The 2011 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round was an auto racing event held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Taking place over 25–26 March 2011, Abu Dhabi was the opening round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season. It is the second consecutive year that FIA GT1 has opened its season in Abu Dhabi, although the 2011 event will be held on a shorter layout of the Yas Marina Circuit. Marc Hennerici is the only returning driver who won during the event last season, while Corvette and Ford both are defending victors. The event is also unique on the FIA GT1 calendar as it is the only one held over a two-day period rather than the normal three; Qualifying is held following Practice on Friday while the Qualifying Race and Championship race are both held on Saturday. The weekend is shared with a trio of local racing series: The UAE Sportscar series, the Cytech UAE GT series, and the Total UAE Touring Cars series.

Münnich Motorsport earned pole position in the qualifying session, only to be penalized for an infraction and handing pole to the Young Driver team of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner. Early incidents in the Qualifying Race led to Marc VDS Ford winning their first GT1 race with Maxime Martin and Frédéric Makowiecki driving. Marc VDS was unable to hold the lead after starting from pole in the Championship Race as a quick pit stop vaulted Stef Dusseldorp and Clivio Piccione's Hexis Aston Martin into the race lead, fending off the Nissan of JR Motorsports but less than half a second at the finish.

Background Following the announcement of an entry list featuring twenty cars from ten teams for the full 2011 season, only eighteen were entered for Abu Dhabi. The two Corvette squads of Team China and DKR Engineering both entered only a single car due to each team lacking a second chassis. All eighteen cars participated in a pre-season test held at the circuit on 23 March, with the No. 37 Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini of Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwager setting the fastest lap of the day, followed by their second team car.

Qualifying

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.

Pos No. Driver 1 Team Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Grid Driver 2 1 37 Nicky Pastorelli All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:52.705 1:52.006 1:51.668 6 Dominik Schwager 2 8 Stefan Mücke Young Driver AMR 1:52.521 1:52.183 1:52.113 1 Darren Turner 3 41 Maxime Martin Marc VDS Racing Team 1:52.820 1:52.603 1:52.197 2 Frédéric Makowiecki 4 7 Alex Müller Young Driver AMR 1:53.107 1:52.010 1:52.547 3 Tomáš Enge 5 11 Mike Hezemans Exim Bank Team China 1:52.892 1:52.521 1:52.750 4 Nicky Catsburg 6 22 Peter Dumbreck JR Motorsports 1:53.189 1:52.223 1:52.866 5 Richard Westbrook 7 20 Enrique Bernoldi Sumo Power GT 1:52.909 1:52.631 1:53.191 7 Ricardo Zonta 8 23 Lucas Luhr JR Motorsports 1:53.332 1:52.786 1:53.336 8 Michael Krumm 9 21 David Brabham Sumo Power GT 1:52.667 1:52.804 9 Jamie Campbell-Walter 10 5 Karl Wendlinger Swiss Racing Team 1:53.355 1:52.907 10 Peter Kox 11 3 Clivio Piccione Hexis AMR 1:53.037 1:52.914 11 Stef Dusseldorp 12 40 Marc Hennerici Marc VDS Racing Team 1:53.114 1:53.159 17 Bas Leinders 13 47 Michaël Rossi DKR Engineering 1:53.830 1:55.549 12 Jaime Camara 14 38 Markus Winkelhock All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 1:53.486 No Time 13 Marc Basseng 15 4 Christian Hohenadel Hexis AMR 1:54.178 14 Andrea Piccini 16 10 Martin Matzke Belgian Racing 1:54.274 15 Miloš Pavlović 17 9 Antoine Leclerc Belgian Racing 1:54.564 16 Fabien Giroix 18 6 Max Nilsson Swiss Racing Team 1:54.570 18 Jiří Janák

The No. 37 Münnich Lamborghini was given a penalty of five grid spots for the Qualifying Race for ignoring a marshal's flag requiring the car to pits after illegally starting from an external battery during Qualifying 1. The No. 40 Marc VDS Ford was given a penalty of five grid spots for the Qualifying Race for changing an engine during practice.

Races

Qualifying Race

Race result

Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 41 Marc VDS Racing Team Maxime Martin Frédéric Makowiecki Ford 31 2 22 JR Motorsports Peter Dumbreck Richard Westbrook Nissan 31 −1.476 3 23 JR Motorsports Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr Nissan 31 −18.069 4 20 Sumo Power GT Enrique Bernoldi Ricardo Zonta Nissan 31 −21.514 5 3 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione Stef Dusseldorp Aston Martin 31 −22.460 6 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock Lamborghini 31 −23.049 7 11 Exim Bank Team China Mike Hezemans Nicky Catsburg Corvette 31 −37.828 8 21 Sumo Power GT David Brabham Jamie Campbell-Walter Nissan 31 −43.637 9 4 Hexis AMR Christian Hohenadel Andrea Piccini Aston Martin 31 −48.575 10 5 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger Peter Kox Lamborghini 31 −49.454 11 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders Marc Hennerici Ford 31 −55.779 12 10 Belgian Racing Martin Matzke Miloš Pavlović Ford 31 −1:07.877 13 6 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson Jiří Janák Lamborghini 31 −1:08.866 14 9 Belgian Racing Antoine Leclerc Fabien Giroix Ford 31 −1:49.703 15DNF 8 Young Driver AMR Darren Turner Stefan Mücke Aston Martin 15 Broken wheel 16DNF 7 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge Alex Müller Aston Martin 1 Damage 17DNF 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Lamborghini 0 Collision 18DNF 47 DKR Engineering Michaël Rossi Jaime Camara Corvette 0 Collision

Championship Race

Race result

Pos No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 3 Hexis AMR Clivio Piccione Stef Dusseldorp Aston Martin 31 2 22 JR Motorsports Peter Dumbreck Richard Westbrook Nissan 31 −0.474 3 38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock Lamborghini 31 −14.539 4 4 Hexis AMR Christian Hohenadel Andrea Piccini Aston Martin 31 −15.296 5 8 Young Driver AMR Darren Turner Stefan Mücke Aston Martin 31 −15.934 6 7 Young Driver AMR Tomáš Enge Alex Müller Aston Martin 31 −16.713 7 5 Swiss Racing Team Karl Wendlinger Peter Kox Lamborghini 31 −17.277 8 41 Marc VDS Racing Team Maxime Martin Frédéric Makowiecki Ford 31 −22.053 9 21 Sumo Power GT David Brabham Jamie Campbell-Walter Nissan 31 −32.952 10 11 Exim Bank Team China Mike Hezemans Nicky Catsburg Corvette 31 −39.805 11 37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager Lamborghini 31 −46.478 12 10 Belgian Racing Martin Matzke Miloš Pavlović Ford 31 −1:23.319 13 47 DKR Engineering Michaël Rossi Jaime Camara Corvette 31 −1:38.366 14 23 JR Motorsports Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr Nissan 30 −1 Lap 15DNF 6 Swiss Racing Team Max Nilsson Jiří Janák Lamborghini 24 Retired 16DNF 20 Sumo Power GT Enrique Bernoldi Ricardo Zonta Nissan 20 Retired 17DNF 9 Belgian Racing Antoine Leclerc Fabien Giroix Ford 16 Retired DNS 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Bas Leinders Marc Hennerici Ford – Did Not Start

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1= Clivio Piccione 27 1= Stef Dusseldorp 27 3= Peter Dumbreck 24 3= Richard Westbrook 24 5= Marc Basseng 16 5= Markus Winkelhock 16

Teams' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Hexis AMR 39 2 JR Motorsports 28 3 Young Driver AMR 18 4 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 16 5 Swiss Racing Team 6

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links Yas Marina GT1 Race in Abu Dhabi – FIA GT1 World Championship