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Perfect Weekend for Young Driver AMR at GT1 Nurburgring

Tomas Enge took the chequered flag at the Nürburgring to complete a perfect weekend for himself, Darren Turner and the whole Young Driver AMR team as they took both race wins and pole position in Round 6 of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship. Starting from pole, Turner dominated the race before handing over to Enge, who controlled the race from the front. Peter Kox and Christopher Haase steered the Reiter Lamborghini to their best finish of the season ahead of the Phoenix Racing / Carsport Corvette of Marc Hennerici and Alex Margaritis after a race long battle between the two cars. At the start it was Turner who held the inside line to maintain his lead from pole position, followed by Hennerici in the Corvette and Kox in the Lamborghini. Further back there was a collision between the nr33 Maserati of Altfrid Heger and the nr41 Ford of Renaud Kuppens with both cars spinning off to the inside of the exit of T1. At the end of the opening lap it was the nr7 Aston leading by 0.6 seconds ahead of the nr13 Corvette, with the nr24 Lamborghini holding station behind the leading pair. Clivio Piccione caught and passed the nr 25 Reiter Lamborghini of Ricardo Zonta to take fifth place at the start of the second lap. Piccione then caught the nr5 Matech Competition Ford of Thomas Mutsch, pressurising the German in an effort to move up another place. At the Chicane on lap 4 they touched and Mutsch was forced to cut the corner but retained his 4th place in the process. Xavier Maassen was also a spinner at the Chicane on the same lap but rejoined further down the field. Piccione continued to challenge Mutsch for the place and lap 7 went down the inside of the Ford on the run into T1. Zonta in the nr25 Lamborghini tried to follow but Mutsch turned into the corner and there was a collision that spun the Ford through 180 degrees and delayed the Lamborghini allowing Andrea Bertolini in the nr1 Vitaphone Maserati to move ahead of both drivers. The nr12 Mad Croc Racing Corvette of Mika Salo pitted on lap 7 with brake problems. As the pit window approached Darren Turner held a 6.5 second lead over Hennerici and Kox. Hennerici pitted on lap 13, with Turner coming in a lap later. The Phoenix Racing Corvette had a slower stop than the Reiter Lamborghini and Christopher Haase found himself ahead of the Corvette. Further back Frederic Makowiecki had moved his Hexis AMR Aston up from 22nd on the grid into the top 10 at the pitstops before coming in to hand over to Yann Clairay on lap 15. After all the cars had pitted, things became clearer with Tomas Enge, now at the wheel of the nr7 Aston leading by 13 seconds from Haase in the Reiter Lamborghini and Alex Margaritis in the Phoenix Racing Corvette. On lap 21 it looked like the fickle Nürburgring weather might come into play as rain was reported on parts of the circuit and some of teams readied Michelin wets in case the rain came down harder. However in the end the rain held off until after the race. At the end of the race it was Enge who crossed the line to taking the first Championship Race win of the year for Aston Martin, with Christopher Haase and Alex Margaritis claiming the other podium positions. The nr10 Hexis AMR Aston Martin of Jonathan Hirschi finished 4th after a strong performance that saw Clairay finish in 7th. The nr8 Young Driver Aston of Stefan Mücke finished in 5th place putting all four Astons in the points, the first time all four cars have scored championship points in a single race this season. All of the manufacturers except Corvette have taken Championship Race wins this year.