Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mücke started their season in the best possible way, giving All-Inkl.com Racing and the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT their first FIA GT Championship win. The Reiter Engineering developed Murciélago RG-T has often had a difficult racing career but its potential has always been there, and it finally came all came together today in Zuhai, China.

The opening round of the 2007 FIA GT Championship got underway at the Zuhai track in China yesterday with two free practice sessions and a final qualifying session. The first 80-minute practice season of the year was close and varied, with rain showers and a wet track making things even more interesting, with slick, intermediate and wet tyres all being used. Four different makes led the session, with Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati and finally Corvette all taking their place at the top of the times. But in the end it was the Corvette C5R of Kumpen and Longin – victorious here in 2005 – which set the best time.

In the damp early part of the session, Barwell’s Aston Martin DBR9 set the best time of 1:37.901, Jonny Kane at the wheel.  He was followed by Bouchut in the nr 7 All-Inkl.com Lamborghini. Twenty minutes into the session, the rain started to come down heavily and all cars pitted for rain tyres. This continued for approximately thirty minutes, before the conditions began to dry, and more improvements were seen. Bertolini in the nr 11 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree improved to second overall behind Kane.

Five minutes later, the lead finally changed, with Menten putting the nr 8 Lamborghini at the front, improving to 1:36.570. He was displaced by Wendlinger in the nr 33 Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin. Lechner, in the team’s second car, improved to third. The next car to lead the time sheets was a Maserati MC 12, the nr 2 Vitaphone car in the hands of Miguel Ramos. With twelve minutes to go, a fourth brand took the lead: Deletraz, in the nr 5 Carsport Holland Corvette, set a time of 1:33.135. At this stage, four makes were in the top five, separated by just a second. Ramos further improved, going under the 1:33 barrier to 1:32.567. Towards the end of the session, just before the rain started up again, Anthony Kumpen set the best time with a lap of 1:32.274 in the PK Carsport Corvette C5. The nr 2 Vitaphone Maserati was second, ahead of the nr 5 Corvette C6 of Hezemans and Deletraz, with the nr 11 Playteam Maserati fourth. Jetalliance's Wendlinger and Sharp were fifth and the first Aston, ahead of the team's second car.

With the rain continuing in Zhuhai, the teams were faced with a largely wet second free practice session. However, conditions dried towards the end, and times fell as some teams ventured out on slicks.  The best lap was set by Philipp Peter in the nr 19 PSI Corvette C6,  with a time of 1:34.432, 1.7 seconds  ahead of the Carsport Holland Corvette of Hezemans and Deletraz.  The nr 36 Jetalliance Aston Martin of Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer and Robert Lechner was third, ahead of the nr 12 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati of Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Hezemans’s Carsport Holland Corvette led the start of the session in the wet, ahead of Biagi in the nr 1 Vitaphone Maserati. Half-way through the session, Biagi improved to move into the lead, with a time of 1:43.483.  With 30 minutes to go, the nr 19 PSI Corvette improved to second. For the last fifteen minutes, the track dried and the times fell rapidly.
 

Bertolini went fastest for Playteam, followed by Philipp Peter in the PSI Corvette, while Collard improved in GT2 to take the lead. Peter’s times fell to 1:34.432, at that point four seconds ahead of Bertolini in the Maserati. As the chequered flag fell, the nr 36 Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin went second-fastest, only to be overtaken in the closing moments by the nr 5 Carsport Holland Corvette.

It was Thomas Biagi however who came out on top when it mattered as he claimed his first FIA GT pole position, in the first round of 2007, setting a time of 1:31.339 in an extremely close qualifying session around the 4.318 km Zhuhai International Circuit. The Italian driver, in his nr 2 Vitaphone Maserati MC12, was just 5 thousandths of a second ahead of Mike Hezemans in the Carsport Holland Corvette C6, who was in turn 20 thousandths ahead of his former team-mate Anthony Kumpen in the nr 4 PK Carsport Corvette C5. Reigning Champion Andrea Bertolini, in the Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati MC 12, claimed a place on the second row of the starting grid with a time of 1:31.551 - meaning the top four were within two tenths. Proving that this is a real Corvette circuit, Philipp Peter was fifth with the PSI car, ahead of leading Aston Martin DBR9, the nr 23 Aston Martin Racing BMS car of Fabio Babini.

There was also to be plenty of action during this morning’s 30-minute warm-up. Jonny Kane was the first to set the fastest time with the nr 17 Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBR9, but the other drivers soon improved. After few minutes, Bert Longin, in the nr 4 PK Carsport Corvette C5-R, took the lead, with a lap in 1.31.911, ahead of the nr 1 Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC 12 and the nr 12 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree Maserati MC 12. But in the middle of the session, the red flag was shown after contact between the nr 5 Carsport Holland Corvette C6.R and the nr 69 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 996 GT3 RSR. Both cars were damaged. Due to oil on the track, the session was stopped during 10 minutes. The nr 5 Carsport Holland Corvette C6.R broke its radiator, and the team is doing its best to take repair the car for the race. After the session restarted, most of the car went back on track for ten minutes, but nobody was able to improve.

The first race of the 2007 FIA GT Championship got underway with the new two-hour format, where strategy is incredibly important, and the timing of the pit stops along with a safety-car period saw the nr 7 Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT taking the lead. At the re-start, a storming Bouchut kept the lead 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 a first and historic series win.