2010 FIA GT3 European Championship season

The 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship season was the fifth season of the FIA GT3 European Championship. The season commenced on May 1 at Silverstone and ended on October 10 at Circuit Zolder. The season featured six double-header rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of 60 minutes. Most of the events were support races to the newly formed FIA GT1 World Championship.

Despite FIA's efforts to slow down the Callaway Competition-entered Chevrolet Corvette of Christian Hohenadel and Daniel Keilwitz via extensive performance balancing, the pairing finished the season as champions, taking four victories to secure the title with a meeting to spare; the second such championship crown for a team running a Corvette after the 2008 triumph of French duo Arnaud Peyroles and James Ruffier. The championship-winning margin for Hohenadel and Keilwitz was 46 points over the Prospeed Competition Porsche of Paul van Splunteren and Marco Holzer, who took two wins over the course of the season at Portimão and Zolder. Another Corvette, run by Graff Racing, finished in third place with drivers Joakim Lambotte and Mike Parisy, who won both races at Brno. Four other duos took race victories during the season; Siso Cunill and Tim Bergmeister of Trackspeed won the season-opening race at Silverstone, Kenneth Heyer and Bernd Herdlhofer, and Csaba Walter and Claudia Hürtgen won at Jarama for Team Rosberg and Schubert Motorsport respectively, with the other Schubert Motorsport car of Patrick Söderlund and Edward Sandström winning at Zolder.

Prospeed Competition won the Teams' Championship, but were only confirmed as champions in December following a hearing to the FIA International Court of Appeal. Van Splunteren and Holzer had been disqualified from a victory at Zolder, due to a technical infringement regarding the weight of the car's rear brake discs.^[1] Ultimately, Prospeed were reinstated which allowed them to regain the teams title which Callaway Competition had assumed from the disqualification. Callaway finished second, ten points behind Prospeed, with Schubert Motorsport finishing third. In the Manufacturers' Cups, the top-two overall placings for Hohenadel and Keilwitz, and van Splunteren and Holzer helped to claim the cups for Corvette and Porsche respectively. The other cup, for Audi drivers, was won by Ireland's Seán Paul Breslin for the German Black Falcon team.

Entries and Drivers

The list below contains the confirmed teams and drivers that competed in the 2010 championship.^[2]

Team	Chassis	Engine	No.	Drivers	Rounds	Tyres
Hexis AMR	Aston Martin DBRS9	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	1	Manuel Rodrigues[3]	All	M
				Frédéric Makowiecki[3]
			2	Luc Paillard[4]	All
				Thomas Accary[3]
Team Rosberg	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	3	Kenneth Heyer[5]	All	M
				Johannes Seidlitz[5]	1
				Bernd Herndlhofer[6]	2–4
				Grégoire Demoustier[7]	5
				Stéphane Lémeret[8]	6
			4	Paolo Bonifácio[5]	1–5
				Michael Ammermüller[5]	All
				Grégoire Demoustier[8]	6
Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	5	Pierre Hirschi[9]	All	M
				Bruce Lorgère-Roux[9]	1–3
				Gregory Guilvert[10]	4–6
			6	Greg Franchi[9]	1–3
				Stéphane Lémeret[9]
				Jérôme Demay[10]	4–6
				Bruce Lorgère-Roux[10]
Team S-Berg Racing	BMW Alpina B6 GT3	BMW (Alpina) 4.4 L S/C V8	9	Martin Matzke[11]	1–3	M
				Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof[11]
			10	Thierry Stépec[10]	4
				Jérôme Policand[10]
Mühlner Motorsport	Porsche 997 GT3-R	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	11	Gilles Vannelet[12]	All	M
				Joe Osborne[13]	1–3
				Antoine Leclerc[10]	4
				Niki Lanik[7]	5
				Raymond Narac[8]	6
			12	Jürgen Häring[12]	1–5
				Kevin Éstre[12]	1–2
				Philip Geipel	3
				Dimitrios Konstantinou[10]	4–5
				Armand Fumal[8]	6
				Jérôme Thiry[8]
Fischer Racing	Ford GT GT3	Ford Cammer 5.0 L V8	14	Mikko Eskelinen[14]	All	M
				Christoffer Nygaard[14]	1–4, 6
				Florian Gruber[7]	5
Graff Racing	Corvette Z06.R GT3	Chevrolet LS7 7.0 L V8	16	Joakim Lambotte[11]	All	M
				Mike Parisy[11]
			17	Arnaud Vincent[11]	1–2, 6
				Arnaud Peyroles[11]	1–3, 6
				Grégoire Demoustier	3–4
				Henri-Gérard Tonelli[10]	4
Toni Seiler Racing	Corvette Z06.R GT3	Chevrolet LS7 7.0 L V8	18	Toni Seiler[11]	1–4	M
				Dino Lunardi[11]
Trackspeed	Porsche 997 GT3-R	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	20	Siso Cunill[15]	1–2	M
				Tim Bergmeister[15]	1
				Phil Keen[6]	2
			21	David Ashburn[15]	1
				Martin Ragginger[15]
				Yücel Özbek[6]	2
				Kevin Veltman[6]
United Autosports	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	22	Michael Guasch[16]	All	M D
				Mark Patterson[16]
			23	Matthew Bell[16]	All
				Zak Brown[16]
Argo Racing	Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4	Lamborghini 5.2 L V10	24	Albert von Thurn und Taxis[11]	1–4	M
				Giorgio Sanna[11]	1, 3
				Philip Geipel[6]	2
				Eugenio Amos[10]	4
			25	Ellen Lohr[11]	1
				Philip Geipel[11]
				Giorgio Sanna[6]	2
				Charlie Geipel[6]
				Siso Cunill[10]	4
				Niels Lagrange[10]
Belgian Audi Club	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	27	Enzo Ide[8]	6	M
				Greg Franchi[8]
Duncan Cameron Racing	Ferrari 430 Scuderia GT3	Ferrari 4.3 L V8	28	Duncan Cameron[8]	6	M
				Matt Griffin[8]
Team Rhinos Leipert	Ascari KZ1-R GT3	BMW S62 5.0 L V8	30	Rustem Teregulov[8]	6	M
				Andrei Romanov[8]
Black Falcon	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	32	Seán Patrick Breslin[11]	1–5	M
				Vimal Mehta[11]	1, 3, 5
				Robert Kaufmann[6]	2
				Matt Griffin[10]	4
			33	Seán Paul Breslin[11]	1–5
				Johannes Stuck[11]	1–2
				Christer Jöns	3–4
				Jan Seyffarth[7]	5
Prospeed Competition	Porsche 997 GT3 R	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	60	Petri Lappalainen[17]	All	M
				Markus Palttala[17]
			61	Paul van Splunteren[11]	All
				Marco Holzer[11]
Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport[18]	BMW Z4 GT3	BMW 4.0 L V8	76	Csaba Walter[19]	1	D
				Claudia Hürtgen[19]
				Edward Sandström[19]	2–6
				Patrik Söderlund[19]
			77	Edward Sandström[19]	1
				Patrik Söderlund[19]
				Csaba Walter	2–6
				Claudia Hürtgen[19]
Chad Racing	Ferrari 430 Scuderia GT3	Ferrari 4.3 L V8	87	Giacomo Petrobelli[11]	1–5	M
				Diego Alessi[11]
				Iain Dockerill[8]	6
				Tom Ferrier[8]
			88	Damien Charveriat	2–5
				Charles Hollings
Marc VDS Racing Team	Ford Mustang Marc VDS GT3	Ford 5.3 L V8	98	Eric De Doncker[20]	2–3	M
				Scott Maxwell[20]	2
				Maxime Martin	3
	Ford GT GT3	Ford Cammer 5.0 L V8		Eric De Doncker[20]	5–6
				Mathias Beche[7]
			99	Gaël Lesoudier[7]	5–6
				Maxime Martin[7]
Callaway Competition	Corvette Z06.R GT3	Chevrolet LS7 7.0 L V8	100	Marius Ritskes[11]	All	M
				Bernhard van Oranje[11]	1–4, 6
				Dennis Retera[7]	5
			101	Christian Hohenadel[11]	All
				Daniel Keilwitz[11]

Calendar

On October 23, 2009, just before the final round of the 2009 season, the FIA World Motor Sport Council announced the 2010 calendar in co-ordinance with the FIA GT1 World Championship.^[21]

Round	Race	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winner
1	1	Silverstone Circuit	May 1	#25 Argo Racing	#25 Argo Racing	#20 Trackspeed
				Philip Geipel Ellen Lohr	Philip Geipel Ellen Lohr	Siso Cunill Tim Bergmeister
	2		May 2	#18 Toni Seiler Racing	#25 Argo Racing	#101 Callaway Competition
				Dino Lunardi Toni Seiler	Philip Geipel Ellen Lohr	Daniel Keilwitz Christian Hohenadel
2	3	Masaryk Circuit, Brno	May 22	#24 Argo Racing	#20 Trackspeed	#16 Graff Racing
				Albert von Thurn und Taxis Philip Geipel	Siso Cunill Tim Bergmeister	Joakim Lambotte Mike Parisy
	4		May 23	#87 Chad Racing	#87 Chad Racing	#16 Graff Racing
				Giacomo Petrobelli Diego Alessi	Giacomo Petrobelli Diego Alessi	Joakim Lambotte Mike Parisy
3	5	Circuito del Jarama, Spain	June 19	#25 Argo Racing	#25 Argo Racing	#3 Team Rosberg
				Albert von Thurn und Taxis Giorgio Sanna	Albert von Thurn und Taxis Giorgio Sanna	Kenneth Heyer Bernd Herdlhofer
	6		June 20	#61 Prospeed Competition	#77 NFS by Schubert Motorsport	#77 NFS by Schubert Motorsport
				Paul van Splunteren Marco Holzer	Csaba Walter Claudia Hürtgen	Csaba Walter Claudia Hürtgen
4	7	Circuit Paul Ricard	July 3	#101 Callaway Competition	#16 Graff Racing	#101 Callaway Competition
				Daniel Keilwitz Christian Hohenadel	Joakim Lambotte Mike Parisy	Daniel Keilwitz Christian Hohenadel
	8		July 4	#61 Prospeed Competition	#16 Graff Racing	#101 Callaway Competition
				Paul van Splunteren Marco Holzer	Joakim Lambotte Mike Parisy	Daniel Keilwitz Christian Hohenadel
5	9	Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão	September 18	#101 Callaway Competition	#76 NFS by Schubert Motorsport	#61 Prospeed Competition
				Daniel Keilwitz Christian Hohenadel	Patrik Söderlund Edward Sandström	Paul van Splunteren Marco Holzer
	10		September 19	#5 Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	#5 Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	#101 Callaway Competition
				Pierre Hirschi Gregory Guilvert	Pierre Hirschi Gregory Guilvert	Daniel Keilwitz Christian Hohenadel
6	11	Circuit Zolder	October 10	#98 Marc VDS Racing Team	#1 Hexis AMR	#76 NFS by Schubert Motorsport
				Mathias Beche Eric de Doncker	Frédéric Makowiecki Manuel Rodrigues	Patrick Söderlund Edward Sandström
	12			#1 Hexis AMR	#1 Hexis AMR	#61 Prospeed Competition
				Frédéric Makowiecki Manuel Rodrigues	Frédéric Makowiecki Manuel Rodrigues	Paul van Splunteren Marco Holzer

Championships

The GT3 Championship adopted the new Formula One points system, meaning points were awarded to the top ten finishers in both races.

Drivers Championship

Pos	Driver	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Rnd 11	Rnd 12	Total
1	Daniel Keilwitz	Callaway Competition	0	25	18	15	18	12	25	25	18	25	2	0	183
	Christian Hohenadel
2	Paul van Splunteren	Prospeed Competition	2	0	0	8	0	18	8	15	25	18	18	25	137
	Marco Holzer
3	Joakim Lambotte	Graff Racing	0	0	25	25	0	1	18	18	15	0	6	0	108
	Mike Parisy
4	Csaba Walter	Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport	8	10	0	0	1	25	10	12	0	8	12	15	101
	Claudia Hürtgen
5	Manuel Rodrigues	Hexis AMR	0	18	6	10	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	18	62
	Frédéric Makowiecki
6	Edward Sandström	Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport	0	2	0	1	0	4	12	0	6	0	25	10	60
	Patrick Söderlund
7	Philip Geipel	Argo Racing	15	12	12	18									57
8	Gilles Vannelet	Mühlner Motorsport	10	0	0	0	0	10	15	6	4	6	0	6	57
9	Siso Cunill	Trackspeed	25	15	0	0									52
		Argo Racing							2	10
10	Mikko Eskeleinen	Fischer Racing	0	8	0	0	8	6	6	0	12	0	4	8	52
11	Toni Seiler	Toni Seiler Racing	18	0	15	6	0	0	4	8					51
	Dino Lunardi
12	Petri Lappalainen	Prospeed Competition	0	0	0	4	10	8	0	4	0	2	8	12	48
	Markus Palttala
13	Albert von Thurn und Taxis	Argo Racing	6	0	12	18	6	0	0	0					42
14	Tim Bergmeister	Trackspeed	25	15											40
15	Christoffer Nygaard	Fischer Racing	0	8	0	0	8	6	6	0			4	8	40
16	Kenneth Heyer	Team Rosberg	0	0	0	0	25	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	35
17	Diego Alessi	Chad Racing	12	0	2	0	15	0	0	0	2	0			31
	Giacomo Petrobelli
18	Ellen Lohr	Argo Racing	15	12											27
19	Bernd Herdlhofer	Team Rosberg			0	0	25	0	0	0					25
20	Greg Franchi	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	4	4	1	0	0	15							24
		Belgian Audi Club											0	0
20	Stéphane Lémeret	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	4	4	1	0	0	15							24
		Team Rosberg											0	0
21	Antoine Leclerc	Mühlner Motorsport							15	6					21
22	Seán Paul Breslin	Black Falcon	0	1	4	0	12	2	0	2	0	0			21
23	Joe Osborne	Mühlner Motorsport	10	0	0	0	0	10							20
24	Zak Brown	United Autosports	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	0	4	19
	Matthew Bell
25	Eric de Doncker	Marc VDS Racing Team			0	0	0	0			0	1	15	0	16
	Mathias Beche
26	Christer Jöns	Black Falcon					12	2	0	2					16
27	Thomas Accary	Hexis AMR	0	6	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14
	Luc Paillard
27	Giorgio Sanna	Argo Racing	6	0	0	2	6	0							14
28	Martin Matzke	Team S-Berg Racing			0	12									12
	Nikolas Mayr-Melnhof
28	Niels Lagrange	Argo Racing							2	10					12
28	Florian Gruber	Fischer Racing									12	0			12
28	Maxime Martin	Marc VDS Racing Team					0	0			0	12	0	0	12
	Gaël Lesoudier
29	Arnaud Vincent	Graff Racing	0	0	10	0							0	0	10
	Arnaud Peyroles						0	0
29	Grégoire Demoustier	Graff Racing					0	0	0	0					10
		Team Rosberg									10	0	0	0
29	Armand Fumal	Mühlner Motorsport											10	0	10
	Jérôme Thiry
29	Niki Lanik	Mühlner Motorsport									4	6			10
29	Pierre Hirschi	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	0	2	10
	Gregory Guilvert
30	Michael Ammermüller	Team Rosberg	1	0	0	0	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6
	Paulo Bonifácio
31	Johannes Stuck	Black Falcon	0	1	4	0									5
31	Marius Ritskes	Callaway Competition	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	5
32	Dennis Retera	Callaway Competition									0	4			4
33	Michael Guasch	United Autosports	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	3
	Mark Patterson
34	Charlie Geipel	Argo Racing			0	2									2
34	Damien Charveriat	Chad Racing			0	0	2	0	0	0					2
	Charles Hollings
35	Bernhard van Oranje	Callaway Competition	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1			0	0	1

Teams Championship

Pos	Team	Chassis	Engine	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Rnd 11	Rnd 12	Total
1	Prospeed Competition	Porsche 997 GT3-R	Porsche 4.0L Flat-6	8	1	0	18	10	26	8	21	27	20	26	37	202
2	Callaway Competition	Corvette Z06.R GT3	Chevrolet LS7 7.0L V8	0	25	18	15	18	12	26	27	18	29	4	0	192
3	Need for Speed by Schubert Motorsport	BMW Z4 GT3	BMW 4.0L V8	12	14	0	4	4	31	22	12	10	8	37	25	179
4	Graff Racing	Corvette Z06.R GT3	Chevrolet LS7 7.0L V8	0	0	37	25	2	2	18	18	0	0	6	1	109
5	Argo Racing	Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4	Lamborghini 5.2L V10	28	12	16	24	0	0	6	10					96
6	Hexis AMR	Aston Martin DBRS9	Aston Martin 6.0L V12	0	26	18	12	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	18	84
7	Mühlner Motorsport	Porsche 997 GT3-R	Porsche 4.0L Flat-6	16	0	0	0	0	10	15	8	8	6	10	8	81
8	Team Rosberg	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2L V10	4	0	0	0	33	0	4	0	15	0	0	0	56
9	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2L V10	8	6	2	2	0	15	0	1	12	0	1	4	51
10	Trackspeed	Porsche 997 GT3-R	Porsche 4.0L Flat-6	25	15	0	1									41
11	Chad Racing	Ferrari 430 Scuderia GT3	Ferrari 4.3L V8	0	0	4	0	21	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	32
12	United Autosports	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.3L V10	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	4	15	2	8	31
13	Black Falcon	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2L V10	0	2	6	0	12	4	2	4	0	0			30
14	Marc VDS Racing Team	Ford Mustang Marc VDS GT3	Ford 5.3 L V8			0	0	0	0							28
		Ford GT GT3	Ford Cammer 5.0 L V8									0	13	15	0

Manufacturer's Cups

The Manufacturer Cups were open to any manufacturer who supplied two or more teams in the full season. Points were awarded based on the driver's position within that manufacturer's class.

Audi

Pos	No	Drivers	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Rnd 11	Rnd 12	Total
1	33	Seán Paul Breslin	Black Falcon	15	18	25	0	18	18	18	25	0	18			155
2	22	Michael Guasch	United Autosports	0	12	12	12	12	15	0	12	0	15	25	15	145
		Mark Patterson
3	6	Greg Franchi	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	25	25	18	25	0	25							133
	27		Belgian Audi Club											15	0
4	6	Stéphane Lémeret	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	25	25	18	25	0	25							130
	3		Team Rosberg					12	0
5	5	Pierre Hirschi	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing	0	0	0	15	0	12	12	18	0	0	18	18	111
6	4	Paulo Bonifácio	Team Rosberg	18	15	0	0	15	0	25	15	12	0			100
		Michael Ammermüller												0	0
7	3	Kenneth Heyer	Team Rosberg	0	0	15	18	25	0	0	0	25	0	12	0	95
8	23	Matthew Bell	United Autosports	12	0	0	0	0	0	15	0	0	25	0	25	77
		Zak Brown
9	33	Johannes Stuck	Black Falcon	15	18	25	0									58
9	3	Bernd Herdlhofer	Team Rosberg			15	18	25	0	0	0					58
10	5	Grégory Guilvert	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing							0	0	18	0	18	18	54
11	5	Bruce Lorgère-Roux	Sainéloc-Phoenix Racing	0	0	0	15	0	12							51
	6									0	0	0	12	0	12
12	3	Grégoire Demoustier	Team Rosberg									25	0			25
	4													0	0
13	6	Jérôme Demay	Saintéloc-Phoenix Racing							0	0	0	12	0	12	24
14	33	Jan Seyffarth	Black Falcon									0	18			18
15	27	Enzo Ide	Belgian Audi Club											15	0	15

Corvette

Pos	No	Drivers	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Rnd 11	Rnd 12	Total
1	101	Christian Hohenadel	Callaway Competition	12	25	18	18	25	25	25	25	18	18	18	15	242
		Daniel Keilwitz
2	16	Joakim Lambotte	Graff Racing	15	12	25	25	0	18	18	18	15	0	25	25	196
		Mike Parisy
3	18	Toni Seiler	Toni Seiler Racing	25	18	15	15	12	15	15	15					130
		Dino Lunardi
4	100	Marius Ritskes	Callaway Competition	18	15	0	0	15	12	12	12	12	15	0	12	123
5	100	Bernhard van Oranje	Callaway Competition	18	15	0	0	15	12	12	12			0	12	96
6	17	Arnaud Peyroles	Graff Racing	0	0	12	12	18	0					0	18	60
7	17	Arnaud Vincent	Graff Racing	0	0	12	12							0	18	42
8	100	Dennis Retera	Callaway Competition									12	15			27

Porsche

Pos	No	Drivers	Team	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3	Rnd 4	Rnd 5	Rnd 6	Rnd 7	Rnd 8	Rnd 9	Rnd 10	Rnd 11	Rnd 12	Total
1	61	Paul van Splunteren	Prospeed Competition	15	15	12	25	0	25	18	25	0	25	25	25	235
		Marco Holzer
2	60	Petri Lappalainen	Prospeed Competition	12	18	18	18	25	15	0	15	15	15	15	18	184
		Markus Palttala
2	11	Gilles Vannelet	Mühlner Motorsport	18	12	15	12	15	18	25	18	18	18	0	15	184
3	11	Joe Osborne	Mühlner Motorsport	18	12	15	12	15	18							90
4	12	Jürgen Häring	Mühlner Motorsport	0	0	25	0	18	0	0	0	12	12			67
5	20	Siso Cunill	Trackspeed	25	25	0	15									65
6	4	Tim Bergmeister	Trackspeed	25	25											50
7	11	Antoine Leclerc	Mühlner Motorsport							25	18					43
8	11	Niki Lanik	Mühlner Motorsport									18	18			36
9	12	Armand Fumal	Mühlner Motorsport											18	12	30
		Jérôme Thiry
10	12	Kevin Éstre	Mühlner Motorsport	0	0	25	0									25
11	12	Dimitrios Konstantinou	Mühlner Motorsport							0	0	12	12			24
12	12	Philip Geipel	Mühlner Motorsport					18	0							18
13	11	Raymond Narac	Mühlner Motorsport											0	15	15
14	20	Phil Keen	Trackspeed			0	15									15

See also

• 2010 24 Hours of Spa

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 2010 in FIA GT3

• Official Website of the FIA GT3 European Championship