Marc VDS Ford wins qualifying race

Makowiecki had made it up to fifth by the time the pitstop window opened and then stayed out on track for four more laps. That tactic and a quick turn-around by the Belgian VDS squad enablde team-mate Martin to exit the pits in the lead.

Martin was challenged by Stef Dusseldorp in the best of the Hexis Aston Martins for the first few corners after his stop, but was able to use the superiority of the Ford GT around the 2.26-mile Sachsenring circuit to pull away. He took the chequered flag 6.6 seconds ahead of the Hexis car that Dusseldorp shared with Clivio Piccione.

Makowiecki said: "I was in a good rhythm so the team told me to stay out for three or four laps more. The guys did a really good pitstop and then Max his job."

Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke claimed third place for the Young Driver AMR Aston team. Mucke passed Warren Hughes, whose Sumo Nissan had jumped from fourth to third in the pitstops, with three laps to go.

The pole-winning All-Inkl.com Lamborghini led to the pitstops in the hands of Nicky Pastorelli before a slow stop dropped the car to ninth. Team-mate Dominik Schwarger hauled the car as high as sixth before an excursion through the gravel as he battled with Richard Westbrook's JRM Nissan left him seventh at the finish.

Results - 43 laps:

Pos  Drivers                  Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Makowiecki/Martin        Marc VDS Ford         1h00m22.375s
 2.  Piccione/Dusseldorp      Hexis Aston               + 6.683s
 3.  Mucke/Turner             Young Driver Aston       + 20.166s
 4.  Bernoldi/Hughes          Sumo Power Nissan        + 24.041s
 5.  Hohenadel/Piccini        Hexis Aston              + 33.083s
 6.  Westbrook/Dumbreck       JRM Nissan               + 34.907s
 7.  Pastorelli/Schwager      All-Inkl Lamborghini     + 38.325s
 8.  Campbell-Walter/Brabham  Sumo Power Nissan        + 39.397s
 9.  Winkelhock/Basseng       All-Inkl Lamborghini     + 39.884s
10   Muller/Enge              Young Driver Aston       + 40.376s
11.  Luhr/Krumm               JRM Nissan               + 48.863s
12.  Wendlinger/Kox           Swiss Lamborghini        + 48.991s
13.  Clairay/Leclerc          Belgian Ford             + 51.058s

Retirements:

     Nilsson/Janak            Swiss Lamborghini          25 laps
     Hezemans/Catsburg        Exim China Corvette         4 laps
     Hennerici/Leinders       Marc VDS Ford               0 laps
     Nygaard/Ickx             Belgian Ford                0 laps