Bouchut/Maassen win at Monza
Christophe Bouchut and Xavier Maassen took a comfortable victory in the Selleslagh Corvette in the second round of the FIA GT season at Monza today
Bouchut pinched the lead at the start from polesitter Alex Muller, but the German regained it on the first lap and stretched away at the front. Bouchut briefly lost second to Allan Simonsen's Gigawave Aston Martin but got it back when the Dane ran wide at the Parabolica and dropped to fifth.
Alex Muller led for the first half of the race and made his first pit stop to hand the Jetalliance Aston Martin over to Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer with a healthy advantage. But the Austrian collided with Jean-Denis Deletraz while defending third place and both retired on the spot.
That gave Bouchut and Maassen a comfortable lead over Miguel Ramos, who had taken over the No.2 Vitaphone Maserati after Xandi Negrao had held third throughout an excellent first stint.
Mike Hezemans was running third in the No.6 Phoenix Corvette, after co-driver Fabrizio Gollin had charged through the field from the start, but had to make a third pit stop to top up with fuel 15 minutes from the end and lost the place to Simonsen.
Andrea Bertolini/Michael Bartels, Anthony Kumpen/Bert Longin, and Karl Wendlinger/Ryan Sharp finished fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively. Each had started well down the grid and lost touch with the front-runners while charging through the GT2 field in the early stages.
Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard thought they had triumphed for Porsche in the GT2 class. Their Prospeed Porsche led the class throughout the race and they kept their Ferrari rivals at bay in the closing stages, but they were later excluded following a protest from the AF Corse team over one of their refuelling stops.
One of the Prospeed mechanics was adjudged to have infringed on the pit stop regulation that prevents the rest of the pit crew working on the car while it's being refuelled.
Westbrook rejoined the race six seconds ahead of Toni Vilander and Christian Montanari, and the AF Corse teammates were too busy fighting each other (running within a second of each other for the last half hour) to make any inroads into Westbrook's lead.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time
1. GT1 Bouchut/Maassen Corvette Z06 2h00:34.443
2. GT1 Negrao/Ramos Maserati MC 12 + 24.552
3. GT1 Simonsen/Peter Aston Martin DB9 + 52.567
4. GT1 Gollin/Hezemans Corvette Z06 + 54.245
5. GT1 Bertolini/Bartels Maserati MC 12 + 1:14.192
6. GT1 Kumpen/Longin Saleen S7 + 1 lap
7. GT1 Wendlinger/Sharp Aston Martin DB9 + 1 lap
8. GT1 Franchi/Vosse Saleen S7 + 1 lap
9. GT1 Daoudi/Aucott Maserati MC 12 + 2 laps
10. GT2 Vilander/Bruni Ferrari F430 + 2 laps
11. GT2 Montanari/Biagi Ferrari F430 + 2 laps
12. GT2 Babini/Davies Ferrari F430 + 2 laps
13. GT1 Tuero/Mazzacane Ferrari 550 Maranello + 2 laps
14. GT2 Ruberti/Malucelli Ferrari F430 + 3 laps
15. GT2 Rigon/Camathias Ferrari F430 + 3 laps
16. GT2 Kirkaldy/Bell Ferrari F430 + 3 laps
17. GT2 Mullen/Sugden Ferrari F430 + 3 laps
18. GT1 Kaufmann/Talkanitsa Corvette C5-R + 3 laps
19. GT2 Russo/Perez Companc Ferrari F430 + 3 laps
20. GT2 Del Monte/Moser Ferrari F430 + 3 laps
21. GT2 Forsten/Palttala Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 5 laps
22. GT2 Williams/Ashburn Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 5 laps
23. G2 Kuppens/Leinders Gillet Vertigo + 5 laps
24. GT2 Coggiola/Coggiola/Coggiola Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 5 laps
25. GT1 Kox/Rusinov Lamborghini Murcielago + 24 laps
26. GT1 Muller/Lichtner-Hoyer Aston Martin DB9 + 25 laps
27. GT1 Fassler/Deletraz Corvette Z06 + 25 laps
28. G2 Edwards/Konopka Saleen S7 + 40 laps
29. G2 Lacko/Jirasek Mosler MT 900 + 40 laps
30. GT1 Piccini/Menten Saleen S7 + 59 laps
31. GT1 Simoncini/Strada/Morini Chrysler Viper GTS R + 59 laps
32. G2 Heyer/Vojtech Mosler MT 900 + 62 laps
GT2 Westbrook/Collard Porsche 911 GT3 RS DSQ
Share Or Save This Story
Title-winning BTCC Peugeot and Harvey in an MG among Touring Car Rewind: North highlights
MotoGP Barcelona test: Acosta fastest as rain curtails running early
Why this year's Indy 500 isn't as straightforward to call as you might expect
Will Mercedes or McLaren land the next punch at F1's Canadian GP?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments