GT1 World

GT1 Nürburgring: Young Driver AMR wins hectic race

© FleurbaaijImageBank.com

Young Driver AMR won the Qualifying Race at the Nurburgring this afternoon. Despite a first corner accident and changing weather conditions Tomas Enge and Darren Turner finished first on the 5.148km long circuit.

Even before the start of the race the grid had already changed. Karl Wendlinger, Stefan Mücke, Bert Longin and Dominik Schwager did not respect the track limits at turn 4 in the qualifying session and were all given a three-place grid penalty. On the installation lap the All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini of Thomas Jäger and Marc Basseng was towed back to the pit where the mechanics started to work on the gearbox right from the moment the car was back in the box. The Lamborghini would not start the race however.

Tomas Enge’s fear of being taken out at turn 1 were not unfounded as the Czech driver was hit from behind by the Nissan GT-R of Peter Dumbreck, who had been pushed on the grass already before the corner. As Alexander Margaritis sneaked through into the lead Dumbreck spun exiting the corner and the result was mayhem in turn1 and three early retirements. Pier Guidi and Clairay stopped just after turn 1, while Dumbreck made it back to the pit where the call was made to retire the car.

Margaritis was only able to hold on to his first place for two laps as on lap three he was already been passed by Tomas Enge again. Enge’s team mate Stefan Mücke went over the grass in his fight with the Reiter Lamborghini, but kept the nose of his car pointing in the right direction and retained fifth place. Menten came into the pit at the end of his second lap and would return a few minutes later, four laps down. On track the Matech Ford GT of Bas Leinders lost parts of its heavily damaged bodywork, before coming in after five laps after being shown the ‘meatball’ flag.

Seven laps and almost fifteen minutes into the race Enge had a 2.249 seconds lead over the Corvette of Margaritis and a further 1.170 seconds lead over the Vitaphone Maserati of Michael Bartels. Behind the leaders a couple of groups raced for positions, with gaps between cars just a few tenths of a second. While Enge slowly disappeared on the horizon Haase and Mücke closed in on the numbers two and three in the race and on lap 11 the gap between the Haase and Bartels was down to .603 seconds.

As the pit window opened Bartels, Haase and Mücke came in immediately, Margaritis and Pastorelli a lap later, while Enge stayed out in an attempt to increase his lead before handing over to Darren Turner. Behind him Frank Kechele also stayed on track, setting the fastest lap of the race for the Lamborghini, but still some seven seconds behind Enge. The German came in at the end of the following lap, leaving Enge and Westbrook as the only drivers yet to make their pit stop.

Nygaard rejoined in front of Bertolini, the Italian trying to pass the Dane heading into turn 1, but on the exit of the first corner Nygaard pulled up in front of the Maserati again. After sixteen laps Enge and Westbrook came in and when Turner rejoined the Young Driver AMR was still far ahead of the rest of the field.

Just when the last car had left the pit lane the rain returned to the Nurburgring circuit and soon the first cars were seen sliding through the NGK-chicane. Bertolini, Kox and Nygaard started fighting on the wet track, a battle the Danish Aston Martin driver lost. Soon after he was also under pressure from the Lamborghini of Ricardo Zonta.

With just over 20 minutes left on the clock several teams decided it was time to come in again and change from slicks to wets. As Turner, Hennerici, Kox and Zonta came in for wets Bertolini stayed out for another lap, taking the lead of the race. Behind Bertolini most of the other teams came in, but the Italian stayed out, despite the car tank-slapping on several corners.

The strategy seemed to work for Vitaphone for a while, but on lap 22 Darren Turner’s fastest lap time was seventeen seconds quicker and the Brit closed the gap to just 2.239 seconds. Christoffer Nygaard, in a battle with Heger and Piccione, spun his car exiting the first corner.

On lap 23 Bertolini was unable to keep the cars on wet tires behind him and Turner, Hennerici and Kox flew by. Turner was now back in the lead, 9.982 seconds ahead of the Corvette and almost fourteen seconds ahead of Kox and Bertolini. The Vitaphone driver started to struggle on the slicks and dropped back, down to seventh place after 25 laps.

Turner stayed out of trouble and consolidated his lead. Going into the last lap he was still almost ten seconds ahead of Hennerici and just over eighteen seconds ahead of Peter Kox in the Reiter Lamborghini.

After 28 laps Turner took the chequered flag, 10.356 seconds ahead of Hennerici and 20.342 seconds clear of Peter Kox. Zonta, Piccione and Mutsch completed the top six.

Being close to victory on a couple of occasions already – including the plank issue at Silverstone – Turner and Enge notched the first victory for Young Driver AMR. Reiter came back strong after losing some positions at the start . In the rain however the Reiter Lamborghini’s managed to get back into third and fourth place, despite damage to the rear wheel on Kox’ car, damage which was inflicted in the incident in the first corner.

UPDATE: As expected the incident between Peter Dumbreck and Tomas Enge was the result of the Nissan driver being pushed onto the grass at the start – and nearly into the pit wall – by Frank Kechele in the Reiter Lamborghini. As a result of being so far off the racing line his tires were all dirty and despite braking on time and at a lower speed than normal Dumbreck just skidded onto the back of the Aston Martin in front of him.