Muller/Enge win qualifying race
Alex Muller and Tomas Enge claimed victory for the Young Driver Aston Martin squad in the qualifying race for tomorrow's Silverstone round of the FIA GT1 World Championship
Muller trailed Lucas Luhr in the best of the JR Motorsports Nissans through the first half of the one-hour race, but a quick turn-around by the Young Driver crew, and two quick laps from Enge before Luhr pitted, sealed the victory for the German-run team.
The Nissan now driven by Michael Krumm rejoined nearly six seconds behind the Aston and did not make significant inroads on the lead until Enge backed off in the final stages.
Muller said: "It was impossible to pass the Nissan, so I waited for the pitstops and hoped for a good stop. The guys did a great job, otherwise we wouldn't have been ahead."
The Selleslagh-run Team China Chevrolet Corvette driven by Andi Zuber and Mike Hezemans finished third. Zuber started from pole after Hezemans topped the qualifying times, but dropped to third when he missed his shift from second to third.
Fourth place went to Sumo Power Nissan shared by Enrique Bernoldi and Warren Hughes. The leading finishers from the Hexis Aston Martin and All-Inkl Lamborghini teams rounded out the top six.
While a Young Driver Aston and a JRM Nissan finished first and second, their team-mates were eliminated in a first-lap crash caused when Sumo Power Nissan driver David Brabham tagged the Darren Turner/Stefan Mucke Aston into a spin, which collected the second JRM car driven by Peter Dumbreck.
Tomorrow's race for the famous Tourist Trophy starts at 2.45pm.
Results - 30 laps: Pos Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Enge/Muller Young Driver Aston 1h01m48.056s 2. Krumm/Luhr JRM Nissan + 1.840s 3. Hezemans/Zuber China Corvette + 18.923s 4. Hughes/Bernoldi Sumo Power Nissan + 26.681s 5. Dusseldorp/Piccione Hexis Aston + 32.758s 6. Pastorelli/Schwager All-Inkl Lamborghini + 55.936s 7. Ickx/Nygaard Belgian Ford + 1m21.843s 8. Leclerc/Palttala Belgian Ford + 1m41.562s 9. Enjalbert/Rossi DKR Corvette + 1m50.177s 10. Hohenadel/Piccini Hexis Aston + 1 lap Retirements: Leinders/Hennerici Marc VDS Ford 23 laps Makowiecki/Martin Marc VDS Ford 12 laps Basseng/Winkelhock All-Inkl Lamborghini 8 laps Campbell-Walter/Brabham Sumo Power Nissan 1 lap Mucke/Turner Young Driver Aston 1 lap Westbrook/Dumbreck JRM Nissan 0 laps
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