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FIA-GT1 Abu Dhabi Qualifying Report

**Lamborghini Pole for Schwager and Pastorelli**

Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwager scored a maiden pole position for the All-Inkl.com Muennich Motorsport team when Pastoreli set the fastest time of the weekend so far in the nr37 Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV. The five brands competing in the 2011 Championship were all represented in the top 6, with the Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner claiming a front row position in the Young Driver Aston Martin alongside the Lamborghini. Row two is headed by the Marc VDS Ford GT of Maxime Martin and Frederic Makowiecki with the second Young Driver Aston of Tomas Enge and Alex Muller in 4th. The Team Exim Team China Corvette of Mike Hezemans and Nicky Catsburg was 5th with the JR Motorsport Nissan GT-R of Peter Dumbreck and Richard Westbrook alongside meaning all five brands are represented on the first three rows and covered by 0.4 seconds.

Q1 was topped by the Aston Martin DB9 of Stefan Mucke, the German holding off the challenge of David Brabham in the nr21 Sumo Power Nissan GT-R, with Pastorelli posting the 3rd fastest time. In Q2 Dominik Schwager was fastest, edging out the nr7 Young Driver Aston of Tomas Enge, with Turner in 3rd. The nr38 All Inkl Lamborghini had gearbox problems that forced Marc Basseng into retirement and Jamie Campbell-Walter also failed to qualifying for Q3, the only NIssan that failed to make the last eight.

The first Qualifying Race of 2011 will start at 13:15 (local) - 09:15 (UK) and 10:15 (CET) - and all the action can be seen on GT1world.com with live streaming of the race.

Nicky Pastorelli #37 All-Inkl.com Muennich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV
“The car was really good, and we managed to have a good lap in Q3 which brought us to this nice result! We hope to do it again tomorrow when it really counts, we will see tomorrow, but I’m really happy not only for myself but also for the team. They did so much hard work over the last year, when they started from zero, and if you look at the results from last year the first race we were on the last row. The first row this year shows what a great job they did.

Dominik Schwager #37 All-Inkl.com Muennich Motorsport Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV
“I’m really happy, I mean Nicky already said basically everything: the team had so much work over the winter to get the cars ready, and last year we were nowhere, the car was undriveable and we didn’t even finish. It’s like a 180 degrees turn and I just hope to have a good race result and collect some points. If someone had asked me who I want to drive with I would have said Nicky, it’s great to have a partner at the same level, but what’s really important is a good race result and I’m looking forward to it!”

Stefan Mucke #8 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9
“We are definitely very happy, and the team did a good job. We found quite a good set up, and for everybody it was new to drive in the cold conditions at night but we did a good job, everything was fine so it’s looking good for tomorrow. We made a few changes to the car over winter, and it’s a bit easier to drive, hopefully a bit more consistent in the race, so the plan now is to collect good points tomorrow!”

Darren Turner #8 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9
“I had a lovely time! The build up to the race has been quite interesting, I haven’t really got straight back into the car and up to speed so it all came together in that last session which I was pleased with. The team did a great job, over the winter things have changed and we’re starting the season with a much more positive feeling. It’s the first time Stefan and I have driven together in the same car and it’s working very well.”

Maxime Martin #41 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT
“We did a very good qualifying, of course the weekend started quite badly with a broken engine on Wednesday but it looks good for the moment and we are very happy. For my first qualifying with Fred, it’s great!”

Frederic Makowiecki #41 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT
“I am really happy, my first qualifying with Maxime and Marc VDS and it’s better to be at the front for tomorrow to avoid trouble. I think we can do a good race, we are working well together with Maxime and that’s really important in this championship.”

-source: fia-gt1

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