FIA GT1: Aston Martin Take Top 3 Places in Beijing Qualifying Race

Round 9 – Goldenport Park, Beijing, China Qualifying Race 10 September 2011 Aston Martin Take Top 3 Places in Beijing Qualifying Race Aston Martin romped to a podium clean sweep in a rain-soaked Qualifying Race in Beijing. The Nr7 Young Driver DB9 of Tomas Enge and Alex Muller took the race victory at Goldenport circuit from their stablemates Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke in the Nr8. Third was the Hexis AMR Nr4 of Andrea Piccini and Christian Hohenadel from 10th position. The race finished under the safety car after local boy Ho-Pin Tung spun off at T8 and beached the Exim Bank Team China Nr11 Corvette with eight minutes remaining. The car was towed from the scene as the clocked ticked down to the chequered flag. The Nr23 Nissan JRM GT-R of Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm finished fourth to add three points to their advantage over their closest rivals in the drivers' championship Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock. The All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport pair had been running strongly in second place behind the Nr7 Aston until a drive-through penalty for a pit lane infringement. The time lost in the pit lane dropped them down to 12th place and out of the points. The Nissan duo now have 116 points to the Lamborghini pair's 101. Hohenadel and Piccini are third on 100. It was an impressive all-round display from Aston Martin with all four cars finishing in the top five. The final point went to the Nr9 Belgian Racing Ford GT of Christoffer Nygaard and Jonathan Hirschi. The pole-sitter, the Nr41 Marc VDS Ford GT of Bertrand Baguette and Maxime Martin was first to visit the famed Goldenport gravel at T7 after just five laps. The safety car, a common sight over the past two days, was deployed while the car was towed out and Baguette brought it back to the pits and into retirement. In the teams' standings, Hexis AMR (190) gained ground on leaders JRM (193) while Young Driver (181) moved to within a point of third-placed All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport (182). The Championship Race starts at 15:45 local time (07:45 CET). # Car Drivers Car Time Laps Gap 1 7 Tomas Enge / Alex Müller Aston Martin DB9 1:01:41.408 46 2 8 Stefan Mücke / Darren Turner Aston Martin DB9 1:01:42.497 46 1.089 3 4 Christian Hohenadel / Andrea Piccini Aston Martin DB9 1:01:43.081 46 1.673 4 23 Lucas Luhr / Michael Krumm Nissan GT-R 1:01:43.585 46 2.177 5 3 Stef Dusseldorp / Clivio Piccione Aston Martin DB9 1:01:44.267 46 2.859 6 9 Jonathan Hirschi / Christoffer Nygaard Ford GT Matech 1:01:44.574 46 3.166 CLICK HERE for the Provisional Result from the Qualifying Race CLICK HERE for the Race Facts from the Qualifying Race Jeff Carter/Media Delegate. Photo: DPPI