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GT Racing
GT1: Corvette Wins Wild Championship Race In Argentina
Francesco Pastorelli and Yelmer Buurman take Exim Bank Team China Corvette to victory as Hexis AMR claims surprise teams' championship...
Exim Bank Team China claimed its first Championship Race victory and first for the Corvette C6.R following an action-packed and unpredictable FIA GT1 World Championship season finale Sunday in San Luis, Argentina.
Drama unfolded from the very start of the 60-minute race, as newly crowned driver's champion Lucas Luhr, along with four other cars, were collected in a massive pileup on the start/finish straight of the high-speed Potrero de los Funes circuit.
Luhr's No.23 JRM Nissan GT-R, who along with co-driver Michael Krumm clinched the title with their runner-up finish in Saturday's Qualifying Race, were knocked out, along with the No. 21 Sumo Power GT Nissan of David Brabham and three Lamborghinis, which caused a lengthy 25-minute safety car period for track clean-up.
When the field went back to green, however, officials handed a drive-through penalty for the then-leading Young Driver Aston Martin DBR9 of Tomas Enge, which overtook no fewer than ten cars while under the safety car during the chaotic race start.
Young Driver, which headed in with a three-point lead over JRM in the teams' championship, dropped back to 11th following the penalty for its sole-surviving Aston Martin, which looked to hand the title to the British JRM squad, which inherited the lead of the race.
However, JRM's remaining Nissan of Peter Dumbreck was given the same penalty just a few minutes later for a similar infringement.
While GT1 debutant Yelmer Burrman cruised to victory in his Exim Bank Team China Corvette, it was underdogs Hexis AMR which scored an unlikely teams' championship with third and fifth place finishes for its two Aston Martins.
The French squad, led by Phillipe Dumas, took the title by three points over JRM, thanks to Dumbreck's late-race move on Enge to claim 9th place in the race for the Nissan team.
“This is the best day of my life so far, being World Champions feels great," said Hexis AMR's Stef Dusseldorp, who finished third with co-driver Clivio Piccione.
"We started the year with victory in Abu Dhabi, then we had some problems but the team kept pushing. We've been fighting with Young Driver and the Nissans but we did it today and that’s the most important thing.”
The No. 47 DKR Lamborghini of Manuel Lauck and Christopher Haase's trouble-free run was rewarded with a second place finish in the race, ahead of the No. 3 Hexis AMR pairing.
In the final drivers' standings, Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke finished second, despite not taking part in either races this weekend due to an accident in Friday's practice.
RESULTS: Championship Race
PHOTOS: GT1 San Luis Start Crash
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
Drama unfolded from the very start of the 60-minute race, as newly crowned driver's champion Lucas Luhr, along with four other cars, were collected in a massive pileup on the start/finish straight of the high-speed Potrero de los Funes circuit.
Luhr's No.23 JRM Nissan GT-R, who along with co-driver Michael Krumm clinched the title with their runner-up finish in Saturday's Qualifying Race, were knocked out, along with the No. 21 Sumo Power GT Nissan of David Brabham and three Lamborghinis, which caused a lengthy 25-minute safety car period for track clean-up.
When the field went back to green, however, officials handed a drive-through penalty for the then-leading Young Driver Aston Martin DBR9 of Tomas Enge, which overtook no fewer than ten cars while under the safety car during the chaotic race start.
Young Driver, which headed in with a three-point lead over JRM in the teams' championship, dropped back to 11th following the penalty for its sole-surviving Aston Martin, which looked to hand the title to the British JRM squad, which inherited the lead of the race.
However, JRM's remaining Nissan of Peter Dumbreck was given the same penalty just a few minutes later for a similar infringement.
While GT1 debutant Yelmer Burrman cruised to victory in his Exim Bank Team China Corvette, it was underdogs Hexis AMR which scored an unlikely teams' championship with third and fifth place finishes for its two Aston Martins.
The French squad, led by Phillipe Dumas, took the title by three points over JRM, thanks to Dumbreck's late-race move on Enge to claim 9th place in the race for the Nissan team.
“This is the best day of my life so far, being World Champions feels great," said Hexis AMR's Stef Dusseldorp, who finished third with co-driver Clivio Piccione.
"We started the year with victory in Abu Dhabi, then we had some problems but the team kept pushing. We've been fighting with Young Driver and the Nissans but we did it today and that’s the most important thing.”
The No. 47 DKR Lamborghini of Manuel Lauck and Christopher Haase's trouble-free run was rewarded with a second place finish in the race, ahead of the No. 3 Hexis AMR pairing.
In the final drivers' standings, Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke finished second, despite not taking part in either races this weekend due to an accident in Friday's practice.
RESULTS: Championship Race
PHOTOS: GT1 San Luis Start Crash
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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