GT1 World

Lamborghini Podium Finish To Celebrate FIA GT1 Season Finale

Lamborghini race car drivers Manuel Lauck and Christopher Haase ended the FIA GT1 World Championship season on a high with a podium finish in San Luis, Argentina, on 6 November 2011. The DKR www-discount.de pairing took advantage of an early incident to elevate their Lamborghini Murciélago 670 R-SV from ninth to a second-place finish.

During qualifying it was All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport drivers Dominik Schwager and Nicky Pastorelli that established the pace amongst the Lamborghini race cars. The duo set the fifth fastest lap time of 02:14.891 to put them on the third row for the Qualifying Race. Markus Winkelhock and Marc Basseng in the sister Lamborghini Murciélago 670 R-SV would start from tenth with Lauck and Haase qualifying 12th.

Strong drives during the Qualifying Race promoted Schwager and Pastorelli to third and put them on the second row for the season finale. Both the #38 of Winkelhock and Basseng and the #47 of Lauck and Haase improved positions to sixth and ninth respectively.

Despite the promising start to the race weekend, an unfortunate incident involving six cars on the main straight soon after the start of the Championship Race knocked both of the
All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini race cars out of contention. Lauck and Haase took advantage of the situation to charge through the field and take their Lamborghini Murciélago 670 R-SV across the finish line in second place.

Although Winkelhock and Basseng did not score Championship Race points in Argentina, the pair’s strong season meant they finished joint fifth in the drivers’ standings with 102 points. Their team-mates Pastorelli and Schwager secured 80 points to put them joint eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, with both pairings assisting All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport to fourth in the teams’ standings with 190 points. As neither Lauck or Haase completed the full GT1 season, they were only able to secure 20 and 18 points respectively to put them 19th and 21st in the drivers’ standings.

“The start was quite good for us,” said Lauck. “I couldn’t really see what happened with the crash. We were struggling on tyres so it was good for us to have the Safety Car period. In the end Christopher did a perfect job and the team worked really well all weekend.”

Automobili Lamborghini’s Director of Research and Development, and responsible for motorsport, Maurizio Reggiani, concluded: “The Lamborghini race car has once again illustrated its pace and competitiveness during the FIA GT1 season. We’ve seen two Championship Race victories, two Qualifying Race victories and three pole positions in the Murciélago 670 R-SV, which has demonstrated the strength of our four-wheel drive concept. We look forward to further success on the world stage next season.”