The 2009 Budapest City Challenge was the fifth round of the 2009 FIA GT Championship season and was organised by City Challenge GmbH. It took place at the Hungaroring, Hungary on 30 August 2009. Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini won for the Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati after the disqualification of the K plus K Motorsport Saleen. Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard of Prospeed Competition won in the GT2 category by passing the AF Corse Ferrari on the final lap of the event.

Report

Qualifying Qualifying was led by the No. 2 Vitaphone Maserati of driver Alex Müller who recorded a lap time over a tenth of a second faster than Karl Wendlinger in the K plus K Saleen. Enrique Bernoldi, in only his second FIA GT event, qualified the Sangari Corvette on the second row alongside the third Vitaphone Maserati.

The GT2 category was led by the No. 60 Prospeed Porsche of Richard Westbrook at the end of the qualifying session but Westbrook later had his lap times excluded after the Porsche failed a stall test during technical inspection. This promoted Álvaro Barba of No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari to his first pole position, followed by Tim Mullen's CRS Racing Ferrari. Westbrook's exclusion demoted the Prospeed Porsche to 24th and last on the grid.

Qualifying results Class winners are highlighted in bold.

Pos Class Team Driver Lap Time Grid 1 GT1 No. 2 Vitaphone Racing Team Alex Müller 1:41.815 1 2 GT1 No. 14 K plus K Motorsport Karl Wendlinger 1:41.929 2 3 GT1 No. 8 Sangari Team Brazil Enrique Bernoldi 1:42.166 3 4 GT1 No. 33 Vitaphone Racing Team DHL Alessandro Pier Guidi 1:42.375 4 5 GT1 No. 19 Luc Alphand Aventures Xavier Maassen 1:42.563 5 6 GT1 No. 1 Vitaphone Racing Team Andrea Bertolini 1:42.870 6 7 GT1 No. 4 PK Carsport Mike Hezemans 1:43.255 7 8 GT1 No. 3 Selleslagh Racing Team Bert Longin 1:43.520 8 9 GT1 No. 18 K plus K Motorsport Adam Lacko 1:44.092 9 10 GT1 No. 11 Full Speed Racing Team Stéphane Lémeret 1:44.551 10 11 G2 No. 112 Autoracing Club Bratislava Andrej Studenic 1:45.399 11 12 GT1 No. 44 Matech GT Racing Thomas Mutsch 1:45.580 12 13 GT1 No. 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Renaud Kuppens 1:46.545 13 14 GT2 No. 60 Prospeed Competition Richard Westbrook 1:47.043 24† 15 GT2 No. 51 AF Corse Álvaro Barba 1:47.262 14 16 GT2 No. 55 CRS Racing Tim Mullen 1:47.347 15 17 GT2 No. 50 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni 1:47.405 16 18 GT2 No. 97 Brixia Motorsport Martin Ragginger 1:47.683 17 19 GT2 No. 77 BMS Scuderia Italia Paolo Ruberti 1:47.797 18 20 GT2 No. 95 PeCom Racing Team Matías Russo 1:47.866 19 21 GT2 No. 59 Trackspeed Racing Tim Sugden 1:47.884 20 22 GT2 No. 56 CRS Racing Andrew Kirkaldy 1:47.890 21 23 GT2 No. 61 Prospeed Competition Darryl O'Young 1:48.067 22 24 GT2 No. 78 BMS Scuderia Italia Diego Romanini 1:50.599 23

† – The No. 60 Prospeed Competition Porsche had its qualifying times disallowed after the car failed post-qualifying technical inspection. The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari took over GT2 pole position.

Race

The race was led into the first turn by Enrique Bernoldi's Sangari Corvette which managed to jump from the third place grid position to first, followed by Karl Wendlinger's No. 14 K plus K Saleen and the No. 2 and No. 33 Vitaphone Maseratis. The four held this position in the early laps but Alex Müller in the No. 2 car braked too late for the first turn at the start of the fourth lap and jumped the inside kerbs before impacting the leading Corvette and spinning in front of the second place Saleen. This allowed the No. 33 Vitaphone car into second but Bernoldi continued to lead despite the damaged car.

This damage would however hamper the Corvette as the first pit stops took place and the Sangari Team Brazil crew had difficulties refueling the car. The No. 1 Maserati inherited the lead following its pit stop but had to relinquish it after the team was penalized for speeding in the pit lane. This allowed the No. 14 Saleen, now driven by Ryan Sharp, to take the lead which it held until the second round of pit stops where the No. 33 Maserati took over at the front of the field. Karl Wendlinger returned to the cockpit and was able to overcome the deficit and retake the lead from the Maserati in the last ten minutes of the race. On the final lap the No. 33 was passed by the No. 1 team car to complete the podium.

In the GT2 category the No. 97 Brixia Racing Porsche of Martin Ragginger led the field at the end of the first lap after passing the three Ferraris which had qualified ahead of it. The Porsche however made its first pit stop earlier than the rest of the GT2 competitors and allowed the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari to lead the class. The No. 60 Prospeed Porsche of Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard, which had started from last on the grid, was able to climb through the GT2 field and eventually challenge AF Corse's Gianmaria Bruni in the latter half of the race. Westbrook was able to outbrake Bruni's Ferrari entering the first turn of the final lap and hold the lead for the rest of the lap. The No. 77 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari completed the GT2 podium.

Following the race the No. 14 K Plus K Motorsports Saleen was excluded from the race after the car failed post-race technical inspection. The car's engine did not stall as required when its air restrictors were blocked. This promoted Bartels and Bertolini to the race win as well as Enrique Bernoldi and Roberto Streit to their first GT1 podium. Müller was also penalized after the race for avoidable contact when he collided with the No. 8 Corvette and No. 14 Saleen, earning a five grid spot penalty for the No. 2 Vitaphone Maserati at the next FIA GT event.

Race result Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 75% of winner's distance are marked as Not Classified (NC).

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps Engine 1 GT1 1 Vitaphone Racing Team Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini Maserati MC12 GT1 67 Maserati M144B/2 6.0 L V12 2 GT1 33 Vitaphone Racing Team DHL Alessandro Pier Guidi Matteo Bobbi Maserati MC12 GT1 67 Maserati M144B/2 6.0 L V12 3 GT1 8 Sangari Team Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Roberto Streit Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 67 Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 4 GT1 19 Luc Alphand Aventures Xavier Maassen Thomas Biagi Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 67 Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 5 GT1 4 PK Carsport Anthony Kumpen Mike Hezemans Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 67 Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 6 GT1 3 Selleslagh Racing Team Bert Longin James Ruffier Chevrolet Corvette C6.R 66 Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8 7 GT2 60 Prospeed Competition Emmanuel Collard Richard Westbrook Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 65 Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 8 GT2 50 AF Corse Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander Ferrari F430 GT2 65 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 9 GT2 77 BMS Scuderia Italia Paolo Ruberti Matteo Malucelli Ferrari F430 GT2 65 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 10 GT1 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Renaud Kuppens Bas Leinders Ford GT1 65 Ford Cammer 5.0 L V8 11 GT2 61 Prospeed Competition Marco Holzer Darryl O'Young Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 65 Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 12 GT2 51 AF Corse Álvaro Barba Niki Cadei Ferrari F430 GT2 64 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 13 GT2 56 CRS Racing Rob Bell Andrew Kirkaldy Ferrari F430 GT2 64 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 14 GT2 95 PeCom Racing Team Matías Russo Luís Pérez Companc Ferrari F430 GT2 64 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 15 GT2 55 CRS Racing Chris Niarchos Tim Mullen Ferrari F430 GT2 64 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 16 GT2 97 Brixia Racing Luigi Lucchini Martin Ragginger Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 64 Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 17 GT2 78 BMS Scuderia Italia Diego Romanini Kenneth Heyer Ferrari F430 GT2 64 Ferrari F136 4.0 L V8 18 GT2 59 Trackspeed Racing Tim Sugden David Ashburn Porsche 997 GT3-RSR 63 Porsche M97/74 4.0 L Flat-6 19DNF GT1 18 K plus K Motorsport Adam Lacko Max Nilsson Saleen S7-R 59 Ford Windsor 7.0 L V8 20 GT1 44 Matech GT Racing Thomas Mutsch Jonathan Hirschi Ford GT1 59 Ford Cammer 5.0 L V8 21NC G2 112 Autoracing Club Bratislava Miro Konopka Andrej Studenic Saleen S7-R 48 Ford Windsor 7.0 L V8 22DNF GT1 11 Full Speed Racing Team Stéphane Lémeret Luke Hines Saleen S7-R 23 Ford Windsor 7.0 L V8 23DNF GT1 2 Vitaphone Racing Team Miguel Ramos Alex Müller Maserati MC12 GT1 5 Maserati M144B/2 6.0 L V12 DSQ GT1 14 K plus K Motorsport Karl Wendlinger Ryan Sharp Saleen S7-R 67 Ford Windsor 7.0 L V8

References