Lamy gives Ferrari exciting win

Portugal's Pedro Lamy was the hero and the man of the moment for Larbre Competition as he guided his Ferrari 550 Maranello to an amazing win at the MotorCity GT 500 Dubai the penultimate round of the FIA GT Championship at the Dubai Autodrome yesterday.

In a race which changed as swiftly as the weather here, Lamy snatched victory from the unsuspecting nose of Vitaphone Racing Team's Timo Scheider and Michael Bartels on the second last lap of the three-hour race.

Yesterday's results throw the race for the overall title wide open with just one point separating the top five drivers with the final round still to go in Bahrain next week.

Shaikh Rashid Bin Mansour Al Thani gave away the prizes to the winners in the presence of Saeed Khalfan, Chairman of Dubai Autodrome, and Simon Azzam, CEO of Union Properties.

Till that second last lap, Scheider and Bartels had played second fiddle to persistent leaders Christophe Bouchut and Stephane Ortelli of the Russian Age Racing team in their Aston Martin DBR9.

However, they must have not sensed the purpose and intent of the Larbre Competition duo of Lamy and Gabriele Gardel as they powered their way from the back of the grid to snatch, what probably was the most exciting win for this season.

Lamy and Bartels were thrilled with such an exciting win. "It has been a fantastic race. In the end we got a bit lucky, but this is racing and we are pleased both for ourselves and for the team… a win is a win," Lamy blushed.

"I think we deserved to be on the top today as we were the fastest out there," Gardel added.

After continuous domination from the Russian Age Racing duo of Bouchut and Ortelli, the race seemed destined for a finish in favour of the Aston Martin.

However, on the 79th lap and 18 minutes still to go in the three-hour race, fate intervened as Bouchut retired the Aston Martin, handing over the lead to Scheider lurking behind.

The German cherished his rise to the top of the field, hardly realising that Lamy was making steady progress after starting right behind from the grid.

After sticking around like a prowler, Lamy made his move on the penultimate round as he took Scheider in his stride from the inside and held on to the top place for the remainder of the race.

In the GT2 Championships, the Gruppe M Racing duo of Emanuele Collard and Tim Sugden took their Porsche 996 GT3 RSR to victory. This race too was determined by luck as leaders Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller retired midway through the race.

"Once we had the lead, we knew that we had to go in for a safe race, save the car, not make any mistakes, and we were assured of the win," admitted Collard. The Spyker Squadron team of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Donny Crevels came in second in their Spyker C8, while the Albert Von Thurn Und Taxis, Chris Buncombe and Lorenzo Case came in third.

GT1 Championships: 1. Larbre Competition (Gabriele Gardel/Pedro Lamy) – Ferrari 550 Maranello; 2. Vitaphone Racing Team (Timo Scheider/Michael Bartels) – Maserati MC12 GT1; 3. GLPK Racing (Bert Longin/Anthony Kumpen/Mike Hezemans).

GT2 Championships: 1. Gruppe M Racing (Emanuele Collard/Tim Sugden – Porsche 996 GT3 RSR; 2. Spyker Squadron (Jeroen Bleekemolen/Donny Crevels) – Spyker C8; 3. Albert Von Thurn Und Taxis/Chris Buncombe/Lorenzo Case – Ferrari 360 Modena.

G2 Championships: Renaud Kuppens/Bas Leinders/Vanine Ickx – Vertigo Streiff.

G3 Championships: Carine Sicart/Jonathan Sicart/Ange Barte – Ferrari 360 Modena.