2010 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round

Yas Marina Circuit

The 2010 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round was an auto race held at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on 16–17 April 2010. It served as the opening round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship season, and the inaugural race of the FIA GT1 World Championship series. It was the first sports car race designated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as a world championship event since the 500 km of Magny-Cours held on 18 October 1992. Swiss driver Romain Grosjean and German driver Thomas Mutsch won the championship race for Matech Competition Ford, ahead of the two Phoenix Racing Corvettes which completed the podium. The Phoenix Corvette of Marc Hennerici and Andreas Zuber had won the qualifying race held earlier that day. The UAE Touring Car Championship will serve as a support series for this event.^[1]

Qualifying[]

Qualifying began under the flood lights of Yas Marina Circuit, the entire session being held late on 16 April. All 24 cars took to the track during the first 20-minute session, with Michael Krumm sitting on top of the field in the early minutes. Frédéric Makowiecki was able to take over the pole position from the Nissan, the first driver to set a lap in the 2:07 range, quickly followed by the Vitaphone Maserati of Enrique Bernoldi less than a tenth of a second behind. In the second half of the session Andreas Zuber was able to jump to the top in the Phoenix Corvette, beating Makowiecki's lap by just under a full second and the only driver to set a lap under 2:07.^[2]

Toward the end of the session, Matech driver Natacha Gachnang suffered an accident on the back straight of Yas Marina, running off the end of the straight and impacting the safety barriers head-on. The session was stopped with just over two minutes remaining while safety crews attended to Gachnang, who was later airlifted from the circuit for medical attention and reported to have fractured her right leg.^[3][4] A camera operator situated behind the safety barrier also sustained injuries when his television camera hit him in the face due to the impact.^[5] The first session was delayed while Gachnang was attended to until it was announced approximately a half-hour later that repairs to the safety barriers could take up to three hours. The FIA race director then cancelled not only the remainder of the first session, but the entire second and third sessions as well. This awarded Zuber and his teammate Marc Hennerici pole position for the following day's qualifying race, while all other drivers remained in their positions due to the knock-out element of qualifying behind eliminated.^[2][5]

Qualifying result[]

For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. However, due to the cancellation of Sessions 2 and 3 for this event, only the Driver 1 participated in this qualifying session.

Pos	No.	Driver 1	Team	Session 1	Grid
		Driver 2
1	13	Andreas Zuber	Phoenix Racing / Carsport	2:06.780	1
		Marc Hennerici
2	9	Frédéric Makowiecki	Hexis AMR	2:07.705	2
		Philippe Dumas
3	2	Enrique Bernoldi	Vitaphone Racing Team	2:07.763	3
		Miguel Ramos
4	11	Xavier Maassen	Mad-Croc Racing	2:08.049	4
		Alex Müller
5	1	Michael Bartels	Vitaphone Racing Team	2:08.070	5
		Andrea Bertolini
6	12	Mika Salo	Mad-Croc Racing	2:08.078	6
		Pertti Kuismanen
7	24	Peter Kox	Reiter	2:08.090	7
		Christopher Haase
8	7	Darren Turner	Young Driver AMR	2:08.143	8
		Tomáš Enge
9	23	Michael Krumm	Sumo Power GT	2:08.287	9
		Peter Dumbreck
10	40	Bas Leinders	Marc VDS Racing Team	2:08.322	10
		Maxime Martin
11	5	Thomas Mutsch	Matech Competition	2:08.463	11
		Romain Grosjean
12	33	Alexandros Margaritis	Triple H Team Hegersport	2:08.494	12
		Altfrid Heger
13	4	Seiji Ara	Swiss Racing Team	2:08.610	13
		Max Nilsson
14	3	Karl Wendlinger	Swiss Racing Team	2:08.652	14
		Henri Moser
15	41	Markus Palttala	Marc VDS Racing Team	2:08.737	15
		Renaud Kuppens
16	34	Matteo Bobbi	Triple H Team Hegersport	2:08.787	16
		Bert Longin
17	37	Thomas Jäger	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	2:08.798	17
		Marc Basseng
18	10	Clivio Piccione	Hexis AMR	2:09.046	18
		Jonathan Hirschi
19	22	Warren Hughes	Sumo Power GT	2:09.446	19
		Jamie Campbell-Walter
20	8	Christoffer Nygaard	Young Driver AMR	2:09.629	20
		Stefan Mücke
21	6	Natacha Gachnang	Matech Competition	2:09.964	21
		Cyndie Allemann
22	25	Ricardo Zonta	Reiter	2:10.261	22
		Rafael Daniel
23	38	Nicky Pastorelli	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	2:10.628	23
		Dominik Schwager
24	14	Mike Hezemans	Phoenix Racing / Carsport	2:16.352	24
		Andrea Piccini

Races[]

Qualifying race[]

The first FIA GT1 World Championship race began in the afternoon, with pole sitter Marc Hennerici leading the field to the green flag from a rolling start. Entering the first left-hander Miguel Ramos in the No.2 Vitaphone Maserati attempted to secure second place but lost the rear of the car under braking and tapped the rear end of Hennerici's Corvette as the car spun across the course. While attempting to regain control, the rear of the Maserati was hit by the No.7 Aston Martin of Tomáš Enge, who ricocheted into the No.12 Mad-Croc Corvette of Pertti Kuismanen. All three cars would retire from the race due to the accident damage. Further into the first lap, the No.9 Hexis Aston Martin spun on his own, leaving driver Philippe Dumas at the tail of the field. These incidents forced the stewards to deploy the safety car as Hennerici lead the field ahead of the No.11 Mad-Croc Corvette of Alex Müller, the No.1 Vitaphone Maserati of Andrea Bertolini, the No.24 Reiter Lamborghini of Christopher Haase, and the No.5 Matech Ford of Romain Grosjean, who gained nine positions on the opening lap.

After two laps under the safety car, the race was restarted and Hennerici continued as the race leader. Grosjean began to climb his way through the field, passing Kox's Lamborghini on Lap 5, then Piccini's Maserati two laps later, then was able to take second place from Müller's Corvette before the end of Lap 8. The pit window opened on Lap 10, with Hennerici forfeiting the lead to Grosjean to take the first opportunity to pit and change to driver Andreas Zuber. Three laps later both the Matech Ford and Mad-Croc Corvette came in for their pit stops, but the Corvette had a slower pit stop and fell to seventh place. After the ten-minute pit window closed, Thomas Mutsch took over the second-place Matech Ford while Michael Bartels held third in the Vitaphone Maserati. Neither driver was able to catch the leading Corvette of Zuber, while Xavier Maassen in the No.11 Mad-Croc Corvette was able to climb back to fourth position before the car's engine failed three laps from the finish. Zuber eventually took the race win by just over two seconds ahead of Mutsch after having led by as much as ten seconds earlier in the race. Bartels completed the podium and final points earning position for the qualifying race.

Race result[]

Pos	No.	Team	Drivers	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired
1	13	Phoenix Racing / Carsport	Marc Hennerici Andreas Zuber	Corvette	26
2	5	Matech Competition	Thomas Mutsch Romain Grosjean	Ford	26	−2.273
3	1	Vitaphone Racing Team	Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini	Maserati	26	−4.308
4	8	Young Driver AMR	Stefan Mücke Christoffer Nygaard	Aston Martin	26	−37.808
5	33	Triple H Team Hegersport	Altfrid Heger Alexandros Margaritis	Maserati	26	−43.535
6	40	Marc VDS Racing Team	Bas Leinders Maxime Martin	Ford	26	−45.608
7	9	Hexis AMR	Philippe Dumas Frédéric Makowiecki	Aston Martin	26	−54.118
8	10	Hexis AMR	Clivio Piccione Jonathan Hirschi	Aston Martin	26	−1:07.115
9	3	Swiss Racing Team	Karl Wendlinger Henri Moser	Nissan	26	−1:12.583
10	25	Reiter	Ricardo Zonta Rafael Daniel	Lamborghini	26	−1:13.649
11	23	Sumo Power GT	Peter Dumbreck Michael Krumm	Nissan	26	−1:15.161
12	4	Swiss Racing Team	Max Nilsson Seiji Ara	Nissan	26	−1:19.330
13	22	Sumo Power GT	Warren Hughes Jamie Campbell-Walter	Nissan	26	−1:27.725
14 DNF	11	Mad-Croc Racing	Xavier Maassen Alex Müller	Corvette	23	Engine
15 DNF	24	Reiter	Peter Kox Christopher Haase	Lamborghini	20	Brakes
16	14	Phoenix Racing / Carsport	Mike Hezemans Andrea Piccini	Corvette	20	−6 Laps
17 DNF	38	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager	Lamborghini	17	Retired
18 DNF	37	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Marc Basseng Thomas Jäger	Lamborghini	12	Retired
19 DNF	41	Marc VDS Racing Team	Renaud Kuppens Markus Palttala	Ford	2	Clutch
20 DNF	2	Vitaphone Racing Team	Miguel Ramos Enrique Bernoldi	Maserati	1	Collision
21 DNF	7	Young Driver AMR	Tomáš Enge Darren Turner	Aston Martin	1	Collision
22 DNF	12	Mad-Croc Racing	Pertti Kuismanen Mika Salo	Corvette	0	Collision
DNS	34	Triple H Team Hegersport	Bert Longin Matteo Bobbi	Maserati	0	Did Not Start
DNS	6	Matech Competition	Natacha Gachnang Cyndie Allemann	Ford	0	Did Not Start

Championship race[]

Race result[]

Pos	No.	Team	Drivers	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired
1	5	Matech Competition	Thomas Mutsch Romain Grosjean	Ford	28
2	13	Phoenix Racing / Carsport	Marc Hennerici Andreas Zuber	Corvette	28	−23.061
3	14	Phoenix Racing / Carsport	Mike Hezemans Andrea Piccini	Corvette	28	−26.485
4	1	Vitaphone Racing Team	Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini	Maserati	28	−34.075
5	25	Reiter	Ricardo Zonta Rafael Daniel	Lamborghini	28	−49.496
6	2	Vitaphone Racing Team	Miguel Ramos Enrique Bernoldi	Maserati	28	−53.059
7	34	Triple H Team Hegersport	Bert Longin Matteo Bobbi	Maserati	28	−1:00.565
8	24	Reiter	Peter Kox Christopher Haase	Lamborghini	28	−1:12.694
9	33	Triple H Team Hegersport	Altfrid Heger Alexandros Margaritis	Maserati	28	−1:24.473
10	11	Mad-Croc Racing	Xavier Maassen Alex Müller	Corvette	28	−1:26.254
11	7	Young Driver AMR	Tomáš Enge Darren Turner	Aston Martin	28	−1:26.848
12	22	Sumo Power GT	Warren Hughes Jamie Campbell-Walter	Nissan	28	−1:28.174
13	40	Marc VDS Racing Team	Bas Leinders Maxime Martin	Ford	28	−1:37.634
14	3	Swiss Racing Team	Karl Wendlinger Henri Moser	Nissan	28	−1:59.534
15	12	Mad-Croc Racing	Pertti Kuismanen Mika Salo	Corvette	28	−2:01.150
16	23	Sumo Power GT	Peter Dumbreck Michael Krumm	Nissan	27	−1 Lap
17	37	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Marc Basseng Thomas Jäger	Lamborghini	24	−4 Laps
18 DNF	10	Hexis AMR	Clivio Piccione Jonathan Hirschi	Aston Martin	22	Puncture
19 DNF	9	Hexis AMR	Philippe Dumas Frédéric Makowiecki	Aston Martin	15	Retired
20 DNF	38	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager	Lamborghini	12	Retired
21 DNF	4	Swiss Racing Team	Max Nilsson Seiji Ara	Nissan	1	Collision
22 DNF	8	Young Driver AMR	Stefan Mücke Christoffer Nygaard	Aston Martin	0	Collision
DNS	41	Marc VDS Racing Team	Renaud Kuppens Markus Palttala	Ford	0	Did Not Start
DNS	6	Matech Competition	Natacha Gachnang Cyndie Allemann	Ford	0	Did Not Start

References[]

External links[]

• FIA GT1 World Championship – Yas Marina GT1 race in Abu Dhabi