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Zonta/Kechele dominate in Spain

Reiter Lamborghini drivers Frank Kechele and Ricardo Zonta dominated this morning's FIA GT1 World Championship qualifying race at the Navarra circuit

Kechele converted the pole position won by Zonta into the lead of the race and was able to pull away from second-place Nico Verdonck's Hegersport Maserati with ease. He was nearly seven seconds ahead when the pitstop sequence began in the middle of the one-hour race.

Zonta emerged from the pits only a couple of seconds clear of Alessandro Pier Guidi, who had taken over from Verdonck, but the Brazilian was able to edge clear over the remainder of the distance. The former grand prix driver crossed the line with three and a half seconds in hand.

Kechele said: "I had a good start: the Lambo has good acceleration, so it was quite easy for me to keep the lead. I tried to make some solid fast laps in the beginning and then tried to save the car."

The Marc VDS Ford team notched up its best finish of the season with third place for Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin. Martin took the chequered flag just over a tenth clear of the Matech Ford Neel Jani shared with Nicolas Armindo.

Championship leaders Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels made it through from their disappointing seventh-row grid position to take seventh in the Vitaphone Maserati.

Pos  Drivers                 Car               Time/Gap
 1.  Zonta/Kechele           Lamborghini   1h01m02.750s
 2.  Pier Guidi/Verdonck     Maserati          + 4.548s
 3.  Martin/Leinders         Ford             + 34.111s
 4.  Jani/Amindo             Ford             + 34.243s
 5.  Campbell-Walter/Hughes  Nissan           + 37.406s
 6.  Longin/Muller           Maserati         + 42.316s
 7.  Bertolini/Bartels       Maserati         + 50.127s
 8.  Bouchut/Basseng         Lamborghini      + 56.593s
 9.  Makowiecki/Clairay      Aston Martin   + 1m04.704s
10.  Westbrook/Mutsch        Ford           + 1m07.495s
11.  Hennerici/Margaritis    Corvette       + 1m21.127s
12.  Bobbi/Palttala          Ford           + 1m22.663s
13.  Ara/Nilsson             Nissan         + 1m26.128s
14.  Wendlinger/Moser        Nissan             + 1 lap
15.  Huisman/Kuismanen       Corvette           + 1 lap
16.  Dumbreck/Krumm          Nissan            + 2 laps
17.  Kox/Haase               Lamborghini       + 4 laps

Retirements:

     Schwager/Pastorelli     Lamborghini   13 laps
     Turner/Enge             Aston Martin  6 laps
     Hirschi/Piccione        Aston Martin  4 laps

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