GT1 World

JR Motorsports dominates HTTT FIA GT1 weekend

© DPPI

Almost as usual there were some incidents in the first lap of the race, with Mike Hezemans not respecting the track limits and then jumping the curbstones in the first combination of corners. Behind him Vanina Ickx also hit trouble and suffered a puncture. Both cars returned to the pit and were effectively out of contention.

Michael Krumm immediately started to pull away and after six laps he was already 1.7 seconds clear of the two Young Driver AMR cars that were chasing him. In the following laps he managed to extend that lead, whilst behind the top three the battle for positions started. Dimitri Enjalbert in the DKR Engineering Corvette attacked Piccione for eighth place, but was then attacked himself by Jamie Campbell-Walter in the Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R. The Nissan driver passed him and then passed Piccione at the chicane a lap later in a very nice overtaking maneuver around the outside.

With Campbell-Walter now clear of the Hexis AMR Astons and the DKR Engineering Corvette he was ready to go after his teammate, with Piccione and Hohenadel starting a fight for position. The fight was lost by Piccione when he spun the nr 3 Aston Martin DBR9 on his own. Fortunately none of the following cars hit him.

Enge and Westbrook pitted on lap 12, with Krumm, Enge, Winkelhock and Makowiecki pitting a lap later. A small delay in the JR Motorsports pit stop meant the nr 23 Nissan GT-R lost some of its lead. Darren Turner returned in front of Alex Müller as the Young Driver AMR cars swapped positions. Turner seemed to close the gap to the Nissan at first, but then the tires kicked in and Luhr was able to maintain a safe lead over the Aston.

With Krumm running well and the Young Driver AMR cars not getting closer the focus went to the cars behind where the battle heated up. With twenty minutes left it was Maxime Martin in fourth place, but Dumbreck quickly caught him and moved into fourth, just as the nr 21 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R set the fastest lap of the race, a 2:04.909.

Enrique Bernoldi in the Sumo Power GT Nissan meanwhile managed to pass Marc Basseng and moved up into eighth place, but soon after there was less fortunate news for Nissan when the nr 22 Nissan GT-R of Peter Dumbreck. The car slowed down with a suspension problem and dropped out of contention with just five minutes left.

Martin managed to close the gap to Alex Müller but in the remaining minutes he was unable to pass the Aston Martin and after 29 laps it was Luhr who crossed the line in first place. Turner finished in second place, 0.843 seconds behind with Müller finishing third 11.602 seconds behind the winner.

Thanks to taking two wins at Paul Ricard Krumm and Luhr are now leading the championship with 111 points. Basseng and Winkelhock, who finished in eighth place, drop to second place with 97 points and Hohenadel and Piccini remain third with 84 points.

In the Teams Championship All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport still leads with 169 points, but JR Motorsports have closed the gap to just 3 points. Young Driver AMR is now third at 10 points from the lead.

The next rounds of the FIA GT1 World Championship will take place in China. On September 4 the championship will race in Ordos and one week later there will be an event in Beijing.

Young Driver AMR driver Alex Müller made it clear in the Post Race press conference that he preferred a race in Brazil over a second round in China. His comment was greeted with a positive reaction in the form of a round of applause from the other drivers.

Paul Ricard circuit officials confirmed to Planetlemans the FIA GT1 weekend attracted some 10,000 visitors to the circuit, which was more than they had for the Le Mans Series event here earlier this year.