FIA GT1 2011 - Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi

http://www.racedepartment.com - Aston Martin sealed a thrilling victory in the Championship Race at Abu Dhabi with the Hexis AMR No. 3 of Stef Dusseldorp and Clivio Piccione holding off a late charge by the JR Motorsport Nissan GT-R No.22 of Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook to take the chequered flag.

Third place went to the All-Inkl Munnich Motorsport Lamborghini No.38 of Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock, which also had to fight hard in the closing stages, with both the No. 4 Hexis Aston Martin of Christian Hohenadel and Andrea Piccini and the No. 8 Young Driver Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke finishing within two seconds on the road.

Victory belonged to Piccione and Dusseldorp however, with Hexis' superb pit stop the key as it allowed the team to jump from fifth into a healthy lead of around seven seconds. That proved just enough as Westbrook in the JRM Nissan GT-R was able to close to within four tenths in the final stages of the race, but couldn't quite do enough to find a way through.

Piccione acknowledged the role the stop had played, saying: "A big thank you to the team; they made this win possible with an amazing pit stop."

The win, which comes on Dusseldorp's GT1 debut, also puts the Dutchman and his teammate top of the 2011 standings, while Hexis sit top of the team classification.

The start of the race was notably less dramatic than its afternoon counterpart, although a storming start by Enrique Bernoldi in the No. 20 Nissan Sumo Power GT-R saw him jump from fourth to first.

The top five remained within two seconds of each other almost until the pit lane opened, but drama ensued as the lead No. 20 Sumo Power GT and the No. 41 Marc VDS Ford - which had been second - collided in the pit lane. The Nissan suffered damage and the Ford was later penalised, ending both cars' victory challenges.

That left the No. 3 Hexis Aston Martin and the No. 22 JMR Nissan in a shootout for the win, while behind them the No. 38 All-Inkl Lamborghini did will to hold onto third under heavy pressure from the second Hexis Aston Martin and a resurgent No. 8 Young Driver Aston Martin, which had started the race from the penultimate row of the grid.

Tomas Enge and Alex Muller were sixth in the No. 7 Young Driver AMR, ahead of the No. 5 Swiss Racing Lamborghini of Peter Kox and Karl Wendlinger.

Despite their penalty the No. 41 Marc VDS of Maxime Martin and Frederic Makowieski was Ford's highest finisher in eighth, while Mike Hezemans and Nicky Catsburg guided the Exim Bank team China Corvette to tenth.

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The pinnacle of sports car racing features 12 teams, 24 cars and 48 of the world's leading drivers will compete on 10 of the leading circuits on four continents. Overall, the new FIA GT1 World Championship is ground-breaking, truly global, prestigious, and technically innovative; ushering in a new era for sportscar racing.

Cars from six of the most renowned sportscar marques will battle for supremacy. The Aston Martin DB9, Corvette Z06, Ford GT, Lamborghini Murciélago RS-V, Maserati MC 12 and Nissan GT-R are all striving for top spot. Monitor how they perform in each race and the final championship rankings.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• fia
• gt1
• world
• championship
• 2011
• abu
• dhabi
• yas
• marina

[LarsHavelte]

Dusseldorf is NOT German. He's Dutch.

[RaceDepartment]

@LarsHavelte Oops :)

[RSspeedhunter]

Just saw the video,very don't like the fxxking Ford GT on the pit hit the GTR



[Cezar18Banan]

that ford driver driving like a total twat in the pits, what the hell

[tcpnet]

Thats some close combat action there.