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The first race of the 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship turned out to be a 28 lap thriller with three different cars taking turns to lead the 60-minute race. Philip Geipel lead from pole position in the Argo Racing Lamborghini but after handing over to Ellen Lohr the Lamborghini lost the lead to the charging Mike Parisy in the Graff Racing Corvette and looked to be heading for the chequered flag when he started to slow on the penultimate lap with Tim Bergmeister in the Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3-R taking the lead at Village. The German finished 4.2g seconds ahead of Dino Lunardi in the Toni Seiler Racing Corvette Z06R after battling up the order from 13th at the pitstops. Ellen Lohr recovered to fend off a determined challenge by Diego Alessi in the Chad Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia to secure the final podium position.

Race Report

Having started on the front row, Philip Geipel took an early lead in the nr25, and quickly increased his gap from the rest of the grid, extending it to an impressive 17.718 seconds by lap 13. However, after the pit stop to hand the car to his team mate Ellen Lohr, the leaders began to close up quickly. The nr16 Graff Racing Corvette Z06R GT3, driven by reigning French GT3 Champion Mike Parisy caught up and overtook her on lap 22. Lohr managed to hold on to second place, with the nr20 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3 R of Tim Bergmeister catching up fast. A spin on lap 25 cost her second place, and as, in its turn, the nr18 of Toni Seiler and Dino Lunardi overtook the nr 25 Lamborghini, it looked likely they would lose their podium finish. However, the race-leading nr16 suffered a problem in the last lap, pulling to the side of the track, leaving Trackspeed to take a well-deserved win ahead of Toni Seiler’s Corvette and Lohr’s Lamborghini.

The nr11 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of reigning GT4 Champion Joe Osborne and 2007 GT3 Champion Gilles Vannelet made a promising start, sticking close to the top 3 cars for most of the race, eventually crossing the line in 5th position; a good start to the season for Osborne, who was making his debut in a Porsche.

Christian Hohenadel, in the nr101 Callaway Competition Corvette Z06R GT3, held on to second place until lap 10 when he went off and retired due to a technical problem with the car.

In 4th place came the highest ranked Ferrari, the nr 87 Chad Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia of Giacomo Petrobelli and Diego Alessi. The nr77 Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 was 6th, driven by Csaba Walter and Claudia Hürtgen. The highest ranked Audi, finishing in 8th, was the nr6 Sainteloc-Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS of Stephane Lemeret and Greg Franchi. The nr 2 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 of Luc Paillard and Thomas Accary was the highest ranked Aston Martin.

Nr 20 Trackspeed Porsche 911 GT3R
Jose Luis Cunill: “I kept my place and then I tried to follow the guy in front, but there was no chance for me, they were a little faster than me. I just focused on my lap times to be consistent and to give the car over with in 3rd place a good gap. I think the car had a good set up, the team did a good job. I’m very happy with my first long distance race. The car is a little bit different from the cars I’m used to, but racing is always hard. In the end it’s the same. I enjoyed it a lot, the new track is nice.”

Tim Bergmeister: “My race was fine. The car was really good. He did a perfect first stint, so everything was fine for me.”

Nr 18 Toni Seiler Racing Corvette Z06R GT3
Toni Seiler: “I’m very happy. The tyres are very good but we cannot push them too hard. We had a very fine setup, we didn’t lose the tyres in the end. The team did a good job. I feel very welcome to be part of the championship.”
Dino Lunardi: “The car was perfect. Toni did a fantastic job. My job was to push a lot but to save the car and the tyres. This is a Silverstone secret: The last 10 minutes are the hardest. The problem with the corvette with the big engine is the fuel consumption. I tried to save the fuel and the car, at the end I was very fast. It was very easy to overtake at the end. At the beginning, I lost a lot of time behind the Ferrari.”

Nr 25 Argo Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
Philip Geipel: “I had a really perfect car. Argo racing did a great job. I had a perfect car for qualifying and in the first part of the race and I was able to push as hard as I could. And also managed to save tyres. I was able to run as fast as possible. It was not as easy as it looked. It was hard to find a perfect midway to go fast but to also save the car so that Ellen had a good car. ”

Ellen Lohr: “I’m so happy that Philip was so quick in the car. It was unbelievable. I’m very happy. He did all the work in this place to get the car to the podium. I nearly lost it because I spun in the middle of the race. That was a difficult situation because I was braking with my left foot and a bit too late on the clutch. I lost a lot of time and second place. It would have been a great result but I’m really happy to be on the podium. Coming back and landing a podium is nice.”

- FIA GT3

Looking for more? Have a look below.

1. FIA GT3: Aston Martin sets pace, Lamborghini right behind with the Audi R8 LMS’s off the back
2. VLN: Manthey Racing and Porsche win at the 2010 Nurburgring opener
3. Video: Porsche at the 2010 12 Hours of Sebring
4. IMSA Performance Matmut wins 2010 24 Hour Race in Dubai Third Porsche win in succession
5. 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 R world premiere at the Racing Car Show Autosport International