After the last one was all over, the points initially looked like this: Final
(Almost) GT1 Drivers’ Points But the post-race deliberations went on for some hours, as the scrutineers tried to find enough fuel in the fourth placed Larbre Competition Ferrari to test its suitability. Sadly for Gabriele Gardel, they excluded the #11 car from the results, Pedro Lamy having had very little in the system once he'd crossed the line. The car did pass the stall test though. So, subject to an appeal from Jack Leconte, the GT1 Drivers’ title goes to Michael Bartels and Timo Scheider. In GT2, it was a sixth win for the #66 GruppeM Porsche of Rockenfeller and Lieb, after the sister car suffered a four lap delay with a fluid leak.
The win for Christophe Bouchut and Antonio Garcia never really looked in doubt, especially once the Maseratis began to pit for fuel before the first hour was up. The DBR9’s domination was such that Christophe Bouchut could comfortably pit with 16 laps left, for a splash of fuel to take him to the chequered flag. At that point, the Lamy / Gardel Ferrari was over a lap down, but the Larbre plan was to make it on two stops – hence the post-race problem of finding enough fuel to test. Lamy had had to pussy foot round the last lap, the 90th, and lost third place in the process, to the even more fuel-efficient Corvette. We’ve barely mentioned the Maseratis so far: for one of them it was a great run to second place, but for two of the others, it was a case of problems at one or other end of the race. For Bartels and Scheider, like Babini and Biagi, it was a race they couldn’t win, but more significantly, they couldn’t beat the Larbre Ferrari either. Poor old Wendlinger and Bertolini had a nightmare. Having led the points for much of the season, largely thanks to a 100% finishing record until today, they were out after just nine laps, with terminal gearbox problems. They could still have taken the title, but only if Babini and Biagi didn’t win, and if their Bartels / Schneider and Gardel rivals failed to score. They didn’t have a hope. The pity of it was that the drivers of the #9 car were saddled with the maximum ballast possible (150 kg), at the deciding race. Babini / Biagi (100 kg) and Wendlinger / Bertolini (90 kg) at least had some chance to perform – but it was the JMB MC12 of Philipp Peter and Jamie Davies that had the only realistic chance of challenging for the win, and these two performed superbly.
The Maserati handicaps almost gifted the title to Gardel – as long as the Care Racing 550 could make it to the end on two stops (and have some fuel left to test: three litres was required). Pedro Lamy had us all fooled with his comments about likely race pace. This wasn’t like Dubai at all. Lamy was content to sit in sixth place from the start, and he’d drifted back to nearly 10 seconds behind the Aston Martin after just five laps. Jamie Davies would soon be sitting on Bouchut’s tail, confirming, as usual, how quick he is in anything, with or without a roof. From the start he tailed the sister JMB car, but when Bertolini retired, he was free to chase the DBR9, so at 10 laps Bouchut led by two seconds, then Babini another two or so back, Scheider in the really heavy #9 four more back, then Lamy – watching proceedings from 11 seconds behind the leading Aston Martin.
Nothing much changed for a while, although Lamy closed up on Scheider, and took fourth on lap 16 – at which point Davies closed right up on Bouchut, the gap just half a second at 19 laps. But at this point the writing was almost on the wall for the two, heavy MC12s: Scheider slipped well behind Lamy, and Babini drifted out to nearly 20 behind the two leaders. And then the MC12 pit stops started, after just 26 laps. The first of the three, surviving MC12s, Scheider’s, pitted after approximately 52 minutes, then Babini and Davies came in together two laps later. Bouchut and Lamy pitted together after 29 laps, these two then taking very different plans to the end – Garcia haring off in the DBR9, Gardel looking after his fuel. Hezemans briefly led in the Corvette, having run behind Piccini’s Ferrari, and the last man to pit was Vasiliev in the Russian Age 550, after 32 laps. They settled down for the middle hour, with Garcia easing away a little from Philipp Peter in #16, then Biagi third, Gardel fourth and Bartels close behind in fifth. But over the next 20 laps, until the Maseratis began to pit again, the gaps grew. After 50 laps (of 90), Garcia led Peter by 15 seconds, he led Baigi by 25, the little Italian was 31 ahead of Gardel, and the Ferrari man was just two ahead of Bartels. Bert Longin was another 20 seconds back, ahead of the two GPC 575s. Liz Halliday was falling away in the Lister, after another good opening stint from Justin Keen, but the Storm was a retirement at two hours. Typically Garcia had been hustling along in the 1:57s and 1:58s, confident that the DBR9 was both quicker and more fuel efficient than even the #16 Maserati, with Peter was in the 58s, Biagi in the low 59s and Gardel in the higher 59s. Bartels pitted after 52 laps, and although his car was running ahead of the #11 Ferrari at the start of the third hour, the next pit stop would remove this MC12 from any chance of beating the Larbre 550. The Peter and Biagi Maseratis pitted after 55 and 57 laps, Garcia having pitted just before Biagi did, so Gardel led briefly, his 30 lap stint concluding after 59 – leaving Lamy with 31 to go to the flag. Not easy. Jamie Davies was now catching Bouchut, from 25 seconds behind, and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 61 (1:56.478, three tenths quicker than the Aston Martin), but the Maseratis were all due a third stop, the #10 car beginning the sequence at 71 laps. Bartels and Davies followed on consecutive laps, as did Bouchut, losing the leader around 35 seconds – but because his nearest challengers had all pitted anyway, his lead was secure. For some reason, Bartels / Scheider had fitted in a fourth stop too. Lamy had begun the third hour behind Kumpen, but the Corvette drivers hadn’t been happy with the C5-R around Bahrain, and the Portuguese took the spot fairly smartly, so when all three Maseratis pitted, he was fourth, right with the #10 MC12. Bartels / Scheider were a lap down, and out of it – or so it seemed. But #10 dropped out on lap 88 (transmission trouble for a Maserati again), and it now looked as though Gardel would be champion thanks to a third place. No, change that, because on the last lap, Kumpen passed the slowing Ferrari, and there then began the game of finding enough fuel to test in #11. With Bartels / Scheider long gone, there was no chance to gather their reaction to the late news that, subject to that appeal, they are the GT1 Champions. It was an unsatisfactory way to end it – and ironically, Lamy would have had time to pit for a quick splash with a lap or two to go.
Christophe Bouchut was a very happy man though – and explained Cirtek’s collective thoughts on fuel: "We were unlucky in Dubai when we were leading the race with just eight laps to go, when we had a problem. But today I would like to congratulate all my team, all the mechanics, who did a very good job, and also Antonio. It was not so easy for him, on his first time in the car, and he drove very well and very quickly, a real hero. Of course, thank you to Aston Martin Middle East, without whom it would have been impossible to be here with the Aston. A special thanks for Rob, because it's unbelievable. Cirtek is now playing with all the strong teams. We were not sure we could go through with two stops, so we decided to do a splash. The car was wonderful, really strong and with no problems."
“I had a bit of a margin, two or three tenths, in case the other guys were pushing hard,” said his partner Antonio Garcia. “It was nice to back in a GT car. I missed this kind of racing, as they are really good cars and good race. It was a perfect weekend, it couldn't have been better, and I'd like to thank everyone involved." Jamie Davies was happy to grab the chance of a top drive. “It has just been a crazy week as I came here originally not to drive a car but to have meetings and talk with people. And now I am sitting here! I tried to keep the pressure on the Aston Martin but it was quite tough as they were pushing quite hard. In the end, it worked quite well and we had a great result. I am very pleased.” Philipp Peter acknowledged his partner’s contribution: “I am happy with this result which confirms that with good drivers, you get a good result. Mike Hezemans was surprised to take third place. "I never expected to be on the podium, so perhaps I should go to the casino before the day is finished. We were much more consistent today, so it was a little bit better. Still, we only set the 7th time overall in the race. We were just lucky." GT2 was an
odd race in some ways, Mike Rockenfeller starting at the back in
GruppeM’s #66 – then leading the class by lap 2. Emmanuel
Collard slipped away in the heavier #88, but pitted after 20 laps
with a coolant leak, losing approximately four laps. He and im Sugden
raced back up to fifth, but weren’ton the pace of the GT2
Champions, who duly took most wins (six) as well as most points.
Marc Lieb: "We had a fantastic finish to the season. It was really important for us to win this race. Now we have 6 wins while our team mates only have five. It was important for us to show that we were more consistent. Today, the nr 88 car was unlucky as they had a problem in the early stint. So it was not a real race today. Mike did a fantastic first stint, so I only had to keep the car on track. We only had a problem today with our pit stops as the air jack broke. So the guys had to do Nascar-type pit stops. It was pretty quick and nice to watch. I would like to say a big thank you to all at GruppeM, to our engineer Steve Bunkhall and our mechanics. It was such a great pleasure to race with Mike. He is such a young guy, already so quick, very consistent. Thank you to Michelin as today again, we had fantastic tyres. It was really a good year for me." Mike Rockenfeller: "As Marc said, our race was pretty clear. It is a shame that the nr 88 car did not finish on the podium for the last race. Overall, we had a great season with both cars generally finishing on the podium, unless there were technical problems. Thanks to the team, our engineer, the crew of the nr 88 car and Marc. We were pretty good together and very consistent. We were so close - sometimes too close - with Manu and Tim. We had good fights and good fun. I feel really good to go in the winter as the Champion."
Luca Drudi: "It was a good race today, especially considering we were aiming for the third position as we thought the GruppeM cars would be in the first two. Then, there was a problem with the nr 88 Porsche at the end of the first hour, which made it possible for us to get second position. And then, we only had to keep it. Luca did a great job. I would like to point out that this was the last race of the Ferrari 360 Modena as next year, the Ferrari F430 will be even better. Our chassis n° 000 was the first one built!"
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Poor
old Gabriele Gardel: he posed for the Champion’s photographs,
then had the title snatched from him, for now at least.
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