Race 1 report : Edwards and Keen victorious

GT3 NEWS #3
RACE 1

Keeping the suspense going to the end, Sean Edwards and Phil Keen took a fine win in the ninth and penultimate round of the FIA GT3 European Championship, to move into a one-point lead in the provisional classification.  Their Tech9 Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 finished ahead of the nr 46 Damax Ascari and the nr 27 Racing Box Dodge Viper Competition Coupe in atrocious conditions at the beautiful Mugello circuit.

QUALIFYING : COLLINS ON POLE FOR DAMAX ASCARI
The 20-minute qualifying session for the first Mugello round took place in damp conditions, with a heavy shower having drenched the track approximately five minutes before the session started.  Disrupted by two red flags, the track was drying throughout, but many drivers found it hard to get the right pace in the difficult conditions.The Vipers dominated the session in the early stages, with first the nr 26 Racing Box and then Anthony Reid, in the nr 29 Pouchelon cars leading the time sheets.  After the second red flag, first Jonathan Cocker, in the nr 44 Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 moved up to second. As the chequered flag fell, Ben Collins, in the nr 47 Damax Ascari, set a lap of 2:13.356 to take pole position, 1.426 ahead of Reid.  Allan Simonsen was fourth in the nr 34 JMB Racing Ferrari, ahead of Patrick Bornhauser in the nr 10 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.  There were problems for the nr 13 Lamborghini Gallardo which crashed and looks unlikely to start the afternoon’s race.
Ben Collins was delighted with his first FIA GT3 pole : “It’s my first time here and I absolutely love the circuit, it’s a fantastic place. The session was quite frantic; I actually went out on slicks to begin with when it was raining, which wasn’t the way to go, with the wheels spinning down the straight. So we came in and really winded up spending the whole time in the pits because each time we went out, it was red flagged, so I didn’t actually place a time until the last five minutes. By then, I had the wets on and I just had one clear lap , which was good enough for pole. The car was great, it handles very well in the wet and the dry, so hopefully there’s a chance of winning the race.”

THE RACE
While qualifying had been damp and drying, the rain came down for the first Mugello FIA GT3 race and continued to fall. Sean Edwards and Phil Keen put in a fine performance in extremely wet conditions to win their second race in a row, following on from round eight in Dijon.  Phil Keen started the race from 9th position on the grid, as the slower of the two drivers, and survived the visibility problems in the heavy traffic to climb up to second place by lap 8, gaining on race leader Collins.  Edwards took over after the pit stop, claiming the lead from the nr 47 Ascari on lap 17.  Despite growing pressure from Andy Thompson, he crossed the line 2.3 seconds ahead of the Ascari to claim a well-deserved win.
 
Ascari proved it was definitely back in the competition, when Allison and Thompson gave Ascari its first top-three position since Silverstone.  As well as finishing second, and setting the fastest lap of the race, their nr 47 sister car of Collins and Zwart led for much of the race, eventually finishing 6th overall
Third place went to Ceccato and Livio, who also came to Mugello as Championship contenders. With ten points for today’s win, Edwards now has a one-point lead in the provisional Championship classification, ahead of Ceccato, Livio and Bornhauser, all on 43. Although only one point behind at this stage, the Racing Box duo will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid after an engine problem, making their chances of a good finish extremely difficult.
Four different makes finished in the top four, as the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Aston Martin DBRS9 was fourth, ahead of the Auto Sport Promotion Porsche of Cattaneo and Morgan Moullin-Traffort, who put in an impressive performance in his stint, climbing up the field.  Bornhauser and Makowiecki were eighth in the Racing Logistic Viper.  The leading Ferrari was that of Silverstone victors Simonsen and Lester, in ninth, just ahead of the Maserati of Sperati and Palma, and the Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo of Bontempelli and Linossi. 

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