The 2010 FIA GT1 Algarve round was an auto race held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão, Portugal on 17–19 September 2010. Serving as the seventh round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship season, the FIA GT1 race served as part of the larger Portimão Supercar event and was joined by the FIA GT3 European Championship, GT4 European Cup, and Superleague Formula. The former FIA GT Championship previously raced at the Algarve circuit in 2009.

Background Success Ballast Entry Ballast No. 7 Young Driver AMR No. 24 Reiter No. 13 Phoenix Racing / Carsport No. 1 Vitaphone Racing Team No. 10 Hexis AMR No. 33 Triple H Team Hegersport As part of the FIA Balance of Performance, Ford GTs were allowed the team to increase the size of their air restrictors for more power, although the cars also had to carry an extra of ballast. Further, six teams entered the Portimão round with success ballast. The No. 7 Young Driver which won the previous round at the Nürburgring carried , while further top four finishers Reiter, Phoenix, and Hexis also gained ballast. The No. 11 Vitaphone entry, which led both the Drivers' and Teams' Championships entering Portimão, retains of the 20 previously carried in the previous round, while the No. 33 Hegersport car shed 40 kg of ballast carried over from the Nürburgring.

Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini of Vitaphone retained the Drivers' Championship lead they had held since the Paul Ricard round, holding a fourteen-point gap over Thomas Mutsch of Matech. Tomáš Enge and Darren Turner shared third place a further twelve points behind Mutsch. In the Teams' Championship, Vitaphone also held the points lead by a margin of 26 points over Reiter, while Young Driver were four points further back.

Qualifying Phoenix's Marc Hennerici was able to put the team's sole Corvette on pole position in the final qualifying session by a margin of three hundredths of a second. Marc VDS initially earned their best qualifying position to date by claiming the front row in the No. 40 Ford GT, but were later penalized to the back of the grid after their car failed a stall test during technical inspection. The penalty promoted the No. 23 Sumo Power Nissan to the front row, while the Vitaphone duo locked out the second row on the grid.

Qualifying result For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. The fastest lap for each session is indicated with bold.

Pos No. Driver 1 Team Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Grid Driver 2 1 13 Marc Hennerici Phoenix Racing / Carsport 1:42.912 1:42.597 1:42.394 1 Alexandros Margaritis 2 40 Maxime Martin Marc VDS Racing Team 1:42.802 1:43.022 1:42.424 23 Bas Leinders 3 23 Peter Dumbreck Sumo Power GT 1:43.102 1:42.583 1:42.724 2 Michael Krumm 4 2 Enrique Bernoldi Vitaphone Racing Team 1:43.188 1:43.327 1:42.827 3 Miguel Ramos 5 1 Andrea Bertolini Vitaphone Racing Team 1:43.088 1:42.721 1:42.843 4 Michael Bartels 6 38 Nicky Pastorelli All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:43.398 1:42.901 1:43.537 5 Dominik Schwager 7 34 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof Triple H Team Hegersport 1:43.439 1:42.465 1:44.605 6 Alessandro Pier Guidi 8 33 Altfrid Heger Triple H Team Hegersport 1:43.557 1:43.153 No Time 7 Alex Müller 9 37 Christophe Bouchut All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:43.153 1:43.429 8 Marc Basseng 10 25 Frank Kechele Reiter 1:42.750 1:43.510 9 Jos Menten 11 7 Darren Turner Young Driver AMR 1:43.110 1:43.581 10 Tomáš Enge 12 11 Julien Jousse Mad-Croc Racing 1:42.819 1:43.727 11 Xavier Maassen 13 8 Stefan Mücke Young Driver AMR 1:43.397 1:44.303 12 Pedro Lamy 14 9 Frédéric Makowiecki Hexis AMR 1:43.102 1:44.596 13 Yann Clairay 15 4 Seiji Ara Swiss Racing Team 1:42.953 1:44.607 14 Max Nilsson 16 12 Laurent Cazenave Mad-Croc Racing 1:43.568 1:45.124 15 Pertti Kuismanen 17 6 Nicolas Prost Matech Competition 1:43.762 16 Neel Jani 18 41 Markus Palttala Marc VDS Racing Team 1:43.796 17 Renaud Kuppens 19 3 Karl Wendlinger Swiss Racing Team 1:43.812 18 Henri Moser 20 10 Jonathan Hirschi Hexis AMR 1:43.904 19 Clivio Piccione 21 24 Peter Kox Reiter 1:44.008 20 Christopher Haase 22 5 Thomas Mutsch Matech Competition 1:44.083 21 Richard Westbrook 23 22 Jamie Campbell-Walter Sumo Power GT 1:44.686 22 Warren Hughes

Races

Qualifying Race Alexandros Margaritis led the field away from pole position, taking command for the first half of the race. After the pit stop and driver change, Sumo Power's Peter Dumbreck was able to catch up to leader Marc Hennerici, eventually passing the Corvette into Turn 1 in the final ten minutes of the race. The Vitaphone Maserati of Andrea Bertolini, following close behind the two, was eventually able to also pass Hennerici and secure second place

Race result Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 23 Sumo Power GT Peter Dumbreck Michael Krumm Nissan 34 2 1 Vitaphone Racing Team Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini Maserati 34 −2.474 3 13 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Marc Hennerici Alexandros Margaritis Corvette 34 −9.222 4 7 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge Darren Turner Aston Martin 34 −26.210 5 5 Matech Competition Thomas Mutsch Richard Westbrook Ford 34 −29.079 6 33 Triple H Team Hegersport Altfrid Heger Alex Müller Maserati 34 −39.464 7 11 Mad-Croc Racing Xavier Maassen Julien Jousse Corvette 34 −39.581 8 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Lamborghini 34 −39.982 9 22 Sumo Power GT Warren Hughes Jamie Campbell-Walter Nissan 34 −40.108 10 9 Hexis AMR Frédéric Makowiecki Yann Clairay Aston Martin 34 −40.428 11 4 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson Seiji Ara Nissan 34 −40.680 12 24 Reiter Peter Kox Christopher Haase Lamborghini 34 −41.549 13 2 Vitaphone Racing Team Miguel Ramos Enrique Bernoldi Maserati 34 −43.590 14 25 Reiter Jos Menten Frank Kechele Lamborghini 34 −44.500 15 8 Young Driver AMR Stefan Mücke Pedro Lamy Aston Martin 34 −47.150 16 10 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione Jonathan Hirschi Aston Martin 34 −58.365 17 12 Mad-Croc Racing Pertti Kuismanen Laurent Cazenave Corvette 34 −1:51.030 18 34 Triple H Team Hegersport Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof Alessandro Pier Guidi Maserati 33 −1 Lap 19 41 Marc VDS Racing Team Renaud Kuppens Markus Palttala Ford 33 −1 Lap 20 6 Matech Competition Nicolas Prost Neel Jani Ford 25 −9 Laps 21DNF 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders Maxime Martin Ford 22 Retired 22DNF 3 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger Henri Moser Nissan 18 Damage 23DNF 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Christophe Bouchut Lamborghini 13 Retired

Championship Race Following the Qualifying Race win, the Sumo Power Nissan led into the first turn, ahead of the No. 1 Vitaphone Maserati. Further down the field the No. 38 Münnich Lamborghini spun onto the outside runoff where it was collected by the No. 2 Vitaphone Maserati. Jamie Campbell-Walter's Nissan was also hit in the first turn, causing steering damage and forcing the team's retirement. At the opening of the pit window, the two leaders pitted together, but Sumo Power suffered from a tire change problem which dropped them down the race order, handing the lead to Vitaphone's Andrea Bertolini. The Phoenix Racing Corvette was promoted into second after the pit stops before being overtaken by Richard Westbrook in the No. 5 Matech Ford. Westbrook attempted to chase down the leading Maserati, but was only able to come within a second and a half at the end of the race.

Race result Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 1 Vitaphone Racing Team Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini Maserati 34 2 5 Matech Competition Thomas Mutsch Richard Westbrook Ford 34 −1.402 3 13 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Marc Hennerici Alexandros Margaritis Corvette 34 −15.482 4 23 Sumo Power GT Peter Dumbreck Michael Krumm Nissan 34 −24.623 5 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders Maxime Martin Ford 34 −31.945 6 9 Hexis AMR Frédéric Makowiecki Yann Clairay Aston Martin 34 −32.483 7 24 Reiter Peter Kox Christopher Haase Lamborghini 34 −32.850 8 25 Reiter Jos Menten Frank Kechele Lamborghini 34 −34.845 9 33 Triple H Team Hegersport Altfrid Heger Alex Müller Maserati 34 −41.948 10 7 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge Darren Turner Aston Martin 34 −43.495 11 8 Young Driver AMR Stefan Mücke Pedro Lamy Aston Martin 34 −44.434 12 6 Matech Competition Nicolas Prost Neel Jani Ford 34 −46.306 13 10 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione Jonathan Hirschi Aston Martin 34 −47.565 14 11 Mad-Croc Racing Xavier Maassen Julien Jousse Corvette 34 −54.916 15 41 Marc VDS Racing Team Renaud Kuppens Markus Palttala Ford 34 −1:10.419 16 12 Mad-Croc Racing Pertti Kuismanen Laurent Cazenave Corvette 33 −1 Lap 17 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Christophe Bouchut Lamborghini 32 −2 Laps 18 4 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson Seiji Ara Nissan 32 −2 Laps 19 34 Triple H Team Hegersport Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof Alessandro Pier Guidi Maserati 32 −2 Laps 20 3 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger Henri Moser Nissan 31 −3 Laps 21DNF 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Lamborghini 13 Retired 22DNF 22 Sumo Power GT Warren Hughes Jamie Campbell-Walter Nissan 1 Damage 23DNF 2 Vitaphone Racing Team Miguel Ramos Enrique Bernoldi Maserati 0 Collision

References

External links Algarve GT1 Race in Portugal – FIA GT1 World Championship