Starting from the back of the grid the nr5 Matech Ford of Richard Westbrook was on the move early on, moving up four places in the first three laps and a further three places by lap 9 in his attempt to get ahead of the nr1 Vitaphone Maserati of Andrea Bertolini; although the efforts of the English driver and his teammate were ultimately in vain; "Our weekend was ruined yesterday when (Frank) Kechele took off Thomas (Mutsch) and we had to start from the back of the grid. We overtook a lot of cars but our car wasn’t quite quick enough today so we couldn’t really fight for the positions where we wanted to be. 

"It was just too hot for us today. We struggled with engine and gearbox temperatures. It was the same for all the Fords. It’s a disappointing end to a very frustrating weekend.”

Bertolini was holding a points scoring position in 9th place, which became 10th when he was passed by the Triple H Team Hegersport Maserati of Daniel Serra.

As the pit window opened the leaders all came into the pits to hand over to their co-drivers.  Darren Turner retained Enge's lead but it was Xandi Negrao who emerged in second place as the nr23 Sumo Power Nissan of Michael Krumm dropped from second to fifth behind the Margaritis in the Phoenix Corvette and Hirschi in the Hexis Aston Martin.

Turner's rear mirrors were filled by the Vitaphone Maserati as Negrao tried every trick in the book to get past the leading Aston Martin.  On lap 29 Negrao saw Turner leave the door open in the twisty section of the Interlagos circuit and the Brazilian fans cheered as Negrao pushed the nose of the Maserati into the gap and barged his way past the Aston Martin. 

“I thought the move was fair,” admitted Turner. “I was struggling on the infield but we had a bit more speed on the main straight so I thought I had it under control. As the race went on I was making a few mistakes trying to deal with the tyres. It was a good move. I thought I had it closed down enough but he still found a way through. There was only a small amount of contact. It’s tight out there, if you are going to make a move there is probably going to be a little bit of contact. That sort of racing never bothers me. It’s still professional; it’s still done in a sporting way. It’s give and take out there and you just have to accept that you can’t have completely clean moves when the car performances are so similar places around the circuit.”

Both cars continued with the Maserati opening up a two second gap within the next three laps.  Darren Turner held a two second gap to the third placed Corvette and which the top three cars maintained as the clock counted down.
 
At the chequered flag it was Xandi Negrao who scored the first win for the nr2 Maserati in front of his home crowd; “I have no words to describe how I’m feeling. It was an amazing weekend.

"Since the day that Michael (Bartels) called me to do this race. I’m glad that after two years Michael remembered me! Today we had a good strategy saving the new tyres for the end.  Towards the end I saw that the Aston was struggling a bit more with the tyres than me so I was waiting for the time to go ahead. Unfortunately we don’t have the same engine as them so I had to overtake a bit too aggressively but sometimes you have to go for it. I’m glad we were able to help the team to maybe win the team championship and help Michael and Andrea to win again the championship of drivers.”

Second place was good enough to keep Darren Turner and Tomas Enge in the championship battle, but with an extra 30kg of success ballast to add to the 10kg the Aston Martin was carrying in Brazil, the pair admitted that their championship hopes were slim.  Vitaphone Racing hold a comfortable 47 point lead in the Team Championship over Reiter with a maximum of 58 points available in Argentina.

“We had a good race,” said Michael Bartels. “We just tried to make the best of what we could with 40kg of weight and do the best job we could in our performance window. Andrea and I drove well and we didn’t make any mistakes and we picked up points to help with our championship lead. To be honest we didn’t expect to win the (drivers) championship here. If it was a tennis match, I guess you could say we have two match points as we travel to San Luis. As for our Brazilian  team-mates, if I was making a movie I would make it so that the local hero Xandi Negrao makes the pass from second position to win the race near the end. We sent Xandi away for a couple of years and now we bring him back he shows us what he has learned! Their win helps us in the team championship. For the team, it was the sweetest victory and I like sweet things.”

The final round takes place this weekend at San Luis.

Current championship positions – here