[FIA GT] '10 GT1 WC Round 3 • Brno • May 21st-23rd

[Yakuncha]

Preview from Planetlemans

Eastern European race fans will have the chance to witness the raw power of the newest World Championship as the teams and drivers compete in Round 3 of the FIA GT1 World Championship at the Automotodrom Brno on 22/23 May. While this is the first visit by GT1 World, 2010 will mark the tenth occasion that FIA GT cars have raced at the Czech circuit. The FIA GT Championship last visited Brno in 2008, when Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp took the win in an Aston Martin DB9 ahead of four Corvettes, headed by Mike Hezemans and Fabrizio Gollin.

For 2010 local interest will centre on Tomas Enge, who is racing with Darren Turner for the Young Driver AMR team, with Stefan Rosina joining Mike Hezemans in the nr 14 Phoenix Carsport Corvette for his home race and Slovak driver Jan Danis joining Frank Kechele in the nr 25 Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago.
So far, the inaugural season had shown great variety and close competition with different cars and drivers coming out on top in Abu Dhabi and Great Britain. In the opening round at Yas Marina the weekend belonged to the Match Competition Ford GT of Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch, taking second place in the qualifying race before dominating the main event, finishing ahead of the two Phoenix Racing Corvettes of Andreas Zuber/ Marc Hennerici, who had won the earlier qualifying race, and Mike Hezemans/ Andrea Piccini.

Just two weeks later the tables were turned, with the Aston Martin teams proving to be the dominant force on the reprofiled Silverstone Grand Prix track. The Aston Martin DB9 of Frederic Makowiecki and Thomas Accary headed a Hexis AMR 1-2 in the qualifying race, with the Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12 of reigning FIA GT Champions Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini in third. However in the main event it was the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Tomas Enge which pushed through to take the chequered flag ahead of the Makowiecki and Accary and lift the Tourist Trophy on the podium. However their joy was short lived as the Young Driver Aston Martin was excluded from the results when the friction block of the flat bottom of the car was found not to be in accordance with the 25mm minimum thickness. The second placed Aston Martin was also handed a 15-second penalty for not serving a drive-through penalty within the required three laps and so the third placed Sumo Power Nissan GT-R of Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter was presented with the 25 championship points, ahead of Makowiecki and Accary, with the Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago of Jos Menten and Frank Kechele being classified in third. The Young Driver AMR team have appealed the decision to the FIA and the result remains provisional until the FIA Court of Appeal hearing on Tuesday 18 May in Paris.

Whatever the outcome of the appeal the FIA GT1 World Championship has already proven in just two events that, with four different winners in four races, the battle to become the first ever GT1 World Champion is unlikely to be decided until the final races in South America in November.