FIA GT1: Aston Martin triumphs in thrilling Silverstone opener

Aston Martin triumphed in the Qualifying Race at Silverstone, as Tomas Enge and Alex Muller handed the team its first win of 2011.

The pair had lain a close second when the pit stop window opened, but made the most of confusion for race leaders Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr in the No.23 JRM Nissan to snatch the lead at the halfway stage.

From there they never looked back, managing a comfortable gap until the final lap when they were able to ease off slightly and collect the chequered flag by just over one second.

They will now start tomorrow’s Championship Race – which carries with it the prestigious Tourist Trophy – from pole.

Krumm and Luhr in the No.23 Nissan finished second, ahead of the No.11 Exim Bank Team China Corvette of Mike Hezemans and Andreas Zuber.

Luhr had assumed the lead of the race before the first corner after making a fantastic start. There was confusion as to when he should stop however, and the delay of one lap proved costly as the team dropped to second after the pit window.

Zuber meanwhile enjoyed a lively opening in the No.11 Corvette, as he dropped to third at the start before spinning just before the pit lane opened – although he maintained position, allowing Hezemans to bring the car home in third.

There was drama on the opening lap as the No.21 Sumo Power Nissan made contact with the rear of the No.8 Young Driver Aston Martin in turn four, tipping it into a spin which also caught out the No.22 JRM Nissan and ruled all three cars out of the race.

The No.41 Marc VDS Ford was another first lap casualty, while its sister No.40 car retired late on to complete a difficult race for the Ford squad.

GT3 – Flag to Flag Victory for AF Corse Ferrari

Francesco Castellacci took the chequered flag at the end of Round 3 of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone to give former FIA GT2 Champions AF Corse their first FIA GT3 victory.  Federico Leo lead from the start from Pole Position and built up a comfortable lead before handing over to Castellacci, who brought the Ferrari 458 home.  Maxime Martin and Gael Lesoudier took their first FIA GT3 race win since they won at Silverstone in 2009 with Morgan.  This time, from 8th on the grid, they secured the first international podium finish for LMP Motorsport in the teams Aston Martin DBRS9, 3.5 seconds ahead of nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Mike Parisy and Philippe Giauque in third.  From 15th on the grid, Giauque and Parisy secured the final podium place after a successful last lap move on the nr6 Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 of Abdulaziz AL Faisal.

With a very clean start from the entire GT3 grid, Federico Leo managed to keep his pole position from the start, and spent the race building his lead. Leo built up a comfortable cushion to his nearest rival when he handed it over to his team mate, which allowed the team to factor in their 10 second success time from the last round.

Behind the leading AF Corse Ferrari, the battle for second place was hard, but fair with Markus Palttala in the nr13 Fischer Racing Ford GT holding onto a strong second until lap 10 when he suffered a right rear puncture, and had to head for the pits.

The fight for second continued between the nr25 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 of Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof and the nr6 Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 of Edward Sandstroem.  Sandstroem closed in on Lamborghini but couldn’t find a way past.  At the pit window the Swede decided to stay out as the Austrian pitted to hand over the Lamborghini to Albert von Thurn und Taxis.  Sandstroem pitted just before he pit window closed but his strategy didn’t pay off as Abdulaziz Al Faisel rejoined in 3rd place.

However the BMW Z4 was soon challenging the Lamborghini and for von Thurn und Taxis the going got tough. He held on to the place for a few laps but once the nr6 overtook him, the rest of the field caught up, pushing him slowly down to finish in 11th.

Further back Maxime Martin in the nr9 LMP Motorsport Aston Martin started his steady climb up from 6th place and by lap 22 he was challenging the second place BMW.  On lap 23 he overtook  Al Faisal for second, which he kept until the end.

Also moving rapidly up the field was the nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, driven by Mike Parisy.   The Mercedes-Benz had started in 15th by Philippe Giauque and the Swiss driver managed to climb up the field before the pit stop to hand over to Parisy.  The former French GT3 Champion continued to climb up the order and snatched the final podium place away from Al Faisal in the last lap.

Round 4 of the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship will take place at Silverstone at 11:45 (local) on Sunday 5^th June, with full coverage online at www.gt3europe.com