2010 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round

The 2010 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round was an auto race held at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on 16–17 April 2010. It served as the opening round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship season, and the inaugural race of the FIA GT1 World Championship series. It was the first sports car race designated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as a world championship event since the 500 km of Magny-Cours held on 18 October 1992. Swiss driver Romain Grosjean and German driver Thomas Mutsch won the championship race for Matech Competition Ford, ahead of the two Phoenix Racing Corvettes which completed the podium. The Phoenix Corvette of Marc Hennerici and Andreas Zuber had won the qualifying race held earlier that day. The UAE Touring Car Championship will serve as a support series for this event.[1]

Qualifying

Qualifying began under the flood lights of Yas Marina Circuit, the entire session being held late on 16 April. All 24 cars took to the track during the first 20-minute session, with Michael Krumm sitting on top of the field in the early minutes. Frédéric Makowiecki was able to take over the pole position from the Nissan, the first driver to set a lap in the 2:07 range, quickly followed by the Vitaphone Maserati of Enrique Bernoldi less than a tenth of a second behind. In the second half of the session Andreas Zuber was able to jump to the top in the Phoenix Corvette, beating Makowiecki's lap by just under a full second and the only driver to set a lap under 2:07.[2]

Toward the end of the session, Matech driver Natacha Gachnang suffered an accident on the back straight of Yas Marina, running off the end of the straight and impacting the safety barriers head-on. The session was stopped with just over two minutes remaining while safety crews attended to Gachnang, who was later airlifted from the circuit for medical attention and reported to have fractured her right leg.[3][4] A camera operator situated behind the safety barrier also sustained injuries when his television camera hit him in the face due to the impact.[5] The first session was delayed while Gachnang was attended to until it was announced approximately a half-hour later that repairs to the safety barriers could take up to three hours. The FIA race director then cancelled not only the remainder of the first session, but the entire second and third sessions as well. This awarded Zuber and his teammate Marc Hennerici pole position for the following day's qualifying race, while all other drivers remained in their positions due to the knock-out element of qualifying beind eliminated.[2][5]

Qualifying result

For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. However, due to the cancellation of Sessions 2 and 3 for this event, only the Driver 1 participated in this qualifying session.

Pos No. Driver 1 Team Session 1 Grid
Driver 2
1 13 Austria Andreas Zuber Germany Phoenix Racing / Carsport 2:06.780 1
Germany Marc Hennerici
2 9 France Frédéric Makowiecki France Hexis AMR 2:07.705 2
France Philippe Dumas
3 2 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Germany Vitaphone Racing Team 2:07.763 3
Portugal Miguel Ramos
4 11 Netherlands Xavier Maassen Belgium Mad-Croc Racing 2:08.049 4
Germany Alex Müller
5 1 Germany Michael Bartels Germany Vitaphone Racing Team 2:08.070 5
Italy Andrea Bertolini
6 12 Finland Mika Salo Belgium Mad-Croc Racing 2:08.078 6
Finland Pertti Kuismanen
7 24 Netherlands Peter Kox Germany Reiter 2:08.090 7
Germany Christopher Haase
8 7 United Kingdom Darren Turner Germany Young Driver AMR 2:08.143 8
Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
9 23 Germany Michael Krumm United Kingdom Sumo Power GT 2:08.287 9
United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck
10 40 Belgium Bas Leinders Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team 2:08.322 10
Belgium Maxime Martin
11 5 Germany Thomas Mutsch Switzerland Matech Competition 2:08.463 11
Switzerland Romain Grosjean
12 33 Greece Alexandros Margaritis Germany Triple H Team Hegersport 2:08.494 12
Germany Altfrid Heger
13 4 Japan Seiji Ara Switzerland Swiss Racing Team 2:08.610 13
Sweden Max Nilsson
14 3 Austria Karl Wendlinger Switzerland Swiss Racing Team 2:08.652 14
Switzerland Henri Moser
15 41 Finland Markus Palttala Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team 2:08.737 15
Belgium Renaud Kuppens
16 34 Italy Matteo Bobbi Germany Triple H Team Hegersport 2:08.787 16
Belgium Bert Longin
17 37 Germany Thomas Jäger Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 2:08.798 17
Germany Marc Basseng
18 10 Monaco Clivio Piccione France Hexis AMR 2:09.046 18
Switzerland Jonathan Hirschi
19 22 United Kingdom Warren Hughes United Kingdom Sumo Power GT 2:09.446 19
United Kingdom Jamie Campbell-Walter
20 8 Denmark Christoffer Nygaard Germany Young Driver AMR 2:09.629 20
Germany Stefan Mücke
21 6 Switzerland Natacha Gachnang Switzerland Matech Competition 2:09.964 21
Switzerland Cyndie Allemann
22 25 Brazil Ricardo Zonta Germany Reiter 2:10.261 22
Brazil Rafael Daniel
23 38 Netherlands Nicky Pastorelli Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 2:10.628 23
Germany Dominik Schwager
24 14 Netherlands Mike Hezemans Germany Phoenix Racing / Carsport 2:16.352 24
Italy Andrea Piccini

Races

Qualifying race

The first FIA GT1 World Championship race began in the afternoon, with pole sitter Marc Hennerici leading the field to the green flag from a rolling start. Entering the first left-hander Miguel Ramos in the No.2 Vitaphone Maserati attempted to secure second place but lost the rear of the car under braking and tapped the rear end of Hennerici's Corvette as the car spun across the course. While attempting to regain control, the rear of the Maserati was hit by the No.7 Aston Martin of Tomáš Enge, who ricocheted into the No.12 Mad-Croc Corvette of Pertti Kuismanen. All three cars would retire from the race due to the accident damage. Further into the first lap, the No.9 Hexis Aston Martin spun on his own, leaving driver Philippe Dumas at the tail of the field. These incidents forced the stewards to deploy the safety car as Hennerici lead the field ahead of the No.11 Mad-Croc Corvette of Alex Müller, the No.1 Vitaphone Maserati of Andrea Bertolini, the No.24 Reiter Lamborghini of Christopher Haase, and the No.5 Matech Ford of Romain Grosjean, who gained nine positions on the opening lap.

After two laps under the safety car, the race was restarted and Hennerici continued as the race leader. Grosjean began to climb his way through the field, passing Kox's Lamborghini on Lap 5, then Piccini's Maserati two laps later, then was able to take second place from Müller's Corvette before the end of Lap 8. The pit window opened on Lap 10, with Hennerici forfeiting the lead to Grosjean to take the first opportunity to pit and change to driver Andreas Zuber. Three laps later both the Matech Ford and Mad-Croc Corvette came in for their pit stops, but the Corvette had a slower pit stop and fell to seventh place. After the ten-minute pit window closed, Thomas Mutsch took over the second-place Matech Ford while Michael Bartels held third in the Vitaphone Maserati. Neither driver was able to ctach the leading Corvette of Zuber, while Xavier Maassen in the No.11 Mad-Croc Corvette was able to climb back to fourth position before the car's engine failed three laps from the finish. Zuber eventually took the race win by just over two seconds ahead of Mutsch after having led by as much as ten seconds earlier in the race. Bartels completed the podium and final points earning position for the qualifying race.

Race result

Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired
1 13 Germany Phoenix Racing / Carsport Germany Marc Hennerici
Austria Andreas Zuber
Corvette 26
2 5 Switzerland Matech Competition Germany Thomas Mutsch
Switzerland Romain Grosjean
Ford 26 −2.273
3 1 Germany Vitaphone Racing Team Germany Michael Bartels
Italy Andrea Bertolini
Maserati 26 −4.308
4 8 Germany Young Driver AMR Germany Stefan Mücke
Denmark Christoffer Nygaard
Aston Martin 26 −37.808
5 33 Germany Triple H Team Hegersport Germany Altfrid Heger
Greece Alexandros Margaritis
Maserati 26 −43.535
6 40 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Bas Leinders
Belgium Maxime Martin
Ford 26 −45.608
7 9 France Hexis AMR France Philippe Dumas
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Aston Martin 26 −54.118
8 10 France Hexis AMR Monaco Clivio Piccione
Switzerland Jonathan Hirschi
Aston Martin 26 −1:07.115
9 3 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Austria Karl Wendlinger
Switzerland Henri Moser
Nissan 26 −1:12.583
10 25 Germany Reiter Brazil Ricardo Zonta
Brazil Rafael Daniel
Lamborghini 26 −1:13.649
11 23 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck
Germany Michael Krumm
Nissan 26 −1:15.161
12 4 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Sweden Max Nilsson
Japan Seiji Ara
Nissan 26 −1:19.330
13 22 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT United Kingdom Warren Hughes
United Kingdom Jamie Campbell-Walter
Nissan 26 −1:27.725
14
DNF
11 Belgium Mad-Croc Racing Netherlands Xavier Maassen
Germany Alex Müller
Corvette 23 Engine
15
DNF
24 Germany Reiter Netherlands Peter Kox
Germany Christopher Haase
Lamborghini 20 Brakes
16 14 Germany Phoenix Racing / Carsport Netherlands Mike Hezemans
Italy Andrea Piccini
Corvette 20 −6 Laps
17
DNF
38 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Netherlands Nicky Pastorelli
Germany Dominik Schwager
Lamborghini 17 Retired
18
DNF
37 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Germany Marc Basseng
Germany Thomas Jäger
Lamborghini 12 Retired
19
DNF
41 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Renaud Kuppens
Finland Markus Palttala
Ford 2 Clutch
20
DNF
2 Germany Vitaphone Racing Team Portugal Miguel Ramos
Brazil Enrique Bernoldi
Maserati 1 Collision
21
DNF
7 Germany Young Driver AMR Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
United Kingdom Darren Turner
Aston Martin 1 Collision
22
DNF
12 Belgium Mad-Croc Racing Finland Pertti Kuismanen
Finland Mika Salo
Corvette 0 Collision
DNS 34 Germany Triple H Team Hegersport Belgium Bert Longin
Italy Matteo Bobbi
Maserati 0 Did Not Start
DNS 6 Switzerland Matech Competition Switzerland Natacha Gachnang
Switzerland Cyndie Allemann
Ford 0 Did Not Start

Championship race

Race result

Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired
1 5 Switzerland Matech Competition Germany Thomas Mutsch
Switzerland Romain Grosjean
Ford 28
2 13 Germany Phoenix Racing / Carsport Germany Marc Hennerici
Austria Andreas Zuber
Corvette 28 −23.061
3 14 Germany Phoenix Racing / Carsport Netherlands Mike Hezemans
Italy Andrea Piccini
Corvette 28 −26.485
4 1 Germany Vitaphone Racing Team Germany Michael Bartels
Italy Andrea Bertolini
Maserati 28 −34.075
5 25 Germany Reiter Brazil Ricardo Zonta
Brazil Rafael Daniel
Lamborghini 28 −49.496
6 2 Germany Vitaphone Racing Team Portugal Miguel Ramos
Brazil Enrique Bernoldi
Maserati 28 −53.059
7 34 Germany Triple H Team Hegersport Belgium Bert Longin
Italy Matteo Bobbi
Maserati 28 −1:00.565
8 24 Germany Reiter Netherlands Peter Kox
Germany Christopher Haase
Lamborghini 28 −1:12.694
9 33 Germany Triple H Team Hegersport Germany Altfrid Heger
Greece Alexandros Margaritis
Maserati 28 −1:24.473
10 11 Belgium Mad-Croc Racing Netherlands Xavier Maassen
Germany Alex Müller
Corvette 28 −1:26.254
11 7 Germany Young Driver AMR Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
United Kingdom Darren Turner
Aston Martin 28 −1:26.848
12 22 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT United Kingdom Warren Hughes
United Kingdom Jamie Campbell-Walter
Nissan 28 −1:28.174
13 40 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Bas Leinders
Belgium Maxime Martin
Ford 28 −1:37.634
14 3 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Austria Karl Wendlinger
Switzerland Henri Moser
Nissan 28 −1:59.534
15 12 Belgium Mad-Croc Racing Finland Pertti Kuismanen
Finland Mika Salo
Corvette 28 −2:01.150
16 23 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck
Germany Michael Krumm
Nissan 27 −1 Lap
17 37 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Germany Marc Basseng
Germany Thomas Jäger
Lamborghini 24 −4 Laps
18
DNF
10 France Hexis AMR Monaco Clivio Piccione
Switzerland Jonathan Hirschi
Aston Martin 22 Puncture
19
DNF
9 France Hexis AMR France Philippe Dumas
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Aston Martin 15 Retired
20
DNF
38 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Netherlands Nicky Pastorelli
Germany Dominik Schwager
Lamborghini 12 Retired
21
DNF
4 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Sweden Max Nilsson
Japan Seiji Ara
Nissan 1 Collision
22
DNF
8 Germany Young Driver AMR Germany Stefan Mücke
Denmark Christoffer Nygaard
Aston Martin 0 Collision
DNS 41 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Renaud Kuppens
Finland Markus Palttala
Ford 0 Did Not Start
DNS 6 Switzerland Matech Competition Switzerland Natacha Gachnang
Switzerland Cyndie Allemann
Ford 0 Did Not Start

References

  1. "Battle lines drawn for Abu Dhabi". FIA GT1 World Championship. SRO Group. 2010-04-10. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  2. 1 2 Gary Watkins (2010-04-16). "Zuber on GT1 pole as session stopped". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-16.
  3. Gary Watkins (2010-04-16). "Gachnang crash halts GT1 qualifying". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-16.
  4. Gary Watkins (2010-04-16). "No surgery required for Gachnang". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
  5. 1 2 "Zuber on pole in incident-packed Qualifying". FIA GT1 World Championship. SRO Group. 2010-04-16. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-17.

External links

FIA GT1 World Championship
Previous race:
None
2010 season Next race:
RAC Tourist Trophy
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