Lamy, Gardel take thrilling win
Pedro Lamy and Gabriele Gardel won a thrilling penultimate round of the FIA GT championship in Dubai
Their Ferrari 500 Maranello had lost its qualifying position of seventh after an engine change before the race.
However they worked their way up through the field and were able to come back into contention for the victory when a safety car closed the field up, after the number 56 Porsche broke a driveshaft and was stranded out on circuit.
Christophe Bouchut, who had dominated the early part of the race from pole position, still looked as if he and Stephane Ortelli would take victory for the Russian Age Racing Aston Martin DBR9, however with just over ten laps remaining the car pulled off with technical problems.
Lamy, third when the Aston retired, then passed Anthony Kumpen's Corvette CR5 on the 82nd lap before gaining on Timo Scheider's Maserati MC12.
Lamy passed Scheider on the penultimate lap. The German tried to fight back but Lamy crossed the line 0.7 seconds ahead to take his third victory of the season. Scheider's second place was enough to give the Vitaphone Racing Team the GT1 team's title.
Tim Sugden and Emmanuel Collard won the GT2 class in their Porsche 996.
The series now heads to Bahrain next week for the final round, with seven drivers capable of winning the drivers' championship. The top five, Karl Wendlinger, Andrea Bertolini, Scheider, Michael Bartels and Gardel are separated by just a point.
Pos Class Drivers Car Time 1. GT1 Lamy/Gardel Ferrari 550 Maranello 3:01:07.031 2. GT1 Bartels/Scheider Maserati MC12 GT1 + 0.775 3. GT1 Longin/Kumpen/Hezemans Corvette C5R + 8.028 4. GT1 Bertolini/Wendlinger Maserati MC12 GT1 + 10.219 5. GT1 Babini/Biagi Maserati MC12 GT1 + 20.854 6. GT1 Deletraz/Piccini/Lemeret Ferrari 575 Maranello GTC + 2:08.708 7. GT1 Keen/Halliday Lister Storm GT + 3 laps 8. GT2 Collard/Sugden Porsche 996 GT3 RSR + 3 laps 9. GT1 Fomenko/Vasiliev Ferrari 550 Maranello + 4 laps 10. GT1 Zacchia/Blanchemain/Vosse Ferrari 550 Maranello + 5 laps 11. GT2 Bleekemolen/Crevels Spyker C8 Spyder GT2 R + 5 laps 12. GT1 Peter/Kutemann/Waaijenberg Maserati MC12 GT1 + 5 laps 13. GT2 Thurnundtaxis/Buncombe/Casadei Ferrari 360 Modena + 8 laps 14. GT2 Ried/Ried Porsche 996 GT3 RS + 9 laps 15. GT1 Bouchut/Ortelli Aston Martin DBR9 + 11 laps 16. GT2 Busnelli/Moccia Porsche 996 GT3 RSR + 11 laps 17. GT2 Kuppens/Leinders/Ickx Vertigo Streiff + 20 laps 18. GT3 Sicart/Sicart/Barde Ferrari 360 Modena + 26 laps Not Classified/retirements: Class Drivers Car On Lap GT2 Vonka/Jurasz/Fumal Porsche 996 GT3 RS 47 GT2 Konopka/Rosina Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 45 GT1 Lacko/Konrad Saleen S7 R 45 GT2 Lieb/Rockenfeller Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 38 GT2 Moro/Kaufmann Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 32 GT1 Cioci/Montermini Ferrari 575 Maranello GTC 17 GT1 Lechner/Ruberti Saleen S7 R 17 GT2 Lambertini/Rosa/Drudi Ferrari 360 Modena 10
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