2011 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round

The 2011 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round was an auto racing event held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Taking place over 25–26 March 2011, Abu Dhabi was the opening round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season. It is the second consecutive year that FIA GT1 has opened its season in Abu Dhabi, although the 2011 event will be held on a shorter 4.730 km (2.939 mi) layout of the Yas Marina Circuit. Marc Hennerici is the only returning driver who won during the event last season, while Corvette and Ford both are defending victors. The event is also unique on the FIA GT1 calendar as it is the only one held over a two-day period rather than the normal three; Qualifying is held following Practice on Friday while the Qualifying Race and Championship race are both held on Saturday. The weekend is shared with a trio of local racing series: The UAE Sportscar series, the Cytech UAE GT series, and the Total UAE Touring Cars series.

Münnich Motorsport earned pole position in the qualifying session, only to be penalized for an infraction and handing pole to the Young Driver team of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner. Early incidents in the Qualifying Race led to Marc VDS Ford winning their first GT1 race with Maxime Martin and Frédéric Makowiecki driving. Marc VDS was unable to hold the lead after starting from pole in the Championship Race as a quick pit stop vaulted Stef Dusseldorp and Clivio Piccione's Hexis Aston Martin into the race lead, fending off the Nissan of JR Motorsports but less than half a second at the finish.

Background

Following the announcement of an entry list featuring twenty cars from ten teams for the full 2011 season, only eighteen were entered for Abu Dhabi. The two Corvette squads of Team China and DKR Engineering both entered only a single car due to each team lacking a second chassis. All eighteen cars participated in a pre-season test held at the circuit on 23 March, with the No. 37 Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini of Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwager setting the fastest lap of the day, followed by their second team car.[1]

Qualifying

Qualifying result

For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. The fastest lap for each session is indicated with bold.

Pos No. Driver 1 Team Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Grid
Driver 2
1 37 Netherlands Nicky Pastorelli Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:52.705 1:52.006 1:51.668 61
Germany Dominik Schwager
2 8 Germany Stefan Mücke Germany Young Driver AMR 1:52.521 1:52.183 1:52.113 1
United Kingdom Darren Turner
3 41 Belgium Maxime Martin Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team 1:52.820 1:52.603 1:52.197 2
France Frédéric Makowiecki
4 7 Germany Alex Müller Germany Young Driver AMR 1:53.107 1:52.010 1:52.547 3
Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
5 11 Netherlands Mike Hezemans China Exim Bank Team China 1:52.892 1:52.521 1:52.750 4
Netherlands Nicky Catsburg
6 22 United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck United Kingdom JR Motorsports 1:53.189 1:52.223 1:52.866 5
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
7 20 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi United Kingdom Sumo Power GT 1:52.909 1:52.631 1:53.191 7
Brazil Ricardo Zonta
8 23 Germany Lucas Luhr United Kingdom JR Motorsports 1:53.332 1:52.786 1:53.336 8
Germany Michael Krumm
9 21 Australia David Brabham United Kingdom Sumo Power GT 1:52.667 1:52.804 9
United Kingdom Jamie Campbell-Walter
10 5 Austria Karl Wendlinger Switzerland Swiss Racing Team 1:53.355 1:52.907 10
Netherlands Peter Kox
11 3 Monaco Clivio Piccione France Hexis AMR 1:53.037 1:52.914 11
Netherlands Stef Dusseldorp
12 40 Germany Marc Hennerici Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team 1:53.114 1:53.159 172
Belgium Bas Leinders
13 47 France Michaël Rossi Luxembourg DKR Engineering 1:53.830 1:55.549 12
Brazil Jaime Camara
14 38 Germany Markus Winkelhock Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:53.486 No Time 13
Germany Marc Basseng
15 4 Germany Christian Hohenadel France Hexis AMR 1:54.178 14
Italy Andrea Piccini
16 10 Czech Republic Martin Matzke Belgium Belgian Racing 1:54.274 15
Serbia Miloš Pavlović
17 9 France Antoine Leclerc Belgium Belgian Racing 1:54.564 16
France Fabien Giroix
18 6 Sweden Max Nilsson Switzerland Swiss Racing Team 1:54.570 18
Czech Republic Jiří Janák
  1. ^ The No. 37 Münnich Lamborghini was given a penalty of five grid spots for the Qualifying Race for ignoring a marshal's flag requiring the car to pits after illegally starting from an external battery during Qualifying 1.[2]
  2. ^ The No. 40 Marc VDS Ford was given a penalty of five grid spots for the Qualifying Race for changing an engine during practice.[3]

Races

Qualifying Race

Race result

Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired
1 41 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Maxime Martin
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Ford 31
2 22 United Kingdom JR Motorsports United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
Nissan 31 −1.476
3 23 United Kingdom JR Motorsports Germany Michael Krumm
Germany Lucas Luhr
Nissan 31 −18.069
4 20 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT Brazil Enrique Bernoldi
Brazil Ricardo Zonta
Nissan 31 −21.514
5 3 France Hexis AMR Monaco Clivio Piccione
Netherlands Stef Dusseldorp
Aston Martin 31 −22.460
6 38 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Germany Marc Basseng
Germany Markus Winkelhock
Lamborghini 31 −23.049
7 11 China Exim Bank Team China Netherlands Mike Hezemans
Netherlands Nicky Catsburg
Corvette 31 −37.828
8 21 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT Australia David Brabham
United Kingdom Jamie Campbell-Walter
Nissan 31 −43.637
9 4 France Hexis AMR Germany Christian Hohenadel
Italy Andrea Piccini
Aston Martin 31 −48.575
10 5 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Austria Karl Wendlinger
Netherlands Peter Kox
Lamborghini 31 −49.454
11 40 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Bas Leinders
Germany Marc Hennerici
Ford 31 −55.779
12 10 Belgium Belgian Racing Czech Republic Martin Matzke
Serbia Miloš Pavlović
Ford 31 −1:07.877
13 6 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Sweden Max Nilsson
Czech Republic Jiří Janák
Lamborghini 31 −1:08.866
14 9 Belgium Belgian Racing France Antoine Leclerc
France Fabien Giroix
Ford 31 −1:49.703
15
DNF
8 Germany Young Driver AMR United Kingdom Darren Turner
Germany Stefan Mücke
Aston Martin 15 Broken wheel
16
DNF
7 Germany Young Driver AMR Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
Germany Alex Müller
Aston Martin 1 Damage
17
DNF
37 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Netherlands Nicky Pastorelli
Germany Dominik Schwager
Lamborghini 0 Collision
18
DNF
47 Luxembourg DKR Engineering France Michaël Rossi
Brazil Jaime Camara
Corvette 0 Collision

Championship Race

Race result

Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired
1 3 France Hexis AMR Monaco Clivio Piccione
Netherlands Stef Dusseldorp
Aston Martin 31
2 22 United Kingdom JR Motorsports United Kingdom Peter Dumbreck
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
Nissan 31 −0.474
3 38 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Germany Marc Basseng
Germany Markus Winkelhock
Lamborghini 31 −14.539
4 4 France Hexis AMR Germany Christian Hohenadel
Italy Andrea Piccini
Aston Martin 31 −15.296
5 8 Germany Young Driver AMR United Kingdom Darren Turner
Germany Stefan Mücke
Aston Martin 31 −15.934
6 7 Germany Young Driver AMR Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
Germany Alex Müller
Aston Martin 31 −16.713
7 5 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Austria Karl Wendlinger
Netherlands Peter Kox
Lamborghini 31 −17.277
8 41 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Maxime Martin
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Ford 31 −22.053
9 21 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT Australia David Brabham
United Kingdom Jamie Campbell-Walter
Nissan 31 −32.952
10 11 China Exim Bank Team China Netherlands Mike Hezemans
Netherlands Nicky Catsburg
Corvette 31 −39.805
11 37 Germany All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Netherlands Nicky Pastorelli
Germany Dominik Schwager
Lamborghini 31 −46.478
12 10 Belgium Belgian Racing Czech Republic Martin Matzke
Serbia Miloš Pavlović
Ford 31 −1:23.319
13 47 Luxembourg DKR Engineering France Michaël Rossi
Brazil Jaime Camara
Corvette 31 −1:38.366
14 23 United Kingdom JR Motorsports Germany Michael Krumm
Germany Lucas Luhr
Nissan 30 −1 Lap
15
DNF
6 Switzerland Swiss Racing Team Sweden Max Nilsson
Czech Republic Jiří Janák
Lamborghini 24 Retired
16
DNF
20 United Kingdom Sumo Power GT Brazil Enrique Bernoldi
Brazil Ricardo Zonta
Nissan 20 Retired
17
DNF
9 Belgium Belgian Racing France Antoine Leclerc
France Fabien Giroix
Ford 16 Retired
DNS 40 Belgium Marc VDS Racing Team Belgium Bas Leinders
Germany Marc Hennerici
Ford Did Not Start

Standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

  1. ^ "All-Inkl Lamborghini tops Abu Dhabi test". FIA GT1 World Championship. SRO Group. 2011-03-23. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
  2. ^ Laurent Mercier (2011-03-26). "Abu Dhabi : Mücke/Turner (Aston Martin) héritent de la pole !". endurance-info.com (in French). Endurance-Info. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
  3. ^ "Stewards Decision no.8". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 2011-03-25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2011-03-26.


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