Wendlinger and Sharp win in Brno
Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp have taken a comfortable victory in round seven of the FIA GT championship at Brno
The duo's ballast-free Jetalliance Aston Martin finished ten seconds ahead of a fierce battle for second, staged between a trio of Corvette C6.Rs.
Mike Hezemans' battered Phoenix Carsport entry finally snatched the runner-up position from Xavier Maassen on the penultimate corner of the last lap. The sister Phoenix car of Marcel Fassler/Jean Denis Deletraz finished just half-a-second adrift in fourth.
Maassen's co-driver Christophe Bouchut completed an exceptionally long middle stint, pulling out a 35 second lead over Wendlinger before handing back to Maassen with only two laps remaining.
"It was clear we were fighting for second, third and fourth, not the win," said Maassen.
"I feel disappointed that I couldn't keep the second place. There was a problem with the rear view mirror, and I was only in the car for two laps, but I don't think I should have let Mike pass me."
The race was disrupted at the start by a collision that was triggered when Xandi Negrao's Maserati and Allan Simonsen's Gigawave Aston Martin spun in turn one.
Simonsen was a retirement in the incident, as were the Saleens' of Andrea Piccini and Anthony Kumpens. The pole-winning GT2 Ferrari of Dirk Mueller was also accounted for in the crash, sustaining terminal front end damage.
It was left to the GT2 championship leaders, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, to take another class victory for Ferrari and AF Corse. Newcomers K-plus-K finished second on their debut, the experienced Tim Bergmeister partnering local driver Jiri Janak in a 911 GT3 RS.
Pos Cls Drivers Car Time 1. GT1 Wendlinger/Sharp Aston Martin DB9 2:00:19.212 2. GT1 Hezemans/Gollin Corvette Z06 + 8.207 3. GT1 Maassen/Bouchut Corvette Z06 + 8.590 4. GT1 Fassler/Deletraz Corvette Z06 + 8.856 5. GT1 Muller/Lichtner-Hoyer Aston Martin DB9 + 50.485 6. GT1 Bertolini/Bartels Maserati MC 12 + 1:01.559 7. GT1 Negrao/Ramos Maserati MC 12 + 1:36.948 8. GT1 Tuero/Basso Ferrari 550 Maran. + 1 lap 9. GT2 Bruni/Vilander Ferrari F430 + 2 laps 10. GT2 Janak/Bergmeister Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 2 laps 11. GT2 Malucelli/Ruberti Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 12. GT2 Biagi/Montanari Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 13. GT2 Forsten/Palttala Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 3 laps 14. GT2 Russo/Perez Companc Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 15. GT2 Del Monte/Moser Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 16. GT2 Babini/Davies Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 17. GT2 Mullen/Niarchos Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 18. GT2 Rigon/Camathias Ferrari F430 + 3 laps 19. GT1 Kaufmann/Talkanitsa Corvette C5-R + 3 laps 20. G2 Leinders/Kuppens Gillet Vertigo + 4 laps 21. GT2 Williams/Ashburn Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 4 laps 22. GT2 Reindler/Konopka Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 5 laps 23. GT2 Collard/Westbrook Porsche 911 GT3 RS + 28 laps 24. GT2 Muller/Kirkaldy Ferrari F430 + 61 laps 25. GT1 Kumpen/Longin Saleen S7 + 61 laps 26. GT1 Simonsen/Peter Aston Martin DB9 + 61 laps 27. GT1 Piccini/Auinger Saleen S7 + 62 laps
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