Aston snatch Silverstone win

The Corvettes were the quicker cars for the majority of the race, but the lead Astons and Maseratis remained in touch throughout and pounced at the end.

The Aston made the best of the wet and gloomy conditions at the start and Wendlinger strode into an early lead, pursued by two Corvettes and Alex Muller flying from ninth to fourth in the second DBR9.

It soon looked like it would be Corvette's day when both Jetalliance Astons had spins. Wendlinger threw away the lead exiting Luffield and dropped to fifth. But he got one place back on the next lap when Muller spun the sister car while lapping the AT Racing Corvette at the Vale.

The trio of Corvettes were in a strong position for the first half of the race with Marcel Fassler around 12 seconds ahead Christophe Bouchut and Mike Hezemans. But as Hezemans put pressure on Bouchut, Wendlinger was able to edge back towards them both.

Wendlinger was first of the front runners to stop and switch from wet tyres to inters. The quicker laps he was able to do when he rejoined encouraged the Corvettes to pit in the next few laps.

Only Allan Simonsen in the Gigawave Aston Martin stayed out and he was somehow able to lap at much the same speed on worn wet tyres. He dropped to eighth place when he eventually stopped and handed over to Philipp Peter.

Wendlinger's early stop had recovered the time his spin had cost him, but the Aston still didn't have the pace to challenge the Corvettes. Bouchut caught and passed him to regain his second place behind Fassler.

The Astons were quicker than the Corvettes at the beginning of each stint, but couldn't maintain their pace, while the Corvettes were able to lap consistently, and the Maseratis came on stronger late in the race.

Wendlinger fell further behind Fassler and Bouchut, while Muller, who had caught and threatened Xandi Negrao's fifth-placed Maserati immediately after their pitstops, was passed by Andrea Bertolini in the second Vitaphone Maserati.

The Maseratis then closed on Hezemans' Corvette and bundled him down two places at the Vale and Club.

The top seven cars had kept the starting driver on board at the first round of pit stops, so all had to pit at the same time to ensure their second drivers completed the minimum 35 minutes behind the wheel. The driver changes would turn the race on its head.

Fassler's hard work was undone when his team-mate Jean-Denis Deletraz was caught and passed by Sharp (in for Wendlinger) and Xavier Maasen (taking over from Bouchut).

Deletraz was later passed by Michael Bartels (in for Bertolini) and then taken completely out of contention when Miguel Ramos (for Muller) lost control of his Maserati while trying to pass him at Copse and clattered into the side of the Corvette.

The Gigawave Aston was still out front with Peter already having taken over from Simonsen at the first stop. He would have to stop again, but as the battle for second between Deletraz, Sharp, and Maasen raged behind, his lead increased to over 40 seconds.

Once Sharp and Maasen cleared Deletraz they began to close on Peter, but the safety car was mysteriously called out with 20 minutes to go and the leader took the chance to dive into the pits.

He resumed with his lead in tact before the field bunched up behind the safety car. Sharp and Maasen were second and third with two backmarkers between them and the lead Aston.

Peter did his best to make a break at the restart but Sharp was quickly in pursuit. Maserati had been having a quiet day but Bartels picked off Maasen for third and joined the fight for the lead.

Peter put up a stern resistance for a couple of laps but Gigawave's brave effort was in vain. Sharp was much better on the brakes and eventually slipped through in the complex. Peter tried to fight back but was only elbowed out of second place by Bartels as well.

Fabrizio Gollin made incredible progress in the Corvette he'd taken over from Hezemans, at times lapping two seconds quicker than anyone else. But he ran out of time to displace Maasen from fourth place.

The GT2 class dominated by the AF Corse car of Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni. Their Ferrari 430 was never really challenged throughout the race, and Ferrari completed a 1-2-3-4 in the class with the lead Porsche of Emmanuel Collard and Richard Westbrook never really on terms.

Pos  Cl.  Driver                  Car                      Laps/Gap
 1.  GT1  Wendlinger/Sharp        Aston Martin DBR9        59 laps
 2.  GT1  Bertolini/Bartels       Maserati MC12            +  3.807s
 3.  GT1  Simonsen/Peter          Aston Martin DBR9        +  5.077s
 4.  GT1  Bouchut/Maassen         Corvette C6R             +  8.295s
 5.  GT1  Hezemans/Gollin         Corvette C6R             +  8.598s
 6.  GT1  Muller/Lichtner-Hoyer   Aston Martin DBR9        + 22.517s
 7.  GT1  Negrao/Ramos            Maserati MC12            + 40.770s
 8.  GT1  Fassler/Deletraz        Corvette C6R             + 58.396s
 9.  GT1  Vosse/Franchi           Saleen S7R               +  1 Lap
10.  GT1  Kox/Rusinov             Lamborghini Murcielago   +  1 Lap
11.  GT2  Vilander/Bruni          Ferrari F430 GT2         +  1 Lap
12.  GT2  Bell/Kirkaldy           Ferrari F430 GT2         +  2 Laps
13.  GT1  Menten/Piccini          Saleen S7R               +  2 Laps
14.  GT2  Ruberti/Malucelli       Ferrari F430 GT2         +  2 Laps
15.  GT2  Montanari/Biagi         Ferrari F430 GT2         +  2 Laps
16.  GT1  Longin/Kumpen           Saleen S7R               +  2 Laps
17.  GT2  Niarchos/Mullen         Ferrari F430 GT2         +  2 Laps
18.  GT2  Collard/Westbrook       Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      +  2 Laps
19.  GT2  Palttala/Forsten        Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      +  3 Laps
20.  GT2  Rigon/Camathias         Ferrari F430 GT2         +  3 Laps
21.  GT1  Mazzacane/Tuero         Ferrari 550 Maranello    +  3 Laps
22.  GT2  Moser/Del Monte         Ferrari F430 GT2         +  3 Laps
23.  GT2  Perez Companc/Russo     Ferrari F430 GT2         +  3 Laps
24.  GT2  Davies/Babini           Ferrari F430 GT2         +  3 Laps
25.  GT1  Talkanitsa/Kaufmann     Corvette C5R             +  4 Laps
26.  GT1  Aucott/Kutemann         Maserati MC12            +  5 Laps
27.  GT2  Ashburn/Williams        Porsche 997 GT3 RSR      +  5 Laps
28.  G2   Heyer/Vojtech           Mosler MT900             +  7 Laps
29.  G2   Lacko/Jirasek           Mosler MT900             +  7 Laps
30.  G2   Edwards/Konopka         Saleen S7R               +  7 Laps
31.  G2   Leinders/Kuppens        Gillet Vertigo           + 31 Laps