Vitaphone stretches lead with win

The winning Maserati took the lead during the mandatory pitstops in the middle of the one-hour championship race and Bartels hung on to claim the victory from a hard-charging Richard Westbrook in the best of the Matech Fords. The Briton reduced a nine-second deficit to just under one and a half seconds in the space of 12 laps.

Bertolini paid tribute to the Vitaphone mechanics for turning the car around so quickly at its pitstops.

"The crew did an unbelievable job," said the Italian. "50 per cent of this victory is down to them."

Westbrook and team-mate Thomas Mutsch came close to achieving an incredible turnaround after the latter qualified second to last. After charging to fifth in the qualifying race yesterday, Mutsch completed the opening stint in the same place and then Westbrook, who rejoined in third, passed Alex Margaritis and then "threw caution to the wind" as he chased down Bartels.

"We had to get our heads down, stay clean and really attack," said Westbrook. "If the race had been a lap or two longer, it could have been different."

Margaritis and Marc Hennerici claimed third place in their Phoenix Chevrolet Corvette ahead of Peter Dumbreck and Michael Krumm's Sumo Power Nissan. Dumbreck led the first half of the race from pole position but a malfunctioning wheel gun during the car's pitstop resulted in a 16-second delay.

Bertolini and Bartels lead the championship with three events to go on 122 points. Mutsch trails on 95 points, 15 ahead of Hennerici.

Pos  Drivers                  Car               Time/Gap
 1.  Bertolini/Bartels        Maserati      1h00m19.722s
 2.  Mutsch/Westbrook         Ford              + 1.402s
 3.  Hennerici/Margaritis     Corvette         + 15.482s
 4.  Dumbreck/Krumm           Nissan           + 24.623s
 5.  Martin/Leinders          Ford             + 31.945s
 6.  Makowiecki/Clairay       Aston Martin     + 32.483s
 7.  Kox/Haase                Lamborghini      + 32.850s
 8.  Kechele/Menten           Lamborghini      + 34.845s
 9.  Heger/Müller             Maserati         + 41.948s
10.  Turner/Enge              Aston Martin     + 43.495s
11.  Mücke/Lamy               Aston Martin     + 44.434s
12.  Prost/Jani               Ford             + 46.306s
13.  Hirschi/Piccione         Aston Martin     + 47.565s
14.  Jousse/Maassen           Corvette         + 54.916s
15.  Palttala/Kuppens         Ford           + 1m10.419s
16.  Cazenave/Kuismanen       Corvette           + 1 lap
17.  Bouchut/Basseng          Lamborghini       + 2 laps
18.  Ara/Nilsson              Nissan            + 2 laps
19.  Mayr-Melnhof/Pier Guidi  Maserati          + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Wendlinger/Moser         Nissan        31 laps
     Pastorelli/Schwager      Lamborghini   13 laps
     Campbell-Walter/Hughes   Nissan        1 lap
     Bernoldi/Ramos           Maserati      0 laps