Wedstrijdverslag (English version) Silverstone 2009 (via: www.dailysportscar.com)

All 13 GT1s were present for the start of the first race of the year, with the #13 Full Speed Racing Saleen taking its place at the rear of the grid after its Saturday engine-change which kept it from taking part in qualifying.  Just a couple of places ahead was the #44 Matech Ford GT after its ten-place penalty for changing its engine; both cars would thus have the GT2 field to deal with before contemplating getting to grips with the rest of the GT1s.

Karl Wendlinger’s demeanour does not suggest an inability to remain calm when it matters and, when the lights flicked to green, the tall Austrian ensured that he arrived at Copse ahead of the pack.

Despite an assertive start from Alex Müller, the #2 Vitaphone Maserati was beaten to the first corner by the #1 MC12 of Andrea Bertolini; and, indeed, the only position change in the entire GT1 field was that Michael Krumm’s #35 Nissan GT-R had taken tenth from Bas Leinders’ Ford GT, to record the first ever passing manoeuvre in a 2010 GT1.

As Thomas Mutsch and Ferdinando Monfardini began the process of carving through the GT2s (a task that was completed within four laps), Wendlinger was embarking on his own task of opening up a lead on his pursuers; and it son became clear that there wasn’t much that the Maseratis could do about it – the #14 K plus K S7R lapping consistently at least a second quicker.

As the GT1 field began to string out, patience was beginning to be required from spectators; but there were moments of interest in the early stages of the race for those who possessed the virtue.

Leinders recovered from his opening lap demotion to catch and pass Krumm on lap six; ignoring a ten-second stop/go penalty (for a grid-work transgression) until the place had been claimed. The subsequent stop saw the Marc VDS once more at the rear of the pack.

Monfardini was similarly progressing well and he too caught Krumm on lap 14. Unfortunately, he ended a very good stint by making a complete hash of his stop, by first overshooting his pit and then getting out of the car before the team had had a chance to drag the car back. A lot of time was lost as the Saleen was pushed to and fro before the refuelling-hose could reach the car.

But the big fight of the first hour was for fourth place, and it was a real slow burner; taking 18 laps to build up before exploding into action on lap 19.

Adam Lacko, in the #18 K plus K Saleen, had been patiently trailing Guillaume Moreau’s #19 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette since the start, with the Frenchman similarly tracking Mike Hezemans’ #4 Corvette. The gap between the three cars was never huge, but nor was it small enough to challenge; until, that is, the trio found itself engaged in the lapping process.

Lacko appeared to have lost out on lap 17 as Moreau dived through past a GT2 on the Pits Straight, leaving the Saleen a second adrift; but as the cars came round at the end of 18, they were nose to tail for the first time – just a third of a second separating fourth from sixth.

As the cars arrived at Maggotts, Moreau made his move and, by the time they exited Becketts, the Dutchman found himself in fifth. Lacko tried to follow through but Hezemans shut the door and then put the #59 Trackspeed Porsche between him and the #18.

This tactic delayed the Saleen only momentarily and it was very soon on the Corvette’s tail once more; and as the cars reached Priory, the Czech driver had the right line and was through.

Hezemans immediately responded and almost pushed the Saleen round the rest of the lap; and as the cars came onto the Hangar Straight for the 20th time, the Corvette almost snatched back fifth as the pair came across another GT2 – the Saleen having to put two wheels on the grass to get by, but just managing to stay ahead of the Dutch car.

The deed done, Lacko immediately pitted to hand over to Mario Dominguez; who then proceeded to set the fastest third-sector time of the race so far on his out-lap.

Over the next few minutes, more and more cars stopped to make their first scheduled stop, with Wendlinger pitting from the lead at 48 minutes.

Alex Müller followed him down the pitlane from third, but Miguel Ramos’s stint in the car was destined to be a short one, the #2 MC12’s rear left suspension collapsing as the car rounded Club just a couple of minutes later. Ramos didn’t even have time to pull off track before the car ground to a halt and, inevitably, the safety car was scrambled.

Unfortunately for the Portuguese, this marked the second major race this year – the first being the Barcelona LMS round – where he had stopped on track and caused a safety car to be deployed.

Nearly all the stops had been completed when the Wiesmann safety car appeared on track; but, significantly, Bertolini was still out and he was able to pit and hand over to Michael Bartels before the safety car came round. This meant that he kept the lead and stood to profit from the wave-by that would soon be occurring.

Alas for Gigawave, the Nissan’s race was by this point run, with the car suffering rear left suspension damage – possibly as a result of a puncture.

The wave-by began at the one-hour mark and several cars went past. However, Xavier Maassen in the #19 LAA C6.R stayed behind the safety car from Copse to the Hangar Straight before going by, and - with the leader picked up soon after and the signal given that the SC would pit at the end of the lap - this meant that the field was more strung out than it needed to be once racing resumed on lap 36, with 54 minutes remaining. 

The order was now 1, 14, 19, 4, 18, 3, 9, 44, 11, 40 and 13.  

Bartels’ lead was 4.631s at the end of that lap, but it started to reduce at the rate of a second per lap as Ryan Sharp sought to recover the lead. On lap 41, the Scotsman made a very straightforward pass on the Hangar Straight to demote the Maserati and the race looked over at this point; Sharp’s lead 4.923s two laps later and with 35 minutes to go.

Four laps later, Karl Wendlinger was back in the car after a quick stop that saw fuel but no new tyres going onboard. However, this race was not yet over.

When Bartels pitted from the lead minutes later, a superbly executed stop saw the Maserati still in the lead when Bertolini rejoined. This was incredible stuff and nobody was quite sure how the Vitaphone team had pulled it off.

The lead was just over a second and battle was soon rejoined once more.

The Italian resisted the Austrian, but the Maserati got boxed in behind the #77 GT2 Ferrari at Vale and the lead changed hands once more. But this time, the Saleen didn’t romp off into the distance and Bertolini managed to peg the gap at just over two seconds.

As the race entered its final stages, the gap seemed to be coming down – a couple of tenths here, a tenth there – but Wendlinger was able to stay ahead; and on lap 63, with two more remaining, he finally broke the challenge and began to lap a second faster, crossing the line after 65 laps to take a fine repeat win.

 “The race was not easy because we were always under pressure from the Vitaphone cars behind us,” said Wendlinger. “I had a very good start though and managed to create a gap in the first few laps. I had a good first stint and the car was reliable and the tyres were consistent. But then we lost some positions because of the pace car. I managed to push hard at the end of the race though and I think we were very competitive today. The team put a lot of effort into this race and we've done a lot of testing and preparation. We weren't expecting to win the first race but we felt competitive.”

 “It's been a fantastic race,” added Ryan Sharp. “It was great winning the Tourist Trophy last year and winning the trophy twice and with a new team and in the first race of the season is great. On the radio they were telling me to push as much as I could on each lap. Obviously it's a new team, and we've done hundreds of pitstops in training, but you never know how it's going to go, so we wanted to give the team the best chance possible, so we were pushing to the maximum the whole time. I'm already thinking about Adria in two weeks time; a completely different track, it'll be interesting to see how the Saleen handles there. We were very good in the high speed corners here, but in Adria with the tight and twisty track, it'll be interesting.”

 “It feels like a victory, as if we won the GT1 class because I don't think the Saleen is a GT1 at the moment,” was how Michael Bartels saw things. “It's much quicker on the straight, which made it easy for Karl and Ryan to pass a Maserati. I think a lot went wrong over the winter, so we're going to have a good look at the car and try to give it a better outcome, but it still feels like a victory. We only gained back the time lost on the track in the pitstops, if not we'd probably be around 30-40 seconds further behind the Saleen. Because Andrea and I have been driving together for so long, we really know each other well and can work together well on the pitstops, and the crew practice a lot. The last pitstop is always one of the most important ones of the race; as you saw, we came out in the lead and so the fight at the end was still close. Sadly we lost time in an overtaking manoeuvre, but you saw that a pitstop can turn a race around, so this is where we're keeping our focus in the future, but it'll be hard to compete with the Saleen.”

 “It's been a really good start and we delivered our best today and it still feels like a victory for us,” agreed Andrea Bertolini. “We did a perfect stint and had a good strategy, but honestly for us it was impossible to win. I think this'll be a really difficult season for us.”

There was very little incident elsewhere in the field post-safety car, but Mike Hezemans pushed Guillaume Moreau all the way to the line as the Luc Alphand Corvette took third.

 “It's been a good start,” said Xavier Maassen. “All through the race we had a good look at where we wanted to go, and we wanted to keep up.  The car was competitive, and we're the most competitive out of the Corvettes; it's looking very promising, especially after finishing 4th last year and now I’m already 3rd, so it's good. In the beginning of the race, the front-engined cars seemed to have a disadvantage on the new type of tyres, so we need to sort that out and make up the time. We need to work hard and figure out where we can gain time and see how it goes for the rest of the championship.”

This first podium in this new championship feels like a victory to me,” beamed Moreau. “We're all happy about it, us and the team. It's impossible to feel better. I think we can improve a lot in qualifying. My pitstop was good. After I has found out how to navigate the traffic I did some good moves and I finished third, which is good for me and my team and a good start for the year.”

The opening round was perhaps not a classic encounter, but it certainly had its moments. It’s clear that the Saleen needs pegging back, though, so it will be interesting to see how things pan out at Adria.