Round 10 – San Luis, Argentina
CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
06 November 2011
Double for Corvette as Hexis Secures Teams’ World Title
| # | Car | Drivers | Car | Time | Laps | Gap |
| 1 | 11 | Francesco Pastorelli / Yelmer Buurman | Corvette Z06 | 1:02:00.695 | 22 | |
| 2 | 47 | Manuel Lauck / Christopher Haase | Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-S | 1:02:04.738 | 22 | 4.043 |
| 3 | 3 | Clivio Piccione / Stef Dusseldorp | Aston Martin DB9 | 1:02:13.919 | 22 | 13.224 |
| 4 | 20 | Enrique Bernoldi / Nicky Catsburg | Nissan GT-R | 1:02:21.884 | 22 | 21.189 |
| 5 | 4 | Christian Hohenadel / Andrea Piccini | Aston Martin DB9 | 1:02:25.481 | 22 | 24.786 |
| 6 | 10 | Markus Palttala / Antoine Leclerc | Ford GT Matech | 1:02:29.938 | 22 | 29.243 |
Francesco Pastorelli and Yelmer Buurman in the Exim Bank Team China Corvette No.11 completed the double by winning the Championship Race in an incident-filled finale to the 2011 season in San Luis. The victory for the GT1 debutants was the second of the weekend after taking the honours in the Qualifying Race the previous day.
Second was the nr47 DKR www-discount.de Lamborghini of Manuel Lauck and Christopher Haase and third were Clivio Piccione and Stef Dusseldorp in the nr3 Hexis Aston Martin.
The 15 points for the French squad enabled them to secure the 2011 teams' championship with 235 points in a tense battle which went to the wire. Second overall was the JRM Nissan team on 232 points and third was Young Driver Aston Martin on 231.
A six-car pile-up on the main straight soon after the lights went green claimed the nr23 JRM Nissan GT-R of the drivers' championship winners Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm.
Both All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghinis, the nr21 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R of David Brabham were also casualties.
The nr7 Young Driver Aston Martin of Alex Muller and the Sumo Power Nissan GT-R nr20 of Enrique Bernoldi were also involved but were able to continue.
The Aston actually led the race after the incident but was deemed to have overtaken under the Safety Car procedures and was handed a drive-through penalty.
Richard Westbrook and Peter Dumbreck in the nr22 JRM Nissan GT-R which had assumed the lead with 15 minutes remaining were given a similar penalty and finished eighth thus denying the Nissan squad of adding the teams' championship to the drivers' title won by Krumm and Luhr for second place in the Qualifying Race on Saturday.
In the final drivers' standings, Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke finished second (120 points) despite not making the start line due to extensive damage to the No.7 Young Driver Aston Martin in the Qualifying Race.
Third went to Christian Hohenadel and Andrea Piccini in the Hexis Aston Martin nr4 with 113 points.
Drivers’ Championship
| 1 | GT1 | Lucas Luhr |
| 137 |
| 1 | GT1 | Michael Krumm |
| 137 |
| 2 | GT1 | Stefan Mücke |
| 120 |
| 2 | GT1 | Darren Turner |
| 120 |
| 3 | GT1 | Christian Hohenadel |
| 111 |
| 3 | GT1 | Andrea Piccini |
| 111 |
| 4 | GT1 | Tomas Enge |
| 103 |
| 4 | GT1 | Alex Müller |
| 103 |
| 5 | GT1 | Marc Basseng |
| 102 |
| 5 | GT1 | Markus Winkelhock |
| 102 |
Teams’ Championship
| 1 | GT1 | Hexis AMR |
| 235 |
| 2 | GT1 | JR Motorsports |
| 232 |
| 3 | GT1 | Young Driver AMR |
| 231 |
| 4 | GT1 | All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport |
| 190 |
| 5 | GT1 | Sumo Power GT |
| 154 |
| 6 | GT1 | Marc VDS Racing Team |
| 132 |
| 7 | GT1 | Belgian Racing |
| 39 |
| 8 | GT1 | Swiss Racing Team |
| 32 |
CLICK HERE for the result of Round 10
CLICK HERE for the Race Facts
CLICK HERE for the Championship Positions
Francesco Pastorelli
nr11 Exim Bank Team Corvette Z06 (1st)
"I made a good start and then I saw a lot smoke in my mirrors from the accident. There was a long period of the Safety Car before I brought the car in for the stop. We had a small issue at the pit stop when one of the wheel nuts took a while to go on but in the end we are both happy with the job we did this weekend."
Yelmer Buurman
nr11 Exim Bank Team Corvette Z06 (1st)
"I am very happy, I didn't expect this, I was hoping for a top five finish because I know the level of drivers in this GT1 category is high. Just to come here, first time in GT1, new track, new car, new team and to win both races and also get the fastest lap is a good feeling. It's nice to be able to produce a great finish to the season for the team - they were fantastic. Hopefully I can come back next year."
Manuel Lauck
nr47 DKR www-discount.de Lamborghini (2nd)
"The start was quite good for us. I couldn't really see what happened with the crash. We were struggling on tyres so it was good for us to have the Safety Car time. In the end Christopher did a perfect job and the team worked really well all weekend. We got the car just 10 days before the China event so it's amazing for us to be on the podium."
Christopher Haase
nr47 DKR www-discount.de Lamborghini (2nd)
"It was a pleasure for me to come back into GT1 and to come back to San Luis a track I like very much. It is true that I know the car from last year but it has improved a lot. We also improved the car further during the weekend so I have to thank the team for their efforts. The mechanics and the engineers were great. I'm really happy with the result."
Clivio Piccione
nr3 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9 (3rd)
“I tried to keep my line at the start and avoid all the crashes happening in front of me. I went through all the smoke, I was lucky to go through without hitting anything and I found myself in 3rd position. OK that was a great start, then we had the long safety car and we had problems keeping the engine cool, but everything went well. I handed the car over to Stef and he had to finish the job. For the whole team this is a great moment, winning a world title is very special.”
Stef Dusseldorp
nr3 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9 (3rd)
“This is the best day of my life so far, being World Champions feels great. We started the year with victory in Abu Dhabi, then we had some problems but the team kept pushing. We been fighting with Young Driver and the Nissans but we did it today and that’s the most important thing.”
Lucas Luhr - 2011 FIA GT1 World Champion
nr23 JR Motorsports Nissan GT-R
“It’s been a great year this year, we’ve taken four wins, more than anyone else and that was the key to the championship. Some tracks really suits the Nissan GT-R and we always delivered a very good result and some tracks we struggled we still managed to get a decent result. I very happy and proud to be the GT1 World Champion and my thanks to Michael, it’s been a fantastic year.”
Darren Turner – 2nd Overall in the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship
Nr8 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9
“My congratulations go to Lucas and Michael on winning the championship, it is an incredibly hard championship to win and they kept everyone else on their toes all season. It’s been a difficult weekend after the problem on Friday and it’s very strange to be sat here in the press conference in a race suits when I haven’t turned a wheel for two days. At least we could go out and enjoy the local wine and have a nice, juicy steak. It’s been a great year, the team have done a great job and despite all the difficulties we are here in second place and underlines the tremendous effort by the whole team.”
Christian Hohenadel – 3rd Overall in the FIA GT1 World Championship
nr3 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9
"It has been a really hard season but a successful one. It was a big step for me moving up from GT3 to GT1. It is a different car and a different world, with tough competition all the way. I had a good teammate in Andrea (Piccini) and I learned a lot from him and to finish 3rd overall in the championship is very good. My thanks go to the team, Hexis have done a fantastic job all year and they deserve to become World Champions."
David Brabham
nr21 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R (DNF, accident)
"I was going down the left-hand side and the accident was happening on my right and I saw the Lamborghini (No.37) go sidewards then hit Lucas (Nissan nr23). Looking at the replay, it looked like (Enrique) Bernoldi (Nissan No.20) touched the Lambo and then obviously there was a big crash around me and unfortunately I had nowhere to go so I ended up in the middle of the whole thing. I'm just disappointed for everybody who was involved in that accident. To end the season like that is not good. But is is racing and it happens."
nr37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini (DNF, accident)
"I got a clean start, I was going OK and I was settling for third, I was beside the Nissan No.23 and then I felt the hit (from the Nissan nr20) and I just couldn't believe it. I spun into the No.23 and if you have that sort of incident at the front it's going to be a big mess. I feel sorry for everyone involved. It's a disappointing end to the race and not a nice end to the season. It's a real shame."
Jeff Carter
Media Delegate,
Photos: DPPI.
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