Zuhai, 25th March 2007

The Italian AF Corse Motorola team has started the FIA Grand Touring championship with a one-two finish at China's Zhuhai circuit, running the Ferrari F430 GT cars developed by the Corse Clienti department of Maranello. The crew of Dirk Mueller and Toni Vilander won the closely contested GT2 class, ahead of team-mates Gianmaria Bruni and Stephane Ortelli. It was a difficult race with the safety car out on track for a long time, while the Porsche of Collard and Malucelli, that crossed the finish line first in the category was disqualified from the final results after post-race scrutineering. In the GT1 class, which was devoid of Ferrari entries, victory went to the Lamborghini of Bouchut and Muecke.

For the record, Ortelli was leading at half-distance when he collided heavily with a manhole cover on the racing line at the final corner, damaging his left front tyre, compelling the number 51 AF Corse Motorola F430 GT to complete an entire lap in this state before being able to pit, thus losing the lead. Dirk Mueller: "I am very happy with this result which is the best possible start to the championship for our AF Corse Motorola Team." Toni Vilander: "This weekend has been a learning curve for me and my main concern was not to make any mistakes. The Michelin tyres performed faultlessly all race long." Gianmaria Bruni: "What happened to Stephane was a real shame, because we had a comfortable lead after the first pit stop and the F430 GT was very quick." Stephane Ortelli: "Today, my team-mate Gimmi did most of the work, handing me the car in the lead, but then I had that incident which was really bad luck!"