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Vitaphone dominates at Ricard

Vitaphone Maserati duo Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini cruised to victory in the qualifying race for this weekend's FIA GT1 World Championship event at Paul Ricard

Bartels failed to convert Bertolini's pole into the race lead, losing out to Reiter Lamborghini driver Christopher Haase. The 22-year-old German kept the Murcielago R-SV in front for eight and a half laps before his veteran compatriot outbraked him for the lead into the chicane on the long Mistral Straight.

The Maserati was then able to pull away from the opposition, despite the addition of 20kg of ballast for this race under the so-called Balance of Performance regulations. Bartels was able to pull out a lead of seven seconds over his nearest pursuer before stopping shortly before half distance in the one-hour race.

Bertolini found himself with an 11s lead over Haase's team-mate, Dutchman Peter Kox, after the pitstop sequence was complete and was able to control the gap to the Lamborghini driver for the remainder of the race.

"It was a fantastic and fair battle," said Bartels. "I decided to wait for my chance and I culd see that his tyres were degrading a bit more than mind. We had a good pitstop and then Berto did a good job to bring the car home."

Third place went to the Sumo Power Nissan GT-R driven by Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes. Campbell-Walter got the car up to third before the pitstops began and then Hughes, after losing time in the pits when he inadvertently knocked the masterswitch off, closed the gap on the Mad-Croc Racing Chevrolet driven by Mike Hezemans to take the final podium spot with four laps to go.

Pos  Drivers                 Team          Car               Time/Gap
 1.  Bertolini/Bartels       Vitaphone     Maserati      1h00m31.919s
 2.  Kox/Haase               Reiter        Lamborghini       + 5.569s
 3.  Hughes/Campbell-Walter  Sumo Power    Nissan            + 7.798s
 4.  Hezemans/Maassen        Mad-Croc      Corvette         + 10.639s
 5.  Bernoldi/Ramos          Vitaphone     Maserati         + 12.821s
 6.  Piccini/Hennerici       Phoenix       Corvette         + 16.527s
 7.  Grosjean/Mutsch         Matech        Ford             + 31.121s
 8.  Heger/Margaritis        Triple H      Maserati         + 35.443s
 9.  Krumm/Dumbreck          Sumo Power    Nissan           + 37.236s
10.  Turner/Enge             Young Driver  Aston Martin     + 45.843s
11.  Makowiecki/Accary       Hexis         Aston Martin     + 46.941s
12.  Ara/Nilsson             Swiss         Nissan           + 50.362s
13.  Zonta/Daniel            Reiter        Lamborghini      + 59.155s
14.  Bobbi/Longin            Triple H      Maserati       + 1m03.030s
15.  Schwager/Pastorelli     Munnich       Lamborghini    + 1m12.000s
16.  Bouchut/Basseng         Munnich       Lamborghini    + 1m13.153s
17.  Hirschi/Piccione        Hexis         Aston Martin   + 1m20.561s
18.  Panis/Gachnang          Matech        Ford           + 1m43.947s
19.  Gavin/Kuismanen         Mad-Croc      Corvette       + 1m52.246s
20.  Leinders/Martin         Marc VDS      Ford GT        + 2m18.943s
21.  Wendlinger/Moser        Swiss         Nissan             + 1 lap
22.  Palttala/Kuppens        Marc VDS      Ford GT            + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Nygaard/Mucke           Young Driver  Aston Martin  5 laps

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