Round 1 – Championship Race
The first championship race of the FIA GT1 World Championship was won by Thomas Mutsch and Romain Grosjean in the nr5 Matech Competition Ford GT. Mutsch had to battle hard in the early part of the race to hold a slender lead over Andrea Bertolini in the Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12 but Grosjean, who celebrated his 24th birthday today, pulled away from the rest of the field to take the chequered flag over 20 seconds ahead of Qualifying Race winner Marc Hennerici in the nr13 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Corvette Z06. It was a double celebration for the Corvette team when Andrea Piccini took the final podium position after his partner Mike Hezemans started from the back of the grid. Earlier in the day the qualifying race was won by Marc Hennerici and Andreas Zuber.
Qualifying Race
Marc Hennerici and Andreas Zuber became the first points scorers in the FIA GT1 World Championship by taking the chequered flag from pole position in the qualifying race at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The nr13 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Corvette Z06 with Zuber at the wheel crossed the line 2.2 seconds ahead of the nr5 Matech Competition Ford GT of Thomas Mutsch after Romain Grosjean went from 11th on teh grid to 2nd before handing over to his German teammate. The Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12 of Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels a further two seconds up the road in third to round out the top three points scorers. During to an infringement of the sporting regulations Zuber and Hennerici were dropped 10 places and would the Championship Race start in 11th place promoting the Matech Competition Ford GT to the front of the grid.
Championship Race
From pole position Thomas Mutsch had to defend his position from the 2009 FIA GT Champion Andrea Bertolini while behind them Andreas Zuber was already moving up the grid finishing the opening seven places higher than his 11th grid spot. There were a few collisions in the midfield, with cars spinning and the nr8 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9 of Christopher Nygaard pulled off the track into retirement. The nr 4 Swiss Racing Team Nissan GT-R returned to the pits to also retire.
Meanwhile back at the front Mutsch and Bertolini were fighting for the lead with the Ford GT holding back the Maserati at almost every turn with the nr 25 Reiter Lamborghini of Ricardo Zonta coming under pressure from Zuber's Corvette, the Austrian sweeping into 3rd on lap 3. The leading two cars soon became three as Zuber latched onto the battle for the top spot and for the next five laps the top 3 were nose to tail at almost every turn.
The pit window opened on lap 12 and Mutsch was the first car in to hand over the car to Romain Grosjean just after Zuber had found a way around the nr1 Maserati to take the lead. Bertolini pulled into the pits on the next lap to hand over to Michael Bartels while Zuber continued to circulate around the Yas Marina circuit. The lead Corvette pitted on lap 14, handing over to Marc Hennerici, and emerged from the pit lane tunnel to see Romain Grosjean in the nr5 Matech Ford GT sweep past into the lead.
Meanwhile the Nr14 Corvette of Mike Hezemans was also moving up the order and after handing over to Andrea Piccini, the second yellow Corvette was in 4th place and closing rapidly on Bartels in the nr1 Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12. On lap 23 Piccini put the nose of the Corvette down the inside of the Maserati and moved into 3rd place under braking for Turn 8. At the front of the field Grosjean's Ford was pulling away from Hennerici's Corvette and in teh closing stages was a very comfortable 20 seconds in front while Piccini was closing the gap to his teammate.
However the chequered flag came out to end the first Championship Race in the FIA GT1 World Championship with Romain Grosjean celebrating his birthday in style. With a total of 31 points Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch hold a 5-point lead in the drivers championship over Andreas Zuber and Marc Hennerici. With 41 points from the weekend, Phoenix Racing / Carsport hold a ten-point lead over Matech Competition in the FIA GT1 World Team Championship.
Romain Grosjean
“The main function of the team going out was to have a clear track with new tyres for the second stint. We kept them for the second stint and I can tell you it is much harder to lead the race in the pit garage than in the car. Thomas did a fantastic job and knew exactly what he should do as well as the team and I think we are very happy to win the first championship race for GT1 World. We have to thank everybody and think a bit about Natacha and to give her a part of the win because yesterday she had a misadventure, shall we say, and is feeling okay.”
Thomas Mutsch
“Thanks to Andrea Bertolini who was very fair, I was trying a little bit at the end with my tyres as I think we were one of the only teams who started on used tyres that had already done more than over half an hour. But the team did an amazing job. They really worked so hard over the winter. I can tell you it was many times that they worked later than midnight, so I was also a long time there, but all the mechanics and engineers did an amazing job and really pushed really hard from the end of last season to build and develop a new car. Really, really congratulations to them because without them it would not happen.”
Qualifying Race – Provisional Result (top 6)Pos/ Car/ Class/ Drivers/ Car/ Time/ Laps/ Gap/ Avgspeed1 13 GT1 Zuber / Hennerici Corvette Z06 1:00:34.886 26 0 2672 5 GT1 Mutsch / Grosjean Ford GT Matech 1:00:37.159 26 2.273 2663 1 GT1 Bertolini / Bartels Maserati MC12 1:00:39.194 26 4.308 2574 8 GT1 Nygaard / Mücke Aston Martin DB9 1:01:12.694 26 37.808 2615 33 GT1 Margaritis / Heger Maserati MC12 1:01:18.421 26 43.535 2666 40 GT1 Leinders / Martin Ford GT Matech 1:01:20.494 26 45.608 264
Championship Race – Provisional ResultPos/ Car/ Class/ Drivers/ Car/ Time/ Laps/ Gap/ Avg speed1 5 GT1 Mutsch / Grosjean Ford GT Matech 1:01:14.892 28 0 2672 13 GT1 Zuber / Hennerici Corvette Z06 1:01:37.953 28 23.061 2673 14 GT1 Hezemans / Piccini Corvette Z06 1:01:41.377 28 26.485 2654 1 GT1 Bertolini / Bartels Maserati MC12 1:01:48.967 28 34.075 2615 25 GT1 Zonta / Daniel Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 1:02:04.388 28 49.496 2586 2 GT1 Bernoldi / Ramos Maserati MC12 1:02:07.951 28 53.059 2647 34 GT1 Bobbi / Longin Maserati MC12 1:02:15.457 28 1:00.565 2648 24 GT1 Kox / Haase Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 1:02:27.586 28 1:12.694 2629 33 GT1 Margaritis / Heger Maserati MC12 1:02:39.365 28 1:24.473 26610 11 GT1 Maassen / Mueller Corvette Z06 1:02:41.146 28 1:26.254 26211 7 GT1 Turner / Enge Aston Martin DB9 1:02:41.740 28 1:26.848 26412 22 GT1 Hughes / Campbell-Walter Nissan GT - R 1:02:43.066 28 1:28.174 26613 40 GT1 Leinders / Martin Ford GT Matech 1:02:52.526 28 1:37.634 26614 3 GT1 Wendlinger / Moser Nissan GT - R 1:03:14.426 28 1:59.534 26615 12 GT1 Salo / Kuismanen Corvette Z06 1:03:16.042 28 2:01.150 26116 23 GT1 Krumm / Dumbreck Nissan GT - R 1:01:55.644 27 40.752 26617 37 GT1 Jaeger / Basseng Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 58:41.320 24 2:33.572 25218 10 GT1 Piccione / Hirschi Aston Martin DB9 50:14.798 22 11:00.094 26419 9 GT1 Makowiecki / Dumas Aston Martin DB9 32:46.698 15 28:28.194 26620 38 GT1 Pastorelli / Schwager Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S 36:15.545 12 24:59.347 25221 4 GT1 Ara / Nilsson Nissan GT - R 2:51.027 1 58:23.865 244
