2010 FIA GT1 Paul Ricard round


The 2010 FIA GT1 Paul Ricard round was an auto racing event held at the Paul Ricard HTTT, Le Castellet, France on 2–4 June. The Paul Ricard event was the fourth round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship season. The circuit had previously been utilized by the FIA as a test circuit for all manufacturers as part of FIA GT1's balance of performance, and was also used by the FIA GT Championship in 2009. Support series for the event include the FIA GT3 European Championship, the GT4 European Cup, and the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo.

Background

After three rounds of the championship, Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch of Matech once again lead the Drivers Championship for the first time since their victory in Abu Dhabi to start the season. Grosjean and Mutsch lead the Vitaphone pair of Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini by twelve points. In the Teams Championship however it is Vitaphone who are on top but are carrying only a four-point margin over Matech. Also, following a fire at Silverstone, Phoenix is once again down to a single Corvette, reducing the series grid to 23. Defending GT1 class race winner Enrique Bernoldi, who won the 2009 FIA GT event in a Corvette, is also part of the 2010 field with Vitaphone Maserati.
Following the previous round in Brno, performance balancing modifications were published by the FIA which affected four manufacturers. The affected four, Corvette, Maserati, Ford, and Aston Martin, all had weight added to their minimum requirement in order to retard their performance potential, with Maserati having the most dramatic change with added to their minimum. Further, the Fords also had their air restrictors reduced in size in order to decrease engine power. In addition to performance balancing weight additions, four teams had success ballast further added following their performances at the Brno round. Brno Championship Racing winners Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch in the No. 5 Matech Ford will carry of ballast for the second time this season, while the No. 7 Young Driver Aston Martin, No. 13 Phoenix Corvette, and No. 23 Sumo Power Nissan are also carrying with ballast.

Qualifying

drivers Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini earned their second consecutive pole position in FIA GT1 by setting a lap time over half a second faster than any other competitor in the third qualifying session. Peter Kox and Christopher Haase gave Lamborghini their first front row start in FIA GT1 by taking second.

Qualifying result

For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. The fastest lap for each session is indicated with bold.
PosNo.Driver 1TeamSession 1Session 2Session 3Grid
PosNo.Driver 2TeamSession 1Session 2Session 3Grid
11 Andrea Bertolini Vitaphone Racing Team2:04.1892:04.4692:03.5111
11 Michael Bartels Vitaphone Racing Team2:04.1892:04.4692:03.5111
224 Peter Kox Reiter2:04.7292:05.0982:04.0282
224 Christopher Haase Reiter2:04.7292:05.0982:04.0282
323 Michael Krumm Sumo Power GT2:03.7852:04.6592:04.3923
323 Peter Dumbreck Sumo Power GT2:03.7852:04.6592:04.3923
411 Mike Hezemans Mad-Croc Racing2:04.7162:04.1392:04.4384
411 Xavier Maassen Mad-Croc Racing2:04.7162:04.1392:04.4384
522 Warren Hughes Sumo Power GT2:04.5412:05.0352:04.7015
522 Jamie Campbell-Walter Sumo Power GT2:04.5412:05.0352:04.7015
637 Christophe Bouchut All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport2:04.5432:05.0532:04.9936
637 Marc Basseng All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport2:04.5432:05.0532:04.9936
738 Dominik Schwager All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport2:05.0972:05.0652:05.0587
738 Nicky Pastorelli All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport2:05.0972:05.0652:05.0587
88 Christoffer Nygaard Young Driver AMR2:05.1242:05.139No Time8
88 Stefan Mücke Young Driver AMR2:05.1242:05.139No Time8
933 Altfrid Heger Triple H Team Hegersport2:05.1392:05.2029
933 Alexandros Margaritis Triple H Team Hegersport2:05.1392:05.2029
102 Enrique Bernoldi Vitaphone Racing Team2:04.3392:05.20610
102 Miguel Ramos Vitaphone Racing Team2:04.3392:05.20610
1113 Andrea Piccini Phoenix Racing / Carsport2:03.9242:05.36011
1113 Marc Hennerici Phoenix Racing / Carsport2:03.9242:05.36011
1234 Matteo Bobbi Triple H Team Hegersport2:04.3832:05.66412
1234 Bert Longin Triple H Team Hegersport2:04.3832:05.66412
1325 Ricardo Zonta Reiter2:04.1872:06.05813
1325 Rafael Daniel Reiter2:04.1872:06.05813
146 Olivier Panis Matech Competition2:04.6242:06.11014
146 Natacha Gachnang Matech Competition2:04.6242:06.11014
155 Romain Grosjean Matech Competition2:05.1022:06.41415
155 Thomas Mutsch Matech Competition2:05.1022:06.41415
164 Seiji Ara Swiss Racing Team2:04.9452:07.32016
164 Max Nilsson Swiss Racing Team2:04.9452:07.32016
177 Darren Turner Young Driver AMR2:05.18917
177 Tomáš Enge Young Driver AMR2:05.18917
1840 Bas Leinders Marc VDS Racing Team2:05.26218
1840 Maxime Martin Marc VDS Racing Team2:05.26218
199 Frédéric Makowiecki Hexis AMR2:05.33019
199 Thomas Accary Hexis AMR2:05.33019
2012 Oliver Gavin Mad-Croc Racing2:05.33420
2012 Pertti Kuismanen Mad-Croc Racing2:05.33420
213 Karl Wendlinger Swiss Racing Team2:05.38721
213 Henri Moser Swiss Racing Team2:05.38721
2210 Jonathan Hirschi Hexis AMR2:05.63722
2210 Clivio Piccione Hexis AMR2:05.63722
2341 Renaud Kuppens Marc VDS Racing Team2:05.70323
2341 Markus Palttala Marc VDS Racing Team2:05.70323

Races

Qualifying race

Race result

PosNo.TeamDriversManufacturerLapsTime/Retired
11 Vitaphone Racing Team Michael Bartels
Andrea Bertolini
Maserati27
224 Reiter Peter Kox
Christopher Haase
Lamborghini27−5.569
322 Sumo Power GT Warren Hughes
Jamie Campbell-Walter
Nissan27−7.798
411 Mad-Croc Racing Xavier Maassen
Mike Hezemans
Corvette27−10.639
52 Vitaphone Racing Team Miguel Ramos
Enrique Bernoldi
Maserati27−12.821
613 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Marc Hennerici
Andrea Piccini
Corvette27−16.527
75 Matech Competition Thomas Mutsch
Romain Grosjean
Ford27−31.121
833 Triple H Team Hegersport Altfrid Heger
Alexandros Margaritis
Maserati27−35.443
923 Sumo Power GT Peter Dumbreck
Michael Krumm
Nissan27−37.236
107 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge
Darren Turner
Aston Martin27−45.843
119 Hexis AMR Frédéric Makowiecki
Thomas Accary
Aston Martin27−46.941
124 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson
Seiji Ara
Nissan27−50.362
1325 Reiter Ricardo Zonta
Rafael Daniel
Lamborghini27−59.155
1434 Triple H Team Hegersport Bert Longin
Matteo Bobbi
Maserati27−1:03.030
1538 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli
Dominik Schwager
Lamborghini27−1:12.297
1637 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng
Christophe Bouchut
Lamborghini27−1:13.153
1710 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione
Jonathan Hirschi
Aston Martin27−1:20.561
186 Matech Competition Natacha Gachnang
Olivier Panis
Ford27−1:43.947
1912 Mad-Croc Racing Pertti Kuismanen
Oliver Gavin
Corvette27−1:52.246
2040 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders
Maxime Martin
Ford27−2:18.943
213 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger
Henri Moser
Nissan26−1 Lap
2241 Marc VDS Racing Team Renaud Kuppens
Markus Palttala
Ford26−1 Lap
23
DNF
8 Young Driver AMR Stefan Mücke
Christoffer Nygaard
Aston Martin5Retired

Championship Race

Race result