Racereport
As the sun set over Adria, the Maserati MC 12 of Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels claimed a fine win, on what is likely to be its final appearance in its home country. Starting from pole position, the reigning Champions dominated the race, chased across the finish line by the Peka Racing Corvette of Hezemans and Kumpen. The second Vitaphone Maserati was third, having lost hopes of a win due to a drive-through penalty following the use of the wrong tyres. In GT2, Porsche finally managed to break the Ferrari stranglehold on the Italian track, with Prospeed Competition taking their second win in a row for Westbrook and Collard. They were followed by AF Corse’s two cars, Vilander and Bruni finishing second ahead of their team-mates Barba Lopez and Cadei, who claimed their maiden FIA GT podium. VICTORY FOR VITAPHONEThe second round proved to be a profitable one for Vitaphone, with first and third places securing not only the lead in the GT1 teams but also the GT1 drivers’ classifications. The team started from the front row further to the post-qualifying technical scrutineering, which saw the nr 14 K plus K Motorsport Saleen S7 lose its fastest time and go to the back of the grid. However, the Saleen pulled off at the end of the formation lap, with a broken driveshaft. With K plus K Motorsport’s second car suffering from gear problems, while the nr 13 Saleen had overheating issues, the fight for the lead was reduced to essentially Maserati vs Corvette. The Maserati one-two was maintained through the early stages of the race, with the lighter car of Alex Müller chasing Andrea Bertolini. However, the drive-through penalty awarded to the nr 2 essentially took away any hopes of victory. Bertolini crossed the finish line 10 seconds ahead of the nr 4 Peka Racing Corvette of Kumpen and Hezemans, with the nr 2 Vitaphone Maserati third. Andrea Bertolini was delighted with his home win. “This has been a really special win, because this is the MC12's last year and its last time in Italy. If you win one race and that's your home race, it's really special, for me, for the car, for the people at Maserati. We worked really hard yesterday with the team, because Adria is a really tricky track. This win is very good for the Championship.” Kumpen and Hezemans were also pleased with their unexpected second-place finish, thanks to an excellent middle stint from the Dutch driver : “I've had one of my best ever stints today. I was pushing and I was lucky all the time with traffic. Then again, we really need to do some testing. We just have no front or rear grip - we still have to work on our car before Oschersleben.” The crew of the nr 2 Vitaphone Maserati were rather disappointed with third. “The team mistake that happened cost us a clear victory,” Alex Müller said. “Now we have to work hard for Oschersleben. The only positive thing is that we'll get there with only 20kg handicap weight. We have to look forward to Oschersleben and to analyse the mistakes so as not to make them in the other races. I just have to say thank you to Michael for giving me the chance to drive the second Vitaphone car.” Maassen and Moreau brought the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette home in a hard-fought fourth place, ahead of the SRT Corvette, which was suffering from set-up problems. The nr 11 Full Speed Racing Saleen was sixth for Lemeret and Hines, an excellent result for the older model car, Seventh was the leading 2010 GT1 car, the Marc VDS Racing Ford GT of Leinders and Kuppens. “We had some small problems, but we are learning very fast,” Leinders commented. “I'm very pleased with the car and the way it uses the tyres. This might be the Maserati MC12's last year, but we are the new generation GT1 and I'm really looking forward to that.” The nr 18 K plus K Motorsport Saleen of Lacko and Dominguez took the final point for eighth, finishing 11 laps down after losing time in a long pit-stop with a gear-box shifting problem. VITAPHONE MOVE AHEAD – IN STATISTICS AND POINTSWith the well-deserved win in Adria, Vitaphone Racing Team has claimed more overall race wins than any other team in the FIA GT Championship. This was their 18th win, claimed both with the Saleen S7 and with the Maserati MC 12 – and it moved them ahead of BMS Scuderia Italia, which has 17 wins to their credit. Vitaphone is now leading the Teams Classification, with 24 points, nine ahead of Czech team K plus K Motorsports, which has scored 15, and Pekaracing, on 13. In the Drivers classification, Bertolini and Bartels have 18 points, ahead of Kumpen and Hezemans, with Luc Alphand Aventures drivers Moreau and Maassen on 11.With the points comes the handicap weight, and the nr 1 car will have 70 kg success ballast in Oschersleben, compared to 30 kg for the nr 4 Corvette and 20 kg for the nr 2 Maserati. TWO IN A ROW FOR PROSPEED COMPETITIONProspeed Competition repeated their Silverstone result, making up for poor qualifying with a race win – giving Porsche its first victory at Adria, after the Ferrari domination in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The nr 60 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR of Westbrook and Collard made a good start, climbing up to second behind the nr 97 Brixia Porsche. During the second stint, there was a long fight between the nr 60 and the nr 51 AF Corse Ferrari, but after the final driver change, the nr 60 emerged in command and stayed ahead until the chequered flag. “It's been a very similar weekend to Silverstone; after a bad qualifying, we had a great race,” Westbrook said. “The car's great and holds well over a two-hour distance. The team seems to have got it spot on. I'm fine with sacrificing the qualifying for the race pace that we get.” The nr 50 and 51 AF Corse Ferrari cars finished second and third to give the Italian team a boost in their home race. Reigning Champions Bruni and Vilander scored their first points after their Silverstone disappointment. “We need to find a new balance to the car and we need to start developing the car,” said Vilander. “We can't make any difference in the corner. We feel really frustrated in the car and I hope that we manage to get some test days in before Oschersleben and spend some money to find more pace on the car.” Third today, Cadei and Barba Lopez are currently lying second in the points classification, behind runaway leaders Westbrook and Collard. “This is my first podium in this championship so it's fantastic,” said Barba Lopez. “I am very happy. The race was really difficult because in the last lap I had a fight with car nr 60 and he pushed me a lot, which was difficult to counter. Niki also had a good race until the end because the car was very difficult to drive, so the result is good. I'd like to thank the team who've worked a lot this weekend and getting two cars on the podium isn't bad I think.”Fourth went to the second Prospeed Porsche, of Darryl O’Young and Marco Holzer, while the nr 97 Brixia Racing Porsche of Martin Ragginger and Luigi Lucchini, which had led from pole and for much of the first hour, finished fifth. Sixth and seventh were the two CRS Racing Ferrari cars, with Trackspeed taking the final point for eighth. PROSPEED IN COMMANDWith two wins, Prospeed has taken an early lead in the GT2 points, being ten points clear in the Teams classification, ahead of AF Corse and CRS Racing, and allowing Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard to lead new AF Corse drivers Alvaro Barba Lopez and Niki Cadei by ten points in the Drivers classification. Behind them, a grand total of eight GT2 drivers are tied on eight points, including reigning Champions Bruni and Vilander, Pecom drivers Russo and Perez-Companc, who missed this round, CRS Racing’s Kirkaldy and Bell, and Pecom drivers O’Young and Holzer. In the GT2 Manufacturers Championship, Porsche outscored Ferrari by one point in Adria – the first time this has happened since Spa 2007 – but are still trailing Ferrari by eight points in the total. After two wins, however, Westbrook and Collard have 40 kg success ballast. With their 50 kg crew ballast for two Platinum-category drivers, they will be carrying a total of 90 kg around Oschersleben’s corners.
They really need to publish a written TV guide for the damned digital channels.
