July 4th, 2010

A frankly inexplicable stop-and-go penalty, just when the certainty of a second place was taking shape, compromised a potential podium finish for Andrea Piccini and Marc Hennerici in the fourth round of the FIA GT1 World Championship, which took place at the Paul Ricard Circuit at Le Castellet, France.
The Phoenix Racing team’s Corvette Z06 therefore has to make do with a bittersweet 5th place, which came to be after Piccini had taken the lead, even if for just a few minutes, after overtaking the two Maserati MC12s, which had been in the first positions from the beginning.
It was at this point that the incident that would cost the Italian-German duo their penalty took place: a very determined Piccini, in just 10 minutes, managed to reach third place and was at the heels of the two leaders, lapping his car in 2m06s: the second-fastest lap of the day.
The 32-year-old driver’s performance was impeccable. Then, around the 22nd minute of the race, his car came into contact with the Maserati driven by Brazilian driver Enrique Bernoldi, who at that moment was in second position. As a consequence of the contact, Bernoldi’s rear suspensions were damaged and he was forced to retire. For this incident, the Corvette was later penalized.
Meanwhile, Piccini was busy closing the gap with race leader Andrea Bertolini: in attempting to overtake him, his car went into a spin, which Piccini managed brilliantly by skilfully maintaining control of the car, while Bertolini took to the pit lane for his driver change. Piccini therefore became leader of the race, even if only for a few minutes, as he then was obliged to hand over to Hennerici.
Meanwhile, Bertolini’s team mate Michael Bartels was first out of the pits, with Hennerici following at just a few seconds and with a significant advantage over Krumm and Dumbreck’s Nissan Gtr. Save any surprises or contingencies, the second position appeared more and more certain every minute, also thanks to Hennerici’s strong driving. But an unpleasant surprise arrived just 4 laps from the finish: the race marshals imposed a stop-and-go penalty on Hennerici for the contact between Piccini and Bernoldi. The total of 35 seconds lost caused the number 13 car to fall back into 5th place.
Bertolini and Bartel’s Maserati finished first, with a total of 28 laps, followed by Krumm and Dumbreck’s Nissan Gtr (at 7.057s) and the other Maserati, driven by Heger and Maragritis (at 24.633s). Fourth, at 26.209s, is Leinders and Martin’s Ford Gt, followed by Piccini and Hennerici, at 29.670s. Numbers that speak volumes: “I do not understand the severity taken against me – commented Andrea Piccini after the race – because the incident was just a normal contact between cars that can happen on track, nor can I accept having to suffer a penalty just because my opponent was obliged to retire. It is most unfortunate, not only for the injustice committed against us, but also because we both ran a very good race, the result of the hard work done over the past three days by our team, and we truly would have deserved that second place!”.
The next appointment with the FIA GT1 World Championship will be July 29th - August 1st, on the Belgian Spa Francorchamps circuit, a track much-liked by Andrea Piccini.