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FIA GT1 World Championship Paul Ricard

Reigning FIA GT Champions Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini scored their first Championship Race win at Paul Ricard. With two Qualifying Race wins to their credit, the Vitaphone Racing Team drivers were very happy to record their first FIA GT1 World Championship victory in the Maserati MC12 and the 25-points for the win propel them into the Championship lead, 15 points ahead of Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch who finished 7th in the nr5 Matech Competition Ford GT Matech. Peter Kox in the nr24 Reiter Lamborghini got the best start from the front row to take the lead at Turn 1 but was judged to have jumped the start and had to serve a drive through penalty. The challenge to the leading Maserati was taken up by the nr13 Phoenix Racing/ Carsport Corvette of Andrea Piccini and the nr2 Vitaphone Maserati of Enrique Bernoldi. A clash at the last corner between Bernoldi and Piccini left the nr2 Maserati at the side of the track with broken suspension, with the Corvette having to serve a stop go penalty for the challenge towards the end of the race. After the pitstops Michael Bartels held a large lead over the rest of the field. The nr23 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R of Peter Dumbreck was clearly the fastest car on track and was soon in second place ahead of the nr33 Triple H Team Hegersport Maserati MC12 of Alex Margaritis, who was coming under pressure from the nr40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT Matech of Maxime Martin. The last lap saw a determined effort by Martin to secure the final podium position but Margaritis held on to secure his, and team mate Altfrid Heger’s, first GT1 World podium finish.