Vitaphone Win Third Race in a Row

Timo Scheider held off a challenge from teammate Fabio Babini during the final 40 minutes to claim a second win of the season for himself and team boss Michael Bartels.

Scheider worked his way up to second from fourth on the grid during the opening stint and then Bartels took the lead during the middle portion of the two-hour race. An eight-second advantage over Thomas Biagi, who shared the number two Vitaphone Maserati MC12 with Babini, then turned into 18 seconds at the second round of fuel stops. Babini, who had lost vital seconds during an early-race safety car period, closed to within eight seconds before giving up the chase and settling for second.

Andrea Bertolini and Karl Wendlinger finished third for the JMB Racing Maserati squad. Bertolini was tapped into a spin at the start and finished the opening lap in 17th position. The French team called the safety car correctly, which vaulted the championship leaders up the order.

The GruppeM Porsche team maintained their stranglehold on the GT2 class. Emmanuel Collard and Tim Sugden weren't as fast as teammates Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller, but a clever pit strategy gave them a narrow victory.

CLASSIFIED:

Pos   Cl.  Drivers                   Make                   Time
 1.   GT1  Bartels/Scheider          Maserati MC12 GT1      2:00:02.986
 2.   GT1  Babini/Biagi              Maserati MC12 GT1      +    10.960
 3.   GT1  Bertolini/Wendlinger      Maserati MC12 GT1      +    26.987
 4.   GT1  Deletraz/Piccini          Ferrari 575 Maranello  +    56.471
 5.   GT1  Longin/Kumpen/Hezemans    Corvette C5R           +  1:04.365
 6.   GT1  Peter/Artam/Pillon        Maserati MC12 GT1      +     1 Lap
 7.   GT1  Lamy/Gardel               Ferrari 550 Maranello  +     1 Lap
 8.   GT2  Collard/Sugden            Porsche 996 GT3 RSR    +     1 Lap
 9.   GT2  Lieb/Rockenfeller         Porsche 996 GT3 RSR    +     1 Lap
10.   GT1  Bouchut/Fomenko/Vasiliev  Ferrari 550 Maranello  +    2 Laps
11.   GT2  Busnelli/Moccia           Porsche 996 GT3 RSR    +    3 Laps
12.   GT2  Ried/Ried                 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR    +    4 Laps
13.   GT2  Vonka/Casadei/Armindo     Porsche 996 GT3 RSR    +    5 Laps
14.   GT2  Konopka/Emiliani          Porsche 996 GT3 RSR    +    5 Laps
15.   GT2  Lambertini/Lemeret        Ferrari 360 Modena     +   14 Laps
16.   GT1  Keen/Halliday             Lister Storm GT        +   15 Laps
17.   GT1  Pergl/Kox                 Ferrari 550 Maranello  +   16 Laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

      Cl   Drivers                   Make                   On Lap
      GT1  Saviozzi/Marcink./Konrad  Saleen S7 R              12
      GT1  Lechner/Ruberti           Saleen S7 R               9

Fastest lap: Babini/Biagi, 1:50.949 on lap 42