Christophe Bouchut and Stefan M?tarted the season in the best possible way, giving All-Inkl.com Racing and the Lamborghini Murci鬡go their first FIA GT win. With the new two-hour format, where strategy is incredibly important, the timing of the second pit stops along with a safety-car period saw the nr 7 car take the lead in the closing stages of the race. At the re-start, a storming Bouchut kept the advantage ahead of Philipp Peter, sharing the nr 19 PSI Experience Corvette C6 with FIA GT newcomer Luke Hines, and the PK Carsport Corvette C5 of Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen. With fastest laps being set one after the other, a frantic finish finally saw Lamborghini claim its first win. ?This victory is important for Hans Reiter, for our sponsor All Inkl and for Lamborghini,? Bouchut said afterwards . ?I have worked a lot to develop this car, and I really wanted to give to Lamborghini this first win. Winning was one of our goal this season, we did it here in Zhuhai, for the first race. It is great for the team and for all the people who have worked hard.? As for Stefan M?a win on his FIA GT debut was an excellent result for the young German.
Such a result seemed very unlikely in the early part of the race, which was dominated by the battle between Thomas Biagi in the nr 1 Vitaphone Maserati, and the Corvettes of Carsport Holland and PK Carsport. Hezemans, in the nr 5 C6, led for the first 22 laps, when Biagi overtook, leading until his first pit stop, despite having lost part of the roof of the Maserati. After all the cars had stopped, the PK Carsport Corvette C5 was in the lead. But when the safety car was sent out, due to some circuit damage, the cars which had made the earliest stops were able to come straight back in to the pits, their obligatory minimum 35-minute stint having been completed; this gave them a decided advantage. The nr 7 Lamborghini was therefore in the lead for the restart, and Bouchut managed to keep that advantage until the chequered flag, despite pressure from the nr 19 PSI Corvette, which had also stopped early, and the nr 4 PK Carsport C5.
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