The 2011 FIA GT1 Sachsenring round is an auto racing event held at the Sachsenring, Saxony, Germany on 13–15 May, and will be the fourth round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season. It is the FIA GT1 World Championship's first race held at the Sachsenring, as the circuit replaces the Nürburgring as the German round for the series. The event will be supported by the German ADAC Masters Weekend, featuring the ADAC GT Masters, ATS Formel 3 Cup, ADAC Formel Masters, and ADAC Procar Series, as well as the German Mini Challenge.

Background Success Ballast Entry Ballast No. 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport No. 23 JR Motorsports No. 8 Young Driver AMR No. 21 Sumo Power GT No. 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock of Münnich Motorsport retained their championship lead following the Algarve round and further extended their advantage to twenty points over both Young Driver's Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke and Algarve Championship Race-winners Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr of JR Motorsports. Basseng and Winkelhock's car also has lost five kilograms of the of success ballast they carried at Algarve. Luhr and Krumm have gained 35 kg, while Turner and Mücke carry only 20 kg into Sachsenring. Luhr and Krumm also have the addition of 15 kg which have been added to the minimum weight for all Nissans as part of the FIA's balance of performance. The Ford GT teams have also had their minimum weights altered, losing 10 kg. In the Teams' Championship Hexis AMR has taken over the title lead, a single point ahead of both Münnich and JR Motorsports, while Young Driver is two points further behind in fourth.

With only a week between the Algarve and Sachsenring, the majority of teams have retained the line-ups. Frédéric Makowiecki returns to Marc VDS after being absent in the Algarve, while Yann Clairay moves from Marc VDS to Belgian Racing to replace Martin Matzke. Warren Hughes rejoins the Sumo Power GT team he drove for in 2010, replacing Ricardo Zonta in the team's No. 20 car, partnering Enrique Bernoldi. The sole DKR Engineering Corvette has withdrawn from the Sachsenring event due to a lack of spare parts after the team has suffered three accidents in past four races, reducing the field to seventeen cars.

Qualifying

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 37 Dominik Schwager All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:19.941 1:19.308 1:18.763 1 Nicky Pastorelli 2 3 Stef Dusseldorp Hexis AMR 1:19.337 1:19.449 1:19.028 2 Clivio Piccione 3 8 Stefan Mücke Young Driver AMR 1:19.591 1:19.119 1:19.471 3 Darren Turner 4 20 Warren Hughes Sumo Power GT 1:19.657 1:19.503 1:19.605 4 Enrique Bernoldi 5 22 Richard Westbrook JR Motorsports 1:20.007 1:19.599 1:19.634 5 Peter Dumbreck 6 40 Bas Leinders Marc VDS Racing Team 1:19.832 1:19.295 1:19.739 6 Marc Hennerici 7 11 Mike Hezemans Exim Bank Team China 1:19.143 1:19.135 1:18.714 7 Nick Catsburg 8 23 Lucas Luhr JR Motorsports 1:19.885 1:19.300 No Time 8 Michael Krumm 9 5 Karl Wendlinger Swiss Racing Team 1:19.859 1:19.605 17 Peter Kox 10 7 Tomáš Enge Young Driver AMR 1:19.522 1:19.652 9 Alex Müller 11 21 David Brabham Sumo Power GT 1:19.598 1:19.820 10 Jamie Campbell-Walter 12 10 Yann Clairay Belgian Racing 1:19.883 1:19.992 11 Antoine Leclerc 13 4 Christian Hohenadel Hexis AMR 1:19.229 1:20.075 16 Andrea Piccini 14 41 Maxime Martin Marc VDS Racing Team 1:18.889 No Time 12 Frédéric Makowiecki 15 38 Markus Winkelhock All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:20.015 13 Marc Basseng 16 9 Vanina Ickx Belgian Racing 1:20.165 14 Christoffer Nygaard 17 6 Max Nilsson Swiss Racing Team 1:21.115 15 Jiří Janák

The No. 11 Exim Bank Corvette had its Qualifying Session 3 times cancelled for stopping in the pit lane instead of returning to its garage during the session. The No. 5 Swiss Racing Lamborghini was penalized ten grid spots for overtaking during a red flag period in the Qualifying sessions.

Races

Qualifying Race Following a penalty handed to the Corvette of Exim Bank Team China, the No. 37 Münnich Lamborghini of Nicky Pastorelli lead the field at the start, quickly getting a clear hold on first ahead of Clivio Piccione's Hexis Aston Martin. Entering Turn 1, Antoine Leclerc's Belgian Racing Ford tipped the Marc VDS Ford into a spin. Facing backwards, Marc Hennerici was then collected by the second Belgian car of Christoffer Nygaard. With both cars unable to get moving again, the safety car was dispatched for a full course caution to gather the field at the end of the first lap. The safety car was recalled at the start of Lap 4 and Pastorelli resumed his lead of the race. A lap later Nicky Catsburg in the Exim Corvette started to make a pass for seventh place on the JR Motorsports Nissan of Michael Krumm in the first sequence of corners, but spun into the gravel after getting ahead of Krumm exiting Turn 3, stranding the car in the gravel trap.

After the restarting the race in 12th place, Marc VDS's Frédéric Makowiecki began to make his way through the field, passing five cars on track in the next ten laps. As Makowiecki challenged Young Driver's Alex Müller for fifth place into Turn 3 the two made contact and Müller spun his car around, resuming at the back of the field, while Makowiecki continued to race on without being slowed by the incident. At the front of the field, Piccini closed on the rear of Pastorelli and began to challenge for the race lead, followed closely by Darren Turner in third. On Lap 18, the pit window opened and the top three all made their pit stops at the end of that lap. Hexis made the quickest pit stop of the three, allowing Stef Dusseldorp to exit the pits first, followed by Young Driver's Stefan Mücke. Münnich Motorsport suffered a problem with their tire challenge, slowing their pit stop and losing Dominik Schwager three positions as he returned to the track. Enrique Bernoldi briefly held the race lead for Sumo Power for one lap before making his pit stop, handing the lead to Makowiecki. Marc VDS brought the Ford into the pits as the last car to make a pit stop and Maxime Martin was able to exit in the race lead, but he was immediately challenged by Dusseldorp into Turn 1. After Martin defended the race lead he was able to pull away from Dusseldorp, while Warren Hughes had taken over third place after the completion of all pit stops.

With twenty minutes remaining in the race, Max Nilsson went wide in Turn 9 and hit the safety barriers, retiring on the spot. Yann Clairay of Belgian Racing attempted to challenge Markus Winkelhock for tenth place, but spun on his own in Turn 4 and fell to 12th. In the closing five minutes of the race, Mücke caught Hughes to challenge for third place and passed for the position. Further behind them, Christian Hohenadel and Schwager challenged Peter Dumbreck's Nissan for fifth position, but Schwager braked too late for Turn 1 while attempting to pass Dumbreck and went into the gravel trap, eventually falling to seventh. Hohenadel then took over the challenge to Dumbreck and successfully passed him on the final lap of the race. Martin cross the finish line 6.6 seconds ahead of Dusseldorp, followed by Hughes and Mücke, and finally Hohenadel and Dumbreck completed the final two positions for championship points.

Race result Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 41 Marc VDS Racing Team Maxime Martin Frédéric Makowiecki Ford 43 2 3 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione Stef Dusseldorp Aston Martin 43 −6.683 3 8 Young Driver AMR Darren Turner Stefan Mücke Aston Martin 43 −20.166 4 20 Sumo Power GT Enrique Bernoldi Warren Hughes Nissan 43 −24.041 5 4 Hexis AMR Christian Hohenadel Andrea Piccini Aston Martin 43 −33.083 6 22 JR Motorsport Peter Dumbreck Richard Westbrook Nissan 43 −34.907 7 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Lamborghini 43 −38.325 8 21 Sumo Power GT David Brabham Jamie Campbell-Walter Nissan 43 −39.884 9 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock Lamborghini 43 −39.884 10 7 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge Alex Müller Aston Martin 43 −40.376 11 23 JR Motorsport Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr Nissan 43 −48.863 12 5 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger Peter Kox Lamborghini 43 −48.991 13 10 Belgian Racing Yann Clairay Antoine Leclerc Ford 43 −51.058 14DNF 6 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson Jiří Janák Lamborghini 25 Accident 15DNF 11 Exim Bank Team China Mike Hezemans Nick Catsburg Corvette 4 Spun 16DNF 9 Belgian Racing Vanina Ickx Christoffer Nygaard Ford 0 Collision 17DNF 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders Marc Hennerici Ford 0 Collision

Championship Race

Race result Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 4 Hexis AMR Christian Hohenadel Andrea Piccini Aston Martin 42 2 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Lamborghini 42 −2.523 3 8 Young Driver AMR Darren Turner Stefan Mücke Aston Martin 42 −4.218 4 20 Sumo Power GT Enrique Bernoldi Warren Hughes Nissan 42 −22.861 5 21 Sumo Power GT David Brabham Jamie Campbell-Walter Nissan 42 −23.547 6 11 Exim Bank Team China Mike Hezemans Nick Catsburg Corvette 42 −23.867 7 22 JR Motorsport Peter Dumbreck Richard Westbrook Nissan 42 −24.287 8 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders Marc Hennerici Ford 42 −25.272 9 23 JR Motorsport Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr Nissan 42 −26.477 10 10 Belgian Racing Yann Clairay Antoine Leclerc Ford 42 −29.419 11 3 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione Stef Dusseldorp Aston Martin 42 −55.554 12DNF 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock Lamborghini 19 Puncture 13DNF 41 Marc VDS Racing Team Maxime Martin Yann Clairay Ford 9 Puncture 14DNF 9 Belgian Racing Vanina Ickx Christoffer Nygaard Ford 2 Damage 15DNF 5 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger Peter Kox Lamborghini 0 Collision 16DNF 7 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge Alex Müller Aston Martin 0 Collision 17DNF 6 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson Jiří Janák Lamborghini 0 Collision

References

External links Sachsenring GT1 Race in Germany – FIA GT1 World Championship