All-Inkl Lamborghini Takes Point at end of Day One in Belgium

All-Inkl Lamborghini Takes Point at end of Day One in Belgium

The nr37 All-Inkl.com Muennich Motorsport Lamborghini of Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwäger ended the opening day of the first European round of the FIA GT1 World Championship as the fastest car on track at Zolder with Schwäger posting a time of 1:28.716s. The German was 0.277s faster the nearest rival which was JRM Nissan GT-R of fellow countrymen Lucas Luhr and Michael Krum. The two Young Driver Aston Martins were 3rd and 4th fastest and split by just four thousandths of a second with Tomas Enge getting the upper hand over Stefan Mücke. The next four cars were split by just 0.043s, with the nr22 JRM Nissan of Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook finishing in 5th fastest.

Earlier in the first session of the weekend Frederic Makowiecki and Maxime Martin continued where they left off in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago by setting the pace in Free Practice on the Marc VDS Racing Team's home track of Zolder. The Ford GT Matech, with Round 1 Qualifying Race winner Makowiecki at the wheel, set a session best time of 1:29.631 just before the chequered flag was shown, 0.448s ahead of the nr8 Young Driver Aston Martin DB9 of Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke. The Sumo Power Nissan GTR of Enrique Bernoldi and Ricardo Zonta was just two thousandths slower than the Aston Martin, with the JRM Nissan of Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook 0.554s behind the leading Ford GT.

Qualifying for Round 2 of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship will take place at 10:05 (CET) on Saturday 9^th April.

The FIA Stewards issued penalties of a drop of three grid places for the qualifying race for not slowing down under yellow flags to the following cars –

· Nr7 Young Driver Aston Martin DB9

· Nr23 JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R

· Nr11 Exim Bank Team China Corvette Z06

· Nr40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT

· Nr20 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R

· Nr38 All-Inkl.com Muennich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV

The nr 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT will also have to drop five grid places in the Championship Race due to changing the engine for the third time.

Vanina Ickx – nr9 Belgian Racing Ford GT Matech

"It's great to be back racing at Zolder, and it's great to be competing in GT1. I saw in Abu Dhabi just how much happens during the races, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of it tomorrow! It's a very different mind-set here in GT1 - it's a sprint race so it's 200% concentration, from the first lap to the last. It's new to me, and in a championship like this it can be difficult to adapt - especially as the class is so high and as everyone else is very used to their cars.”

Marc Hennerici – nr40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT Matech

“The morning had started really well for us, but suddenly we developed a lot of understeer in Pre Qualifying and that really hurts at Zolder, especially in the fast corners. I don’t know why the problem started but it looks mechanical, so hopefully we can find it and be back on the pace in Qualifying tomorrow.”

Mike Hezemans – nr11 Exim Bank Team China Corvette Z06

“It’s difficult to predict how tomorrow will go – we were ninth in Pre Qualifying, but breaking into the top eight is going to be very difficult. I hope we can do it but we will have to see how it goes. To be honest we are struggling a little bit, and I certainly expected a bit better. It’s difficult because the problem is under braking and Zolder is so heavy on the brakes, but we are a little bit off the pace. We simulated a run in Pre Qualifying and we had better consistency than in Abu Dhabi, so we’ve taken a step forward there – we just need to move forward with our outright pace as well.”

Info FIA GT1/Fotos AmigosRacing.