Yas Marina Post-Race Notebook

***By winning the Gulf 12 Hours with AF Corse, Ferrari broke Mercedes-AMG’s winning streak in Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli and denied the German manufacturer a sweep of the five races held this year.

***Mercedes-AMG teams won the Kyalami 9 Hour, which rounded out the 2021 season, as well as the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa and Indianapolis 8 Hour but the brand’s best result at Yas Marina was fourth for Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed.

***AF Corse extended Ferrari’s Gulf 12 Hours wins record to eight victories, while the Italian team notched up its fourth overall success to draw level with Kessel Racing. Last weekend marked the 12th Gulf 12 Hours race, although the event was marketed as the 11th running because it was the 11th edition to be held at Yas Marina Circuit.

***All three drivers in the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 – Antonio Fuoco, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi – became first-time Gulf winners. Fuoco did all of the car’s testing work on Friday as Calado and Pier Guidi flew overnight, departing around 2 a.m. on Saturday, from the FIA awards gala in Bologna.

***Following his victory, Fuoco jumped to third in the final IGTC standings. The Italian moved ahead of Raffaele Marciello, who was third heading into the event, and Luca Stolz who in turn leapfrogged Marciello as well.

***Daniel Juncadella won the championship with 68 points, followed by Jules Gounon with 65, Fuoco with 58, Stolz with 55 and Marciello with 50. Pro-Am Challenge champions Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad, meanwhile finished seventh overall in the standings.

***Juncadella became the second Mercedes-AMG driver to win the IGTC title after Tristan Vautier in 2018.

***Kevin Magnussen told Sportscar365 that he enjoyed the “whole experience” of his GT3 debut in an AF Corse-run MDK Motorsports Ferrari: “I had a lot of fun with Mark [Kvamme] and my dad. It’s really cool to be able to go and drive a real racing car with my dad. It’s a nice off-season fun thing to do.”

***Magnussen, his father Jan and MDK owner Kvamme will now turn their attention to the Rolex 24 at Daytona where they are sharing a Porsche 911 GT3 R. “It’s good to get a lot of laps in a similar car to what we’re going to run in Daytona,” said the Formula 1 driver. “We’re just looking forward to going there as a family and having a bit of fun.”

***Juncadella explained that his Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM crew had a puzzling start to event. “Setup-wise we started doing some changes that were probably in the wrong direction,” he told Sportscar365. “Every time we did a sit-down, everything was out of range somehow. We did a proper sit-down at the end of Friday and there were some things that needed correction on the setup. We changed those and it was a lot better.”

***Erwan Bastard was all smiles after claiming a podium on his GT3 debut with Audi Sport Team Sainteloc. “Unbelievable, I would say,” Bastard told Sportscar365. The GT4 European Series champion admitted that the start of the weekend was “a bit difficult” but he got up to speed with the help of his factory co-drivers Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Haase.

***Bastard said: “I was able to learn a lot from these [factory] guys. They did an amazing job the whole weekend. On the track or in the box, talking with them was really helpful. For next season it will be really helpful. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to race with them. It’s pretty good statistics for a first race!”

***Sainteloc sporting director Frederic Thalamy was full of praise for Bastard, acknowledging that the 24-year-old’s confidence grew during the event. He also confirmed that Bastard will drive a Pro car in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup next year, as well as a different-category Audi in Endurance Cup.

***The retirement of Sainteloc Junior Team’s independently run Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II meant that Tresor Attempto Racing finished highest of the cars that were ranked Silver by the IGTC. It contested the race as a Pro entry and came through in ninth. Click Here to view the filtered results for IGTC-nominated cars here.

***Thalamy said that the late-race issue on the Sainteloc Junior Team Audi will need to be investigated further. “It was something on the engine but we don’t know exactly,” he noted. “There was an alarm on the screen and we had to stop.”

***The GT Cup class-winning Centri Ticino Porsche 911 GT3 Cup came out relatively well after being struck by the No. 66 Tresor-Attempto Audi. Driver Ivan Jacoma told Sportscar365 that Ticino changed a wheel but the car’s handling was unaffected by the substantial hit.

***Audi Sport Team Tresor driver Dennis Marschall accepted the blame for making contact with the Porsche. “In the end, it was a misjudgment from my side,” he admitted. “I think he wanted to let me past on the inside at Turn 9. I don’t want to blame him: they have a right to race here.”

***Marschall’s co-driver Kelvin van der Linde set the fastest lap of the race: a time of 1:52.137 on the second lap.

***Toro Verde driver David Fairbrother ended up with his left arm in a sling after an accident put his GT Cup Porsche out of the race in the first half. Fairbrother told broadcast pit lane reporter Alan Hyde that he dropped a right-rear wheel at Turn 1 in the unexpected wet conditions. “It went in really, really hard,” he said. “Hit the front, hit the back and I banged my shoulder on the edge of the seat. It’s just muscle damage. Just a bit of tear.”

***The No. 58 MP Racing Mercedes battled a fuel pump issue during the race and resulted in garage visits and multiple stoppages on track. Finally, David Gostner spun in the last couple of minutes but recovered to bring the car home in 26th.

***Saalocin Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R had a scare with just over one hour to go after Tom Boonen tangled with eventual Am class winner Conrad Grunewald at Turn 3. The contact sent Boonen’s Porsche on two wheels; the six-time Tour de France stage winner parked it in a safe location behind the barriers, but soon returned to finish 16th overall and fifth in Am.

***AF Corse was surprised by the trouble its mechanics had in performing a brake change on the No. 50 Ferrari under green flag conditions. “It’s strange,” Davide Rigon told Sportscar365. “They are very familiar with this car and practiced a lot in the Friday test. The pads were stuck, which never happens. We lost a lot [of time].”

***Fortunately for Rigon, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera, a safety car period not long after the tardy brake change and a strategic drive-through the pit lane for the leading sister No. 71 Ferrari kept them on the lead lap. “From there on it was full-attack and risk everything,” Rigon said. “It paid in the end. We were pretty fast, but a little bit slower than our teammates.”

***Audi Sport Team Sainteloc also performed a mid-race brake disc and pad change, which was “not in the plan” according to Thalamy. “We were surprised not to do it [without one],” he said.

***The No. 51 Mercedes from 2 Seas Motorsport retired after the right-front brake “exploded” during a Lewis Williamson stint, according to co-driver James Cottingham.

***Inception Racing’s race came to an early end after suspension failure on its McLaren 720S GT3, potentially triggered by contact in the opening laps of that had also damaged the right-rear of the car. The Pro-Am class pole-sitter missed the grid after the Optimum Motorsport squad detected a crank sensor issue.

***RAM Racing’s Am podium bid was impacted by a shredded auxiliary belt on its D2-liveried Mercedes-AMG. Ian Loggie, Morgan Tillbrook and Mikael Grenier finished fourth in class, eight laps off the winning AF Corse Ferrari.

***The next Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season kicks off with the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour on Feb. 3-5. The event is expected to attract a larger international field than last season, when coronavirus pandemic measures forced its postponement to mid-May, during the European racing season.

John Dagys contributed to this report