The 2011 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round was an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

event held at the

Yas Marina Circuit The Yas Marina Circuit (Arabic: حلبة مرسى ياس) is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Yas Marina w ...

in Abu Dhabi,

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. Taking place over 25–26 March 2011, Abu Dhabi was the opening round of the

2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season The 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season was the second season of the SRO Group's FIA GT1 World Championship, an auto racing series for grand tourer cars complying with Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) GT1 regulations. The cha ...

. 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 Marc Hennerici (born 10 May 1982 in Mayen) is a German auto racing driver. He is best known for being the first winner of the World Touring Car Championship's Independents Trophy, in 2005. Racing career Hennerici competed in Formula BMW from 1999 ...

is the only returning driver who won during the event last season, while Corvette and

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

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 Münnich Motorsport GmbH, which also competes under the title All-Inkl.com Racing, is an auto racing team founded by German racing driver and entrepreneur René Münnich in 2006. The team has been built around three areas of motorsport since its ...

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 Stefan Mücke (born 22 November 1981) is a German professional racing driver. Racing career Born in Berlin, Mücke started his racing career in 1998, when he won the Formula BMW ADAC series, with his father's Mücke Motorsport team, also making ...

and

Darren Turner Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British professional racing driver and owner of Base Performance Simulators. He races for Aston Martin Racing as a factory driver and also works as a high performance test driver for Aston Martin. He was ...

. Early incidents in the Qualifying Race led to Marc VDS

winning their first GT1 race with

Maxime Martin Maxime Martin (born 20 March 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver and son of four-time Spa 24 Hours winner Jean-Michel Martin. He currently is an Aston Martin Racing driver for which he competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship ...

and

Frédéric Makowiecki Frédéric Makowiecki (born 22 November 1980) is a French professional racing driver, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class. Career After competing in karting, Arra ...

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 Stef Dusseldorp (born 27 September 1989 in Winterswijk, Gelderland) is a Dutch racing driver. He started a career in formula cars in 2007, having competed in series such as Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (5th in 2008) and the German F ...

and

Clivio Piccione Clivio Piccione (born February 24, 1984 in Monte Carlo, Monaco) is a Monégasque race car driver. He raced in the 2005 GP2 Series season for the Durango team and David Price Racing for 2006. Career Piccione's career started in karting in 1997 ...

Hexis Hexis ( grc, ἕξις) is a relatively stable arrangement or disposition, for example a person's health or knowledge or character. It is an Ancient Greek word, important in the philosophy of Aristotle, and because of this it has become a traditio ...

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 DKR Engineering is a racing team and preparation firm from Luxembourg, which competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship. The company was founded in 2004 by Kendy Janclaes as a branch of the PSI Experience racing team from Belgium. After running ...

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

Lamborghini of

Nicky Pastorelli Nicky Pastorelli (born 11 April 1983) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Motorsports career Euro Formula 3000 Born in The Hague, Pastorelli participated in Euro Formula 3000 for Scuderia Fama in 2003. He finished on the podium twice and pl ...

and

Dominik Schwager Dominik Schwager (born 18 August 1976 in Munich) is a German auto racing driver. Career Schwager's racing career began with karting in Germany, participating in the national championship from 1989 to 1992 before moving to the Junior Karting Worl ...

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. # 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

Championship Race

Race result

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Teams' Championship standings * 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
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Fia Gt1 Abu Dhabi Round Abu Dhabi FIA GT1 Motorsport competitions in the United Arab Emirates