Returning to the sunshine, Matech Competition is at the circuit of Portimão, for Round 7 of the FIA GT1 World Championship.
After an encouraging free practice with P-4 for Matech Ford GT1 n°6 and P-6 for Matech Ford GT1 n°5, the pre-qualifying session was even more successful thanks to the pole position of car n°5 driven by Richard Westbrook. Car n°6 finished in p13.
Since pre-qualifying was so good Thomas Mutsch was expecting better than a 22nd position during the qualifying on Saturday morning, but a problem with an anti-roll meant that 22nd was the best that was possible. Nicolas Prost finished Q1 in p-17, mainly due to a locking wheel problem whenever the brakes were used.
Marc VDS Racing, in Ford n°40, took the 2nd position during the qualifying but was subsequently relegated to the last position on the grid after a scrutineering check. So, Matech Ford GT1 n°5 and n°6 took the start from 21nd and 16th place for the qualifying race.
Driving n°5, Richard Westbrook started a meteoric rise from 21st on the grid, reaching 13th on lap 9! Neel Jani with car n°6 was 20th after 6 laps but then started to overtake many cars at this time. By lap 10, he was up to 15th.
On lap 13, four cars were abreast along the starting line, two of them were the Matech Ford GT1 n°5 and 6 ! Richard Westbrook overtook so many cars that when he pitted for the driver change, he was up to 9th. For a few minutes, car n°5 and 6 were first and second: the strategy was to do a late driver change and make sure it was the quickest.
Thomas Mutsch, with car n°5, came out of the pit just a few seconds before the pit window closed, and continued to overtake and race with very good lap times. Nicolas Prost was not so lucky as came out with cold tires in p-12 and 4 cars overtook him during a battle. Then, when the tires were up to temperature, he had to come back to the pit just a few minutes later because of an engine problem. Ten minutes before the race finished, he came out of the box but had to return one lap later. He finished the race in p20. Thomas Mutsch crossed the finish line in p5, a huge achievement coming from p-21 !
For the Championship Race, Matech Ford GT1 n°5 will start from the 5th position, and Matech Ford GT1 n°6 from the 20th.
Source : Matech Competition