2011 FIA GT3 European : Ferrari and BMW win at Silverstone

2011 FIA GT3 European Round 3 winners : Federico Leo/Francesco Castellacci - AF CORSE - Ferrari 458 Italia

SILVERSTONE : June 5, 2011 - Francesco Castellacci took the chequered flag at the end of Round 3 to give former FIA GT2 Champions AF Corse their first FIA GT3 victory and it was a 1-2 for the all Dutch Faster Racing DB Motorsport team in Round 4

2011 FIA GT3 European Round 3 podium

Round 3 - Lights to Flag Victory for AF Corse Ferrari

Francesco Castellacci took the chequered flag at the end of Round 3 of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone to give former FIA GT2 Champions AF Corse their first FIA GT3 victory. Federico Leo lead from the start from Pole Position and built up a comfortable lead before handing over to Castellacci, who brought the Ferrari 458 home. Maxime Martin and Gael Lesoudier took their first FIA GT3 podium since they won at Silverstone in 2009 with Morgan. This time, from 8th on the grid, they secured the first international podium finish for LMP Motorsport in the teams Aston Martin DBRS9, 3.5 seconds ahead of nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Mike Parisy and Philippe Giauque in third. From 15th on the grid, Giauque and Parisy secured the final podium place after a successful last lap move on the nr6 Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 of Abdulaziz AL Faisal.

With a very clean start from the entire GT3 grid, Federico Leo managed to keep his pole position from the start, and spent the race building his lead. Leo built up a comfortable cushion to his nearest rival when he handed it over to his team mate, which allowed the team to factor in their 10 second success time from the last round.
Behind the leading AF Corse Ferrari, the battle for second place was hard, but fair with Markus Palttala in the nr13 Fischer Racing Ford GT holding onto a strong second until lap 10 when he suffered a right rear puncture, and had to head for the pits.

The fight for second continued between the nr25 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 of Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof and the nr6 Need for Speed Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 of Edward Sandstroem. Sandstroem closed in on Lamborghini but couldn’t find a way past. At the pit window the Swede decided to stay out as the Austrian pitted to hand over the Lamborghini to Albert von Thurn und Taxis. Sandstroem pitted just before he pit window closed but his strategy didn’t pay off as Abdulaziz Al Faisel rejoined in 3rd place.
However the BMW Z4 was soon challenging the Lamborghini and for von Thurn und Taxis the going got tough. He held on to the place for a few laps but once the nr6 overtook him, the rest of the field caught up, pushing him slowly down to finish in 11th.

Further back Maxime Martin in the nr9 LMP Motorsport Aston Martin started his steady climb up from 6th place and by lap 22 he was challenging the second place BMW. On lap 23 he overtook Al Faisal for second, which he kept until the end.

Also moving rapidly up the field was the nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, driven by Mike Parisy. The Mercedes-Benz had started in 15th by Philippe Giauque and the Swiss driver managed to climb up the field before the pit stop to hand over to Parisy. The former French GT3 Champion continued to climb up the order and snatched the final podium place away from Al Faisal in the last lap.

2011 FIA GT3 European Round 4 winners : Hoevert Vos/Jeroen den Boer - Faster Racing by DB MOTORSPORT - BMW Z4 GT3

Faster Racing BMW 1-2 in Round 4

It was a 1-2 for the all Dutch Faster Racing DB Motorsport team in Round 4 of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone with Hoevert Vos taking the chequered flag in the nr35 BMW Z4 after passing his teammate, Harrie Kolen, on the last lap of the race. The LMP Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 driven by Gael Lesoudier and Maxime Martin took the final podium place, rounding off a good weekend for the French team after finishing second in Saturday's race.

Twenty seven cars lined for the rolling start for the fourth race of the 2011 FIA GT3 European Championship season with the nr36 Faster Racing by DB Motorsport BMW of Nick Catsburg on pole position. However at the green light it was the nr9 LMP Motorsport Aston Martin of Maxime Martin that got the better start and led into the first corner. However behind the leaders chaos ensued as the nr44 Heico Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of Brice Bosi was tipped into a high speed spin which also involved the nr 8 LMP Aston Martin of Dimitri Enjalbert and the nr33 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 of Greg Franchi. All drivers were OK but with debris covering the track the Safety Car was deployed.

2011 FIA GT3 European Round 4 podium

Racing resumed on on lap 5 with Catsburg putting the pressure on the leading Aston Martin from the restart. On lap 6 Catsburg put the BMW alongside Martin's Aston at Turn 4 but the Belgian driver held his nerve and the lead of the race. Catsburg tred again on lap 7 at the same place but had to wait until a lap later before he could make the move stick and move ahead of the Aston Martin into the lead. Once released Catsburg moved ahead of the field while the nr21 MTECH Ferrari 458 of Matt Griffin closed up to challenge Maxime Martin for 2nd.

The pit window opened on lap 11 but most of the front runners elected to stay out. The leading BMW had opened up a 5.8 second gap to the nr9 LMP Motorsport Aston Martin continued to defend his 2nd place from Griffin's Ferrari. At Club corner on lap 13 Griffin dived down the inside and moved ahead just before the lead cars headed for the pits to complete their stops. It was a disasterous stop for the MTECH Ferrari as it failed to restart for Duncan Cameron and the team had to push start the Ferrari, which isn't allowed by the regulations.

After all the stops the nr36 BMW, now with Harrie Kolen at the wheel, had a comfortable 18 second lead over the nr15 Saintloc Racing Audi R8 of Jerome Demay who was coming under pressure from the nr9 Aston Marin now with Gael Lesoudier at the wheel, the nr35 Faster Racing by DB Motorsport BMW of Hoevert Vos and the AF Corse Ferrari of Dan Brown.

On lap 17 Demay was passed by Lesoudier and Vos and then lost another place to Brown on lap 18, but fought back to regain the position a lap later.

The nr50 AF Corse of Federico Leo was also moving up the field, passing the two Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz before passing Demay's Audi to run nose to tail with his teammate.

Meanwhile the nr35 BMW had moved passed the nr9 Aston Martin to take second place and was quickly eating into Kolen's lead. In just four laps the lead had shrunk from 10 seconds to just two tenths as the two BMWs crossed the line to begin the last lap. Vos dived down the inside at the first corner on the final lap and swept into the lead and Hoevert Vos led Harrie Kolen to the chequered flag to record the team's first win in the FIA GT3 European Championship. The nr9 LMP Motorsport Aston Martin was third ahead of the two AF Corse Ferrari 458s. However the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari of Federico Leo and Francesco Castellacci was given a drive through, which was converted to a 30-second penalty after the race, dropping the Italians down to 11th from 5th place. The nr7 Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport was excluded from the result for causing an avoidable accident.

The win gives Jeroen den Boer and Hoevert Vos (50 points) a five point lead over Edward Sandstoem and Abdulaziz Al Faisal (45 points) in the Driver Championship and the Faster Racing by DB Motorsport team has closed the gap to the Need for Speed Schubert Motorsport to just 8 points in the Team Championship.

Race result : 2011 FIA GT3 European : Round 3, 4 at Silverstone, Great Britain

Race 1 Result
Pos	Car	Class	Drivers	Car	Time	Laps	Gap	Avg speed
1	50	GT3	Federico Leo/Francesco Castellacci	Ferrari 458 Italia	01:00:40.783	28
2	9	GT3	Gael Lesoudier/Maxime Martin	Aston Martin DBRS 9	01:00:51.216	28	10.433
3	3	GT3	Philippe Giauque/Mike Parisy	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	01:00:54.970	28	14.187
4	6	GT3	Edward Sandström/Abdulaziz Al Faisal	BMW Z4 GT3	01:00:55.319	28	14.536
5	35	GT3	Hoevert Vos/Jeroen den Boer	BMW Z4 GT3	01:01:05.191	28	24.408
6	7	GT3	Csaba Walter/Claudia Hürtgen	BMW Z4 GT3	01:01:05.878	28	25.095
7	36	GT3	Harrie Kolen/Nicky Catsburg	BMW Z4 GT3	01:01:05.976	28	25.193
8	21	GT3	Duncan Cameron/Matthew Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia	01:01:08.347	28	27.564
9	4	GT3	Joakim Lambotte/Gary Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	01:01:10.961	28	30.178
10	20	GT3	Luca Pirri/Michael Lyons	Ferrari 458 Italia	01:01:12.674	28	31.891
11	25	GT3	Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof/Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Lamborghini Gallardo LP600	01:01:12.936	28	32.153
12	44	GT3	Dominik Baumann/Brice Bosi	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	01:01:16.252	28	35.469
13	45	GT3	Filip Sladecka/Patrick Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	01:01:25.468	28	44.685
14	15	GT3	Jerome Demay/Dino Lunardi	Audi R8 LMS	01:01:26.868	28	46.085
15	22	GT3	Mark Patterson/Joseph Osborne	Audi R8 LMS	01:01:32.260	28	51.477
16	14	GT3	Mikko Eskelinen/Christoffer Nygaard	Ford GT	01:01:37.810	28	57.027
17	2	GT3	Petri Lappalainen/Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	01:01:38.389	28	57.606
18	1	GT3	Paul van Splunteren/Maxime Soulet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	01:01:38.782	28	57.999
19	11	GT3	Leonid Machitski/Tomas Kostka	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	01:01:40.047	28	59.264
20	33	GT3	Enzo Ide/Greg Franchi	Audi R8 LMS	01:01:48.026	28	01:07.2
21	23	GT3	Zakary Brown/Matthew Bell	Audi R8 LMS	01:01:51.550	28	01:10.8
22	16	GT3	Pierre Hirschi/Michael Rossi	Audi R8 LMS	01:01:58.317	28	01:17.5
23	13	GT3	Markus Palttala/Stephane Lemeret	Ford GT	01:02:14.737	28	01:34.0
24	32	GT3	Tobias Neuser/Didier Andre	Audi R8 LMS	01:02:46.472	28	02:05.7
25	12	GT3	Jan Stovicek/Jakub Knoll	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	01:02:47.027	28	02:06.2
26	8	GT3	Bernard Delhez/Dimitri Enjalbert	Aston Martin DBRS 9	01:01:24.734	26	43.951	2
27	51	GT3	Daniel Brown/Glynn Geddie	Ferrari 458 Italia	00:27:36.772	13	33:04.0	15

Weather : Sunny / Track Condition : Dry

Race 2 Result
Pos	Car	Class	Drivers	Car	Time	Laps	Gap	Avg speed
1	35	GT3	Hoevert Vos/Jeroen den Boer	BMW Z4 GT3	1:00:57.286	27
2	36	GT3	Harrie Kolen/Nicky Catsburg	BMW Z4 GT3	1:00:58.381	27	1.095
3	9	GT3	Gael Lesoudier/Maxime Martin	Aston Martin DBRS 9	1:01:02.706	27	5.420
4	51	GT3	Daniel Brown/Glynn Geddie	Ferrari 458 Italia	1:01:08.304	27	11.018
5	50	GT3	Federico Le/Francesco Castellacci	Ferrari 458 Italia	1:01:14.004	27	16.718
6	4	GT3	Joakim Lambotte/Gary Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:01:18.509	27	21.223
7	6	GT3	Edward Sandström/Abdulaziz Al Faisal	BMW Z4 GT3	1:01:19.210	27	21.924
8	15	GT3	Jerome Demay/Dino Lunardi	Audi R8 LMS	1:01:26.107	27	28.821
9	7	GT3	Csaba Walter/Claudia Hürtgen	BMW Z4 GT3	1:01:27.252	27	29.966
10	3	GT3	Philippe Giauque/Mike Parisy	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:01:27.701	27	30.415
11	45	GT3	Filip Sladecka/Patrick Hirsch	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:01:29.693	27	32.407
12	1	GT3	Paul van Splunteren/Maxime Soulet	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1:01:34.956	27	37.670
13	25	GT3	Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof/Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Lamborghini Gallardo LP600	1:01:42.995	27	45.709
14	2	GT3	Petri Lappalainen/Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1:01:44.481	27	47.195
15	14	GT3	Mikko Eskelinen/Christoffer Nygaard	Ford GT	1:01:54.565	27	57.279
16	22	GT3	Mark Patterson/Joseph Osborne	Audi R8 LMS	1:02:03.899	27	1:06.613
17	23	GT3	Zakary Brown/Matthew Bell	Audi R8 LMS	1:02:26.407	27	1:29.121
18	11	GT3	Leonid Machitski/Tomas Kostka	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:02:35.543	27	1:38.257
19	32	GT3	Tobias Neuser/Didier Andre	Audi R8 LMS	1:02:41.472	27	1:44.186
20	12	GT3	Jan Stovicek/Jakub Knoll	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	1:03:02.242	27	2:04.956
21	16	GT3	Pierre Hirschi/Michael Rossi	Audi R8 LMS	59:42.694	25	1:14.592	2
22	21	GT3	Duncan Cameron/Matthew Griffin	Ferrari 458 Italia	50:43.341	22	10:13.945	5
23	13	GT3	Markus Palttala/Stephane Lemeret	Ford GT	35:27.279	14	25:30.007	13
24	20	GT3	Luca Pirri/Michael Lyons	Ferrari 458 Italia	11:06.654	4	49:50.632	23
25	8	GT3	Bernard Delhez/Dimitri Enjalbert	Aston Martin DBRS 9	2:51.681	1	58:05.605	26

Weather : Bright-overcast / Track Condition : Dry

2011 FIA GT3 Drivers' Championship
			Round
Pos	Name	Nat.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
1	Jeroen den Boer		15		10	25									50
	Hoevert Vos		15		10	25									50
2	Abdulaziz Al Faisal		25		12	8									45
	Edward Sandstroem		25		12	8									45
3	Francesco Castellacci			18	25										43
	Federico Leo			18	25										43
4	Maxime Martin			6	18	15									39
	Gael Lesoudier			6	18	15									39
5	Claudia Huertgen		18	10	8										36
	Csaba Walter		18	10	8										36
6	Mike Parisy		12		15	4									31
	Philippe Giauque		12		15	4									31
7	Enzo Ide		2	25											27
	Gregory Franchi		2	25											27
8	Harrie Kolen				6	18									24
	Nick Catsburg				6	18									24
9	Gary Hirsch		8		2	10									20
	Joakim Lambotte		8		2	10									20
10	Patrick Hirsch		10	4		2									16
	Filip Sladecka		10	4		2									16
	Glynn Geddie		4			12									16
	Daniel Brown		4			12									16
11	Brice Bosi			15											15
	Dominik Baumann			15											15
12	Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof			12											12
	Albert von Thurn und Taxis			12											12
13	David Hallyday			8											8
	Didier Andre			8											8
14	Mikko Eskelinen		6												6
	Dino Lunardi					6									6
	Christoffer Nygaard		6												6
	Jerome Demay					6									6
15	Matt Griffin				4										4
	Duncan Cameron				4										4
16	Jan Heylen			2											2
	Matthew Bell		1	1											2
	Petri Lappalainen			2											2
	Zakary Brown		1	1											2
17	Luca Pirri				1										1
	Maxime Soulet					1									1
	Paul van Splunteren					1									1
	Paul Rees				1										1

2011 FIA GT3 Teams' Championship
		Round
Pos	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
1	NEED FOR SPEED TEAM SCHUBERT	43	12	20	8									83
2	Faster Racing by DB MOTORSPORT	15	1	16	43									75
3	AF CORSE	4	18	25	12									59
4	GRAFF RACING	20		17	14									51
5	TEAM LMP MOTORSPORT		8	18	15									41
6	BELGIAN AUDI CLUB TEAM WRT	2	35											37
7	HEICO MOTORSPORT	10	21		2									33
8	SAINTELOC RACING				6									12
9	FISCHER RACING	6												6
10	PROSPEED COMPETITION		4		1									5
	MTECH MOTORSPORT			5										5
11	UNITED AUTOSPORTS	1	2											3

Images : 2011 FIA GT3 European - Round 3 & 4 at Silverstone

[Source : FIA GT3 European - Official]