Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke win at Beijing after Hexis Aston's late crash

The Hexis duo of Christian Hohenadel/Andrea Piccini looked set to overcame their Young Driver Aston Martin stablemates in the championship race at Beijing's Goldenport track on Saturday until spinning out with a handful of minutes to go, which handed victory to Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner

In a rain-affected and crash-strewn race, which started and finished under the safety car, the first corner of racing claimed the championship-contending All-Inkl Lamborghini of Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock, who were punted off the track along with the Hexis Aston of Stef Dusseldorp and Clivio Piccione.

The Young Driver Aston of Alex Muller/Tomas Enge led early on from the sister car of Turner and Mucke. The positions swapped in the pitstops, with Turner exiting ahead of Muller, but both were jumped by Piccini in the Hexis Aston.

The decisive moment of the race came with just five minutes to go, when Piccini spun off just as a safety car was called for due to Jeroen den Boer beaching his Corvette.

The Hexis car's exit was an added bonus for points leaders Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm, who finished third in their JRM Nissan - a great recovery after Luhr binned it early on in qualifying, forcing them to start the day from 16th on the grid. Krumm/Luhr take an 11-point lead over Mucke and Turner into the finale in Argentina.

Maxime Martin led the race briefly in his Marc VDS Ford GT after a blinding opening stint, but his team-mate Bertrand Baguette just could not keep his pace, and dropped back to fourth by the finish. A great race for fifth was won by Enrique Bernoldi's Sumo Power-run Nissan after a frenetic duel with Nico Verdonck's Exim Corvette.

Results - 42 laps:

Pos  Drivers                  Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Mucke/Turner             Young Driver Aston    1h00m23.990s
 2.  Enge/Muller              Young Driver Aston        + 0.972s
 3.  Luhr/Krumm               JRM Nissan                + 1.593s
 4.  Martin/Baguette          Marc VDS Ford             + 2.726s
 5.  Rossi/Verdonck           Exim Corvette             + 2.955s
 6.  Catsburg/Bernoldi        Sumo Power Nissan         + 3.387s
 7.  Westbrook/Dumbreck       JRM Nissan                + 3.723s
 8.  Campbell-Walter/Brabham  Sumo Power Nissan         + 4.838s
 9.  Lauck/Leuenberger        DKR Lamborghini           + 6.160s

Retirements:

     Hohenadel/Piccini        Hexis Aston                37 laps
     Tung/den Boer            Exim Corvette              37 laps
     Hennerici/Leinders       Marc VDS Ford              25 laps
     Leclerc/Clairay          Belgian Ford               21 laps
     Bruck/Kennard            DKR Lamborghini            18 laps
     Schwager/Pastorelli      All-Inkl Lamborghini        7 laps
     Hirschi/Nygaard          Belgian Ford                4 laps
     Dusseldorp/Piccione      Hexis Aston                 3 laps
     Basseng/Winkelhock       All-Inkl Lamborghini        3 laps

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Alex Muller and Tomas Enge lead Young Driver Aston Martin one-two in Beijing rain
Next article 2012 World GT Championship to be based on GT3 with equalised GT1 cars

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe