GT3 Europe

Reiter Engineering Lamborghini dominates race 1

© DPPI

Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof dominated round seven of the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship at Paul Ricard. The Reiter Engineering drivers led from start to finish.

At the start of the race Paul van Splunteren ran wide at the first corner, without any serious consequences for the Prospeed Competition driver as he returned in third place. Dominik Baumann spun off and dropped out of the top three, allowing Federico Leo to move into second place.

Von Thurn und Taxis started to pull away immediately and was not threatened at any moment during his stint. The Lamborghini was over a second per lap quicker than its rivals. Further down the field the Faster Racing by DB Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 of Hoevert Vos was making a great comeback. Having started from the twenty-fifth place on the grid the nr 35 car was already back in eleventh place after four laps.

Just before the pit stops Csaba Walter spun his Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 and was collected by the unfortunate Hoevert Vos, ending a strong race for the Faster Racing by DB Motorsport driver. By then Von Thurn und Taxis was already 10 seconds ahead of the second placed car.

The Reiter team was the last to make its pitstop and after a trouble-free stop Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof returned to the track with a two seconds lead over the ProSpeed Porsche and another eight seconds over the AF Corse Ferrari.

When Maxime Soulet in the nr 1 Prospeed Porsche was given a stop and go penalty for a pit stop infringement it gave Mayr-Melnhof even more comfort, whilst the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia was able to move up into second position. Dino Lunardi moved into fourth, the Sainteloc Racing Audi coming from the thirteenth place on the grid.

In the remaining laps Mayr-Melnhof was able to stay ahead and as the cars went onto the last lap the gap between Mayr-Melnhof and Castellacci was still almost five seconds. After 27 laps the nr 24 Lamborghini crossed the line to take its second victory of the season. AF Corse finished second, enough to take the lead in the championship with the Audi R8 LMS of Sainteloc Racing finishing half a second behind the Ferrari in third place.