It started so well for Aston Martin– and looked like it had finished well too – in a race that was full of drama, Crossing the line first after a hard fought race was the #7 Young Driver Aston Martin DB9 12 seconds ahead of the #9 Hexis DB9 which had lost its lead after picking up a drive-through penalty. Then came the flying #22 Sumo Power Nissan, 13 seconds back. An elated Sumo Power team were ecstatic at the result, but things were about to change…
At the start the trio of Aston Martins had blasted away, and traded the lead for the first two-thirds of the race.
The podium celebrations were over and the cars sent to scrutineering… Then came the news that the #9 car of Frederic Makowiecki and Thomas Accary had covered more than three laps before serving a drive-through penalty. Sumo Power's third place became second.
An hour later, and as the media centre was beginning to empty, Jeff Carter – the GT1 press officer – came out with the shock announcement that the # 7 Aston was being excluded for excessive plank wear: a few millimetres too much had been shaved off running over kerbs, and the #7 was out, pending an appeal by the Young Driver Aston Martin team. Sumo Power were the winners, picking up both the GT1 win and also adding their names to the famous Tourist Trophy.
Jamie Campbell-Walter had been tigering through the field: his final victim was the #25 Reiter Lamborghini, and after a few laps on its tail he forced a way through for what he thought was third. It shows that some overtakes end up being worth more than you imagine. A maiden win for the Nissan GT-R of Sumo Power! The Aston appeal will be heard by the race organisers: that won't necessarily be straight away, but precedent shows that it's unlikely to have a positive outcome. We'll have full story up soon – in the mean time, you can watch the races on GT1 web TV.
Jonathan Moore
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
Yeah
GT-R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd love to see a GTR winning the race. While the #9 car should be disqualified for infraction, #7 car of Darren Turner and Tomas Enge were the clear winner and I don't think a few milimetres would've made any difference. Still, it's a great race and Silverstone is clearly a much better track than the one in Abu Dhabi..
Eh, no one want to win by legalities, but congrats anyway. A great first outing!
Sumo POWAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!
0.8 mm too thin on the plank I believe ... harsh. Oh well.
10 ot if 10 for this track... a 'better track' all round.. sorry Abu Dhabi you got the money but Silverstone is a drivers track.. no doubt!! - Nice one Sumo Power!!
Im a GT1 noob and i dnt know waht a Plank is
your a plank
TO 'SUPA' . a plank isnt just used in gt endurance racing , its used in a lot of forms of motorsport - mostly in single seaters . it is basicly a wooden plank that is fitted to all cars that ensures all the competing cars are operating at or above the legal ride height . if the wooden plank is worn down more than the allocated amount the stewards will see that it was operating an illegal ride height .
obviously this can be quite tricky to calculate as a team may think that the ride height they have set is legal but as jonathan said it can be worn by going over the curbing . so the young driver aston martin db9r wasnt set to take in account of the curbing .
some of you think its harsh , its the rules and regulations . motorsport operates in many small measurements , a race can be won be a mm or lost . in my eyes the sumo power gtr's are the rightful winners .