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First World GT1 win for Mercedes SLS with Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock at Algarve

The All-Inkl Mercedes squad took its first victory of the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship at the Algarve circuit in Portugal on Saturday

Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock claimed a clear win in the qualifying race at the wheel of their Mercedes SLS AMG. They finished eight seconds up on the Vita4One BMW Z4 shared by Michael Bartels and Yelmer Buurman, which was a similar margin ahead of the WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Oliver Jarvis and Frank Stippler.

Winkelhock, who started third, moved up to second ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari 458 driven by Francesco Castellacci on lap four and then emerged in the lead after the mandatory pitstops that followed a short safety-car period. Basseng doubled an initial four-second advantage over the second half of the race.

Basseng, who also manages the All-Inkl team, said: "We were not expecting this result on this track, but the pace was there and the guys again did a really good pitstop."

The best of the BMWs dropped as low as 13th after Bartels was muscled down the order at the start, but the safety car and a quick turnaround by the Vita4One squad put Buurman fifth after the pitstop sequence was complete. The Dutchman then moved past Gregoire Demoustier's Hexis McLaren and then team-mate Mathias Lauda.

Buurman subsequently spent three laps behind Stippler in the WRT Audi before successfully making the pass to take second into Turn 1.

The second Hexis entry was another beneficiary of the safety car. The McLaren MP4-12C, in which Stef Dusseldorp had battled with Bartels early on, emerged in sixth place after the stops. Frederic Makowiecki was then able to move past team-mate Demoustier and Lauda on the way to fourth position, just half a second down on Stippler at the chequered flag.

The pole-winning Ferrari 458 Italia led to the pitstops in Filip Salaquarda's hands, but a problem with the ignition switch meant Toni Vilander rejoined outside the top 10.

Results - 32 laps:

Pos  Drivers                     Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Basseng/Winkelhock          Munnich Mercedes    1h00m08.853s
 2.  Buurman/Bartels             Vita4One BMW            + 8.460s
 3.  Stippler/Jarvis             WRT Audi               + 16.763s
 4.  Makowiecki/Dusseldorp       Hexis McLaren          + 17.267s
 5.  Lauda/Mayr-Melnhof          Vita4One BMW           + 20.851s
 6.  Pastorelli/Jager            Munnich Mercedes       + 25.431s
 7.  Cressoni/Pavlovic           SUNRED Ford            + 27.080s
 8.  Demoustier/Parente          Hexis McLaren          + 30.707s
 9.  Parisy/Zuber                Exim Porsche           + 33.854s
10.  Ortelli/Vanthoor            WRT Audi               + 34.486s
11.  Ide/Castellacci             AF Corse Ferrari       + 51.276s
12.  Vilander/Salaquarda         AF Corse Ferrari       + 56.962s
13.  von Thurn und Taxis/Rosina  Reiter Lamborghini       + 1 lap

Retirements:

     O'Young/Kox                 Reiter Lamborghini       10 laps

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