[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.

[Birddog07]

Wow, the race is this weekend. Always love Brno, this round should be no less exciting than past years. GT3 is going to be racing aswell, very exciting. They should let the two classes race together. GT3 is the new pro-am GT2 and GT2 is the new GT1, pro driver lineups and manufactuer teams. FIA and SRO need to realize that or else this new championship is set to fail.

[rich07]

Stephane Sarrazin joining Hexis alongside Fred Makowiecki for the next two races replacing Accary, I havent checked whether there are any clashes but it would be nice to see him in for the rest of the season. I love Brno, what a classic track, hopefully its the Lamborghinis time to shine . Speaking of which Jager fills in for Bouchut alongside Basseng again as The Sacred Monster will be at Laguna Seca.

[nasdriv87]

S. Sarrazin will be in one of Hexis cars #9 at Brno...

http://www.gt1world.com/news/article...zin-hexis-amr-

[Yakuncha]

Cant find the decision of Young Driver AMR's appeal from Silverstone, or Im not looking in the right place!

[Andy77]

Not sure where to post this
Loris Kessel , owner and driver of Kessel racing, passed away aged 60 on May 16th.

Read More

[tux1234]

This weekend David Croft from BBC Radio 5 Lives F1 coverage will be commentating at Brno.

[JayBMS]

Originally Posted by Yakuncha

Cant find the decision of Young Driver AMR's appeal from Silverstone, or Im not looking in the right place!

should be on the FIA website when its done, Appeal was yesterday so woe should hear soon

[Dauer 962]

Originally Posted by Yakuncha

Cant find the decision of Young Driver AMR's appeal from Silverstone, or Im not looking in the right place!

Decision is expected by Thursday.

[dank]

Originally Posted by tux1234

This weekend David Croft from BBC Radio 5 Lives F1 coverage will be commentating at Brno.

Does he have sports car commentating history?

[Yakuncha]

Balance of Performance summary

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

Sarrazin at Hexis, that should be a strong line up with Frederic Mako

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Yakuncha

Balance of Performance summary

man, those are a lot of adjustments again.

[pkollo]

Originally Posted by Dauer 962

Decision is expected by Thursday.

http://gt1world.com/news/article/nis...es-fia-appeal-

[Yakuncha]

Originally Posted by Dauer 962

Decision is expected by Thursday.

Appeal dismissed - Nissan keep trophy

http://www.gt1world.com/news/article...es-fia-appeal-

[cmk]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

Sarrazin at Hexis, that should be a strong line up with Frederic Mako

Indeed. I believe Sarrazin is one of the most naturally talented drivers competing in sportscars today and he already has extensive experience with the DBR9.

[helgi]

That BoP list reminds me 'War and Peace'. And where is the sport?

[tux1234]

You would moan if the same car won all the time, you moan if they try and stop this from happening. There is no making you happy.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by tux1234

You would moan if the same car won all the time, you moan if they try and stop this from happening. There is no making you happy.

Yes equivalency formulas are difficult to manage. I was under the thinking that they would control one team from winning all the time with the weight penalties for winning. Instead they have made adjustments after every round. but it is still a new series in its early stages, so it might just take a few tries to get it right.

[helgi]

As an engineer I can say that they will never get the only right formula to balance all the cars. I've never moaned if races are boring. Real racing can not be boring because it's an multifactor experiment. And only the best car with the best pilots should win. Not the one which was heavy ballasted at previous race.
Of course, if it's a show, then it can be boring. And I'll just turn off TV or stream without any moaning.

[Purist]

Shouldn't there have been practice/qualifying today?

This is one of the circuits that I am most glad is on the calendar because it is a great road course, but gets relatively little attention and is very definitely underrated in the wider motorsport arena.

[airbusA346]

Young Driver AMR have just put on Facebook:

"Race canceled due to horrific crash in the Lamboghini Trofeo Qualifier"

Tom.

[Victor_RO]

Any more details on that?

[dank]

Further update:

A terrible crash by Bartocci in car #22 in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Cup has cancelled all racing for now at Brno. Luckily a Aston Martin Racing technician took matters into his own hands as he pulled the driver out of the flaming car - Thankfully he just confirmed to Young Driver AMR Press that Bartocci had open eyes and looked around before he passed out in the hands of the paramedics. More to come:

[dank]

Oh, and Alex Yoong on Twitter:

Commentating on the Lamborghini cup. Just saw the worse accident i have ever seen. Car burst into flames after impact. Driver hopefully ok.