Fia GT 1 - Paul Ricard
Double Top for Luhr, Krumm and Nissan
 

Fia GT 1 - Sachsenring
Hexis Aston Takes the Spoils in Germany

• Andrea Piccini and Christian Hohenadel took their Hexis Aston Martin No.4 to victory in the Championship Race at Sachsenring. The Hexis pair started from fifth on the grid and stayed clear of a spate of early incidents to secure their first win of the 2011 season. Second place went to the No.37 All-Inkl Munnich Motorsport Lamborghini of Dominik Schwager and Nicky Pastorelli while third was the Young Driver Aston Martin No.8 of Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner. The nr 41 Marc VDS Ford of Maxime Martin led the field into the first turn with Stef Dusseldorp in the nr3 Hexis AMR Aston Martin on the outside of the Ford as the pair vied for the lead.  The nr3 was pushed wide and onto the gravel by the Ford, allowing the nr8 Young Driver Aston of Stefan Mucke to nip through and take the lead.  At Turn 2 the nr5 Swiss Racing Lamborghini of Karl Wendlinger and the nr7 Young Driver Aston Martin of Tomas Enge collided, tipping the Lamborghini into a spin.  The unfortunate Max Nilsson in the nr6 Swiss Racing Lamborghini t-boned his teammates car and was left stranded on the circuit with severe front end damage.  Both the nr5 and nr7 cars pulled off the circuit into retirement two corners later and the safety car was deployed to recover the stricken Nilsson car.
The race was restarted at the end of lap 5 just as rain began to fall on to the circuit.  Christian Hohenadel in the nr4 Hexis Aston was challenging the nr7 Young Driver Aston for the lead.  However it wasn't until lap 10 that Hohenadel took the lead into Turn 1 but as soon as he was free he opened up a gap to Mucke's car.
Meanwhile the nr41 Marc VDS Ford slowed with a punctured right rear tyre, with damage to the bodywork.  Martin pulled into the pitlane but the car retired and took no further part in the race. Mike Hezemans was making progress in the Exim Bank Team China Corvette from 14th on the grid, moving up to 8th and challenging the nr21 Sumo Power GT Nissan of Jamie Campbell-Walter for 7th.  On lap 11 Stefan Mucke lost another place as he was passed at Turn 1 by Dominik Schwager in the nr37 All Inkl.com Lamborghini.  Meanwhile the rain had stopped and the teams put away their Michelin wets and prepared for the pit stop window to open.
The leaders came in and went back out in the same order, with Andrea Piccini now leading in the Hexis Aston from Nicky Pastorelli in the All-Inkl Lamborghini and Darren Turner in the Young Driver Aston.  The main beneficiary of the pitstops was the nr3 Hexis Aston of Clivio Piccione, which emerged in 5th place in between the nr20 and nr21 Nissans. Piccini had a comfortable lead but Pastorelli was under pressure from Turner for the first few laps after the pitstops but the Italian started to pull away from the British driver aby lap 23.  Championship leader Marc Basseng's weekend finished on a low note when the nr37 All-Inkl.com Lamborghini went straight on at Turn 8 with a problem with the rear tyre. Back at the front of the field Piccini was managing to maintain a comfortable gap to Pastorelli's Lamborghini, who in turn was a comfortable two seconds ahead of the third placed Aston Martin of Darren Turner.  Further back Nicky Catsburg in the nr11 Exim Bank Corvette was challenging David Brabham in the nr20 Sumo Power Nissan but the Australian just held his line and his position until the chequered flag.
At the flag it was Andrea Piccini who took the first win for the nr4 Hexis AMR Aston Martin DB9, taking the lead in the Driver's Championship for himself and Christian Hohenadel in the process.  Hohenadel and Piccini now have 61 points to Marc Basseng's and Markus Winkelhock on 57.  Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke are third on 56 points. THe result also means Hexis AMR extend their lead in the Team Championship to 17 points over All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport.
Christian Hohenadel also becomes the first FIA GT3 European Champion to win an FIA GT1 World Championship race.  2008 FIA GT3 Champion James Ruffier won a race in the FIA GT Championship at the wheel of a GT1 class Corvette in 2009 but Hohenadel is the first GT3 Champion to win a GT1 World Championship race.  
The next race is at Silverstone on the 3-5 June when the drivers in the FIA GT1 World Championship will compete for the world famous Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy.  The Championship will also be the first to use the new pits complex at Silverstone, which will be officially unveilled on Tuesday 17th May.

• Lucas Luhr and Michael Krumm made it a double success for Nissan with victory in the Championship Race at Portimao. Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner in the Young Driver Aston Martin No.8 got the better of an absorbing battle for second place from the Sumo Power Nissan GT-R No.21 of Jamie Campbell-Walter and David Brabham.
There was bitter disappointment for the Qualifying Race winners and pole sitters Richard Westbrook and Peter Dumbreck in the JRM Nissan GT-R No.22. Having led the race by as much as six seconds in the hands of Algarve specialist Westbrook, the car developed a gearbox problem when in the lead following the pit stops and was forced to retire with 12 minutes remaining.
In the post race technical checks the minimum weight of the front upper wishbones of the nr23 and n21 Nissans were found not in compliance with the homologation form.  After a hearing the FIA Stewards accepted that the homologation form contains a formal mistake and decided to impose a fine of 5000 Euros for each car and an obligation to correct the homologation form before the next event (Stewards Decisions 13 and 14)