A race win for Paul van Splunteren and Marco Holzer in the final round of the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship seemed to have secured the Team Championship for Prospeed Competition and confirmed the two drivers as 2010 FIA GT3 European Vice Champions but post race checks found that the rear disks of the Porsche were over the homologated weight and were excluded from the results. However Prospeed Competition have appealed this decision and the results stand until this appeal has been heard. Second place in the race went to the Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 of Frederic Makowiecki and Manuel Rodrigues, the first podium of the season for the 2009 Team Champions. The Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 of Enzo Ide and Greg Franchi clinched the final podium position in what was only the seventh competitive car race for Ide but the Audi also failed post race technical checks and was also excluded from the result but the team have also lodged an appeal and so will remain in 3rd place until the appeal has been heard.
RACE REPORT: At the start Marco Holzer in the Prospeed Porsche got up alongside Maxime Martin in the Marc VDS Ford GT in 2nd place at the first corner but Martin held his position and in turn attacked race leader Frederic Makowiecki through Turn 3 but as the cars headed down towards Turn 5 the status quo returned at the front of the field. Round 11 winner Edward Sandstrom was starting the race from the back of the grid and made up six places on the opening lap.
Makowiecki started to open a gap to Martin in the Ford and by lap 5 this stood at 2.1 seconds, with Holzer holding third place further down the track ahead of Christoffer Nygaard in the Fischer Racing Ford GT. While the leaders held station there was a big battle for the minor points finishing places with Claudia Huertgen, Gregory Guilvert and Raymond Narac nose to tail through Turns 5 and 6 for 9th place. Sandstrom continued to make progress up the field in the Schubert Motorsport BMW and was 13th as the pit window opened.
After the pitstops the Marc VDS Ford GT, now with Gael Lesoudier at the wheel, was ahead of the Hexis AMR Aston Martin of Manuel Rodrigues and Lesoudier started to pull away and by lap 25 was 7 seconds ahead. Rodrigues had the Porsche of Paul van Splunteren coming up behind, closing the gap by a large margin on each lap. At the front Lesoudier looked set to secure the first win of the season for Marc VDS but the nr22 United Autosports Audi R8 tried to unlap itself at Turn 1 on lap 27. The Audi put its nose into the corner from a long way back and Lesoudier turned in and there was contact, the Ford GT spinning off into the gravel trap at Turn 1. Lesoudier eventually recovered the car to the pits but only to retire.
Rodrigues found himself at the front of the field but was demoted to second on lap 29 when van Splunteren went past at Turn 12 to take the lead of the race. Christian Hohenadel was running in 3rd place in the Callaway Corvette and looked set to be able to secure the team title for Callaway but on lap 30 the Corvette slowed and the German driver headed to the pits with a blown brake disk putting Mikko Eskelinen in a podium position in the Fischer Ford for a short while until he was passed by the Belgian Audi Club Audi of Enzo Ide on lap 31. Eskelinen lost a further place to the Prospeed Porsche of Petri Lappalainen, who in turn came under pressure from Csaba Walter in the nr77 Schubert BMW.
On the penultimate lap the Ide’s Audi was clearly struggling with rear tyres but the young Belgian driver wasn’t going to give up his podium place without a fight and he held off several challenges from Lappalainen. The Finn then fell into the grips of Walter’s BMW and on the last lap the Hungarian driver moved up to 4th place.
At the chequered flag Paul van Splunteren crossed the line to record the second win of the season and the Team Title for Prospeed Competition as well as the Porsche Manufacturers Cup and the Vice Champions position in the Driver’s Championship for himself and Marco Holzer. However the result remains provisional pending the outstanding appeals.
| Race 2 Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Car | Class | Drivers | Car | Time | Laps | Gap | Avg speed |
| 1 | 61 | GT3 | van Splunteren/Holzer | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 01:00:04 | 37 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | GT3 | Rodrigues/Makowiecki | Aston Martin DBRS9 | 01:00:13 | 37 | 8.88 | 0 |
| 3 | 27 | GT3 | Ide/Franchi | Audi R8 LMS | 01:00:17 | 37 | 12.375 | 0 |
| 4 | 77 | GT3 | Walter/Hürtgen | BMW Z4 | 01:00:17 | 37 | 12.932 | 0 |
| 5 | 60 | GT3 | Lappalainen/Palttala | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 01:00:18 | 37 | 13.948 | 0 |
| 6 | 76 | GT3 | Söderlund/Sandström | BMW Z4 | 01:00:21 | 37 | 16.907 | 0 |
| 7 | 14 | GT3 | Eskelinen/Nygaard | Ford GT | 01:00:27 | 37 | 23.279 | 0 |
| 8 | 11 | GT3 | Vannelet/Narac | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 01:00:41 | 37 | 36.462 | 0 |
| 9 | 23 | GT3 | Brown/Bell | Audi R8 LMS | 01:00:54 | 37 | 50.301 | 0 |
| 10 | 16 | GT3 | Lambotte/Parisy | Corvette Z06R GT3 | 01:00:55 | 37 | 50.595 | 0 |
| 11 | 5 | GT3 | Hirschi/Guilvert | Audi R8 LMS | 01:01:09 | 37 | 01:05.0 | 0 |
| 12 | 22 | GT3 | Patterson/Guasch | Audi R8 LMS | 01:01:16 | 37 | 01:11.6 | 0 |
| 13 | 2 | GT3 | Paillard/Accary | Aston Martin DBRS9 | 01:01:32 | 37 | 01:27.7 | 0 |
| 14 | 17 | GT3 | Vincent/Peyroles | Corvette Z06R GT3 | 01:01:49 | 37 | 01:44.4 | 0 |
| 15 | 30 | GT3 | Teregulov/Romanov | Ascari KZ1R GT3 | 01:00:21 | 36 | 16.711 | 1 |
| 16 | 6 | GT3 | Demay/Lorgere-Roux | Audi R8 LMS | 00:57:36 | 35 | 02:27.9 | 2 |
| 17 | 101 | GT3 | Hohenadel/Keilwitz | Corvette Z06R GT3 | 00:51:41 | 31 | 08:22.9 | 6 |
| 18 | 98 | GT3 | Beche/De Doncker | Ford GT | 00:46:35 | 28 | 13:28.7 | 9 |
| 19 | 12 | GT3 | Thiry/Fumal | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 00:44:30 | 27 | 15:34.1 | 10 |
| 20 | 99 | GT3 | Lesoudier/Martin | Ford GT | 00:50:22 | 27 | 09:42.4 | 10 |
| 21 | 100 | GT3 | Ritskes/van Oranje | Corvette Z06R GT3 | 00:48:49 | 26 | 11:14.9 | 11 |
| 22 | 3 | GT3 | Lemeret/Heyer | Audi R8 LMS | 00:38:11 | 8 | 21:53.3 | 29 |
| 23 | 87 | GT3 | Dockerill/Ferrier | Ferrari 430 Scuderia | 00:02:34 | 1 | 57:30.1 | 36 |
- FIA GT3
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