Corvette wins as GT2 title clinched

Bert Longin, Mike Hezemans and Anthony Kumpen steered the Corvette to its first win since Imola, beating the Larbre Ferrari 550 Maranello of Pedro Lamy and Gabriele Gardel to the finish line by a mere 7.16 seconds.

The Maserati MC12 took third and fourth places, the pair of Michael Bartels and Timo Scheider taking the podium honours, some four seconds ahead of their teammates Fabio Babini and Thomas Biagi.

The third Maserati MC12, of Karl Wedlinger and Andrea Bertonili finished sixth, leaving the drivers in lead of the FIA GT Drivers' Championship standings with 66 points.

But the Chinese race result also means that seven drivers are now separated by just seven points in the GT1 title battle, with only four points separating leaders Wedlinger and Bertolini from second-placed Scheider and Bartels.

In GT2, Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller clinched the Drivers' Championship in China, after claiming a win in their class - and finishing seventh overall in the Porsche 996.

Today's race was not without controversy, however. Several cars fell victim to an oil spill from a broken Porsche engine and ended up in the gravel trap, but Larbre Competition Team Principal, Jack Leconte, was critical of the marshall's response to the event.

"The marshalling here was very bad," Leconte said. "There were no oil flags being shown and Pedro [Lamy] was helpless in the conditions, and ended up in the gravel. We were fortunate to be the first of the three cars to be towed out as it meant we got back on the track before the safety car."

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Drivers                   Car                Time
 1.  Kumpen/Longin/Hezemans    Corvette C5R       3h 0:21.567
 2.  Lamy/Gardel               Ferrari 550M       +     7.160
 3.  Bartels/Scheider          Maserati MC12      +  1:19.589
 4.  Babini/Biagi              Maserati MC12      +  1:23.356
 5.  Piccini/Deletraz          Ferrari 575M       +    1 Lap
 6.  Bertolini/Wendlinger      Maserati MC12      +    1 Lap
 7.  Lieb/Rockenfeller         Porsche 996        +    3 Laps
 8.  Sugden/Collard            Porsche 996        +    4 Laps
 9.  Moccia/Passutti           Porsche 996        +    6 Laps
10.  Marsh/O'Young             Porsche 996        +    7 Laps
11.  Huisman/Kuus              Spyker C8          +    8 Laps
12.  Konopka/Rosina            Porsche 996        +   10 Laps
13.  Ickx/Leinders             Vertigo Streiff    +   13 Laps
14.  Stokell/Ley               Lotus Exige        +   14 Laps
15.  Casadei/Jurasz/Vonka      Porsche 996        +   23 Laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Drivers                   Car                 On Lap
     Lacko/Stanco/Hermann      Saleen S7 R             71
     Keen/Halliday             Lister Storm GT         57
     Drudi/Lee/Pregliasco      Ferrari 360M            33
     Zani/Pillon/Pirri         Maserati MC12           30
     Bouchut/Fomenko/Vasiliev  Aston Martin DBR9       12
     Ruberti/Lechner/Konrad    Saleen S7 R              8
     Ried/Ried                 Porsche 996              3
     Moro/Kaufmann             Porsche 996              2