FIA GT Championship

FIA GT Zolder – Race Report – Hour 2

The second hour of the FIA GT Championship race at Zolder started with the battle for the GT1 lead. As a result of the pit stops the PK Carsport Corvette moved back ahead of the #1 Maserati, while Thomas Biagi was all over the #8 Corvette of Roberto Streit.

The Marc VDS Racing Ford GT of Renaud Kuppens came to a halt on the side of the track, causing a yellow flag at turn 12. This yellow flag didn’t interrupt the battle between the two Corvettes though, with Biagi looking to pass Streit or forcing the Brazilian into a mistake.

Having completed 37 laps Streit did indeed make a mistake and went straight on at turn 1. Streit managed to keep his car going and returned to the track just in front of the SRT Corvette of James Ruffier. In GT2 Toni Vilander made a mistake as well, going straight at the chicane. Collecting some gravel the Finn returned to the track without any damage to the car.

The Nissan Motorsports Nissan GT-R returned to the pit with 45 minutes remaining in the race, smoke coming out of the car’s wheel arches. The mechanics rushed out to check the car and then decided to push it back in to the pit box. The car returned to the track much later.

Thirty-five minutes before the end of the race Hezemans was in fourth place, Andrea Bertolini was almost eighteen seconds behind him in fifth. At the front Matteo Bobbi had a huge lead over Miguel Ramos.

ProSpeed’s Marco Holzer was in the lead in GT2, followed by the #56 CRS and #77 BMS Ferrari’s.

Miguel Ramos handed over the #2 MC12 to Alex Müller with just under 30 minutes remaining. As a result of the pit stop Mike Hezemans moved into third place.
Next in was the leading Maserati of Matteo Bobbi. Alex Pier Guidi took over the wheel and rejoined the track just behind the Alphand Corvette and only a few seconds ahead of Mike Hezemans.

When Thomas Biagi came in for Alphand’s final stop with 24 minutes left on the clock Pier Guidi got back into the lead of the race, with Mike Hezemans 3.6 seconds behind. The Dutchman, who now had a clear view of the Maserati in front of him, tried to close the gap but on his first full lap after the pit stop Pier Guidi gained no less than four tenths on the Corvette driver.

The Italian kept on setting quick laps and after completing his 65th lap the gap between the #33 and the #4 had already grown to 7.3 seconds, one lap later the gap was 8.8 seconds. A win seemed far away for PK Carsport.

In GT2 Gianmaria Bruni was still only fourth with twenty minutes left on the clock, while Richard Westbrook was in the lead. Paolo Ruberti and Rob Bell were second and third.

While everything seemed to settle in the final minutes Alex Müller made a mistake coming down the hill towards the Villeneuve chicane. The Maserati went onto the grass, jumped the curbs at the Villeneuve and ended up deep into the gravel. After being pulled out of the gravel the #2 Maserati crawled back to the pit, spreading gravel all over the track. Upon arrival in the pit lane the #2 went up on the jacks and was pushed into the box, he would return to the track with just over two minutes remaining.

The final minutes of the race did not bring any changes to the standings and after two hours of racing it was Alex Pier Guidi who crossed the line in first place. 20 seconds behind him it was Mike Hezemans in second place, with Andrea Bertolini securing third place and the driver’s championship.

Richard Westbrook was able to keep the Ferrari’s behind him and took the win for ProSpeed Competition in GT2. Paolo Ruberti crossed the line in second place for BMS Scuderia Italia, five seconds behind the Porsche. One second behind the #77 was the #56 CRS Ferrari of Rob Bell. With Gianmaria Bruni only taking fourth place for AF Corse it was Richard Westbrook who clinched the 2009 FIA GT2 Driver’s Championship.