2011 FIA GT3 European : BMW and Audi win season opener at Algarve

2011 FIA GT3 European - Race 2 Winners : Enzo Ide/Greg Franchi - Audi R8 LMS

ALGARVE, Portugal : May 7-8, 2011 - BMW ruled the roost with 1-2-3 in race 1 and Audi takes advantage of safety car period to score first win in race 2.

2011 FIA GT3 European - Race 1 Winners : Edward Sandström/Abdulaziz Al Faisal - BMW Z4 GT3

Race 1
It was a BMW podium lockout for the opening race of the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal with Edward Sandtroem and Abdulaziz Al Faisal taking the chequered flag in the Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4. While this is Sandstroem's second FIA GT3 victory, adding this to his first winners trophy in round 11 at Zolder last year, it means Abdulaziz Al Faisal becomes the first Saudi Arabian driver to win an FIA GT3 race. It was double joy for Team Schubert when the nr7 BMW Z4 of Csaba Walter and Caludia Huertgen was promoted into second place when the nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Philippe Giaque and Mike Parisy was penalised after taking the chequered flag for not taking a stop and go penalty for a pitstop infringement.

2011 FIA GT3 European - Race 1 podium

On their FIA GT3 debut the nr35 Faster Racing by DB Motorsport BMW Z4 of Jeroen Den Boer and Hoevert Vos found themselves on the third step of the podium and it was smiles all round for the Dutch team.

2011 FIA GT3 European - Race 2 podium

Race 2
Enzo Ide took the chequered flag in the Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 LMS to score a surprise win from 14th on the grid in Round 2 of the FIA GT3 European Championship. The Safety Car was deployed for an accident and Ide's co-driver Greg Franchi was able to dive into the pits a lap earlier than most of the grid as the pitlane opened just as he passed the pit entrance. This catapulted Ide to the front of the field, a position he held until the chequered flag, despite some intense pressure from Francesco Castellacci in nr50 AF Corse Ferrari 458. Castellacci, and co-driver Federico Leo were able to take their first podium place after the car was repaired overnight after the crash in qualifying. Third place went to the Heico Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Brice Bosi and Dominik Baumann when Baumann overtook Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof in the Reiter Lamborghini twos lap from home.

With the nr20 MTECH Ferrari 458 of Luca Pirri and Paul Rees and the nr36 DB Motorsport BMW Z4 of Harrie Kolen and Nicky Catsburg the only cars absent from the grid due to damage sustained earlier in the weekend, 26 cars lined up to take the start with the nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Mike Parisy on pole position. At the start the nr9 Team LMP Aston Martin of Maxime Martin made up one place from 4th by passing the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari of Federico Leo. The nr 25 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo of Albert von Thurn und Taxis was another car that fell back on the first lap from 5th to 13th after a spin.

Parisy led the way from the nr21 MTECH Ferrari 458 of Matt Griffin, who was closely followed by Martin in the Team LMP Aston. The 4th placed car of Tomas Kostka, the nr11 Gravity-Charouz Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS landed in the gravel at T9, promoting the nr44 Heico Motorsport Mercedes of Brice Bosi to 4th, which was closely followed by Leo in the AF Corse Ferrari.

On lap 12, Round 1 winner Abdulaziz Al Faisel was making up some places from 18th on the grid and was challenging the nr4 Graff Racing Mercedes of Gary Hirsch. Hirsch overtook the struggling nr 13 Fischer Racing Ford GT of Markus Palttala in T1 and Al Faisel tried to overtake the Ford into T4. Al Faisel and Hirsch collided, with both cars damaged beyond recovery. The safety car was deployed to recover the stricken cars. The FIA Stewards penalised Al Faisel after the race for the incident and will have to take a five grid position drop at the next event.

With the Safety Car on track the field lined up behind. As the train passed the pit entrance the Pitlane Window opened and, in a move that changed the race completely, Reiter Engineering and Belgian Racing Club called von Thurn und Taxis and Greg Franci in for their mandatory stops as they passed the entrance to the pitlane while the rest of the field continued to circulate behind the Safety Car. At the end of the next lap all but one car came into the pits and rejoined behind the nr33 Audi, now with Enzo Ide behind the wheel and the nr25 Reiter Lamborghini of Nikolaus Meyr-Melnhof.

THe race resumed on lap 18 with Meyr-Melnhof coming under pressure from Dominik Baumann in the nr44 Heico Mercedes, who in turn was being caught by Francesco Castellacci in the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari. Castellacci moved ahead of the Mercedes on lap 22 and then two laps later passed the Lamborghini for 2nd at the first corner. Castellacci then set off after the leading Audi and within two laps was less than a second behind. The Reiter Lamborghini was also under pressure from the Heico Mercedes and two laps from home Baumann overtook Meyr-Melnhof to secure the final podium slot.

At the front Enzo Ide soaked up the pressure and defended his lead at every turn from the attentions of Castellacci's Ferrari. The Belgian driver took the chequered flag to take his first international race win in only his second full season of racing.

After finishing second in Round 1, ten championship points for 5th place was enough to give Csaba Walter and Claudia Huertgen a one point Championship lead over Enzo Ide and Greg Franchi and the Need for Speed Team Schubert a healthy lead in the Team Championship. The next event is at Silverstone in the UK on 4th/5th June.

Race result : 2011 FIA GT3 European : Round 1, 2 at Algarve, Portugal

Race 1 Result
Pos	Car	Class	Drivers	Car	Time	Laps	Gap	Avg speed
1	6	GT3	Edward Sandström/Abdulaziz Al Faisal	BMW Z4 GT3	1:00:09.741	32
2	7	GT3	Csaba Walter/Claudia HÃ¼rtgen	BMW Z4 GT3	1:00:26.668	32	16.927
3	35	GT3	Hoevert Vos/Jeroen den Boer	BMW Z4 GT3	1:00:44.720	32	34.979
4	3	GT3	Philippe Giaque/Mike Parisy	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:00:46.982	32	37.241
5	45	GT3	Filip Sladecka/Patrick Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:00:52.607	32	42.866
6	4	GT3	Joakim Lambotte/Gary Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:00:55.178	32	45.437
7	14	GT3	Mikko Eskelinen/Christoffer Nygaard	Ford GT	1:01:01.314	32	51.573
8	51	GT3	Daniel Brown/Glynn Geddie	Ferrari 458 Italia	1:01:03.481	32	53.740
9	33	GT3	Enzo Ide/Greg Franchi	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:14.601	32	1:04.860
10	23	GT3	Zakary Brown/Matthew Bell	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:26.824	32	1:17.083
11	15	GT3	Jerome Demay/Dino Lunardi	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:31.059	32	1:21.318
12	1	GT3	Paul van Splunteren/Maxime Soulet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1:01:33.575	32	1:23.834
13	21	GT3	Duncan Cameron/Matthew Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia	1:01:35.659	32	1:25.918
14	13	GT3	Paulo Bonifacio/Markus Palttala	Ford GT	1:01:52.727	32	1:42.986
15	8	GT3	Bernard Delhez/Dimitri Enjalbert	Aston Martin DBRS 9	1:01:58.056	32	1:48.315
16	2	GT3	Petri Lappalainen/Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1:00:15.993	31	6.252	1
17	12	GT3	Jan Stovicek/Jakub Knoll	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:01:02.896	31	53.155	1
18	16	GT3	Pierre Hirschi/Gregory Guilvert	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:28.162	30	1:18.421	2
19	43	GT3	Roger Green/Paulo Pinheiro	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	51:48.127	25	8:21.614	7
20	9	GT3	Gael Lesoudier/Maxime Martin	Aston Martin DBRS 9	43:21.336	22	16:48.405	10
21	11	GT3	Leonid Machitski/Tomas Kostka	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	32:17.257	14	27:52.484	18
22	32	GT3	David Hallyday/Didier Andre	Audi R8 LMS	43:55.815	6	16:13.926	26
23	25	GT3	Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof/Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Lamborghini Gallardo LP600	10:17.795	5	49:51.946	27
24	44	GT3	Dominik Baumann/Brice Bosi	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	3:44.677	2	56:25.064	30
25	20	GT3	Paul Rees/Luca Pirri	Ferrari 458 Italia	2:01.547	1	58:08.194	31
26	22	GT3	Mark Patterson/Joseph Osborne	Audi R8 LMS	2:53.182	1	57:16.559	31

Weather : Sunny / Track Condition : Dry

Race 2 Result
Pos	Car	Class	Drivers	Car	Time	Laps	Gap	Avg speed
1	33	GT3	Enzo Ide/Greg Franchi	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:02.610	31
2	50	GT3	Francesco Castellacci/Federico Leo	Ferrari 458 Italia	1:01:03.301	31	0.691
3	44	GT3	Dominik Baumann/Brice Bosi	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:01:13.995	31	11.385
4	25	GT3	Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof/Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Lamborghini Gallardo LP600	1:01:17.200	31	14.590
5	7	GT3	Csaba Walter/Claudia HÃ¼rtgen	BMW Z4 GT3	1:01:21.370	31	18.760
6	32	GT3	David Hallyday/Didier Andre	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:29.584	31	26.974
7	9	GT3	Gael Lesoudier/Maxime Martin	Aston Martin DBRS 9	1:01:32.261	31	29.651
8	45	GT3	Filip Sladecka/Patrick Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:01:32.834	31	30.224
9	2	GT3	Petri Lappalainen/Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1:01:37.563	31	34.953
10	23	GT3	Zakary Brown/Matthew Bell	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:44.179	31	41.569
11	35	GT3	Hoevert Vos/Jeroen den Boer	BMW Z4 GT3	1:01:44.250	31	41.640
12	21	GT3	Duncan Cameron/Matthew Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia	1:01:48.107	31	45.497
13	16	GT3	Pierre Hirschi/Gregory Guilvert	Audi R8 LMS	1:02:00.360	31	57.750
14	1	GT3	Paul van Splunteren/Maxime Soulet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1:02:01.230	31	58.620
15	8	GT3	Bernard Delhez/Dimitri Enjalbert	Aston Martin DBRS 9	1:02:23.767	31	1:21.157
16	12	GT3	Jan Stovicek/Jakub Knoll	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:02:59.139	31	1:56.529
17	15	GT3	Jerome Demay/Dino Lunardi	Audi R8 LMS	1:00:34.993	30	27.617	1
18	22	GT3	Mark Patterson/Joseph Osborne	Audi R8 LMS	55:49.645	28	5:12.965	3
19	43	GT3	Roger Green/Paulo Pinheiro	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	57:06.265	27	3:56.345	4
20	13	GT3	Paulo Bonifacio/Markus Palttala	Ford GT	47:09.371	23	13:53.239	8
21	3	GT3	Philippe Giaque/Mike Parisy	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	41:55.019	20	19:07.591	11
22	14	GT3	Mikko Eskelinen/Christoffer Nygaard	Ford GT	35:37.809	16	25:24.801	15
23	4	GT3	Joakim Lambotte/Gary Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	20:08.503	11	40:54.107	20
24	6	GT3	Edward SandstrÃ¶m/Abdulaziz Al Faisal	BMW Z4 GT3	20:09.265	11	40:53.345	20
25	51	GT3	Daniel Brown/Glynn Geddie	Ferrari 458 Italia	20:07.620	10	40:54.990	21
26	11	GT3	Leonid Machitski/Tomas Kostka	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	3:39.620	2	57:22.990	29