"If there are any 350Z owners in your club who are thinking about changing their cars to a 370Z, now could be a good time.

Nissan high performance centres are running a special promotion until the end of July where there is a £3k discount applied to certain grades and colours for 350Z owners. Stock is very limited so they will need to be fairly quick…. Once they are gone the offer has gone.

Don’t even need to trade in the car – just show the V55 to prove ownership."

Off you go then..... dont forget to mention nissansportz when you do the deal!

Next weekend Eastern European race fans will have the chance to witness the raw power of the newest World Championship as the teams and drivers compete in Round 3 of the FIA GT1 World Championship at the Automotodrom Brno on 22/23 May. While this is the first visit by GT1 World, 2010 will mark the tenth occasion that FIA GT cars have raced at the Czech circuit.




The FIA GT Championship last visited Brno in 2008, when Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp took the win in an Aston Martin DB9 ahead of four Corvettes, headed by Mike Hezemans and Fabrizio Gollin.



For 2010 local interest will centre on Tomas Enge, who is racing with Darren Turner for the Young Driver AMR team, with Stefan Rosina joining Mike Hezemans in the nr 14 Phoenix Carsport Corvette for his home race and Slovak driver Jan Danis joining Frank Kechele in the nr 25 Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago.



So far, the inaugural season had shown great variety and close competition with different cars and drivers coming out on top in Abu Dhabi and Great Britain. In the opening round at Yas Marina the weekend belonged to the Match Competition Ford GT of Romain Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch, taking second place in the qualifying race before dominating the main event, finishing ahead of the two Phoenix Racing Corvettes of Andreas Zuber/ Marc Hennerici, who had won the earlier qualifying race, and Mike Hezemans/ Andrea Piccini.



Just two weeks later the tables were turned, with the Aston Martin teams proving to be the dominant force on the reprofiled Silverstone Grand Prix track. The Aston Martin DB9 of Frederic Makowiecki and Thomas Accary headed a Hexis AMR 1-2 in the qualifying race, with the Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12 of reigning FIA GT Champions Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini in third. However in the main event it was the Young Driver AMR Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Tomas Enge which pushed through to take the chequered flag ahead of the Makowiecki and Accary and lift the Tourist Trophy on the podium. However their joy was short lived as the Young Driver Aston Martin was excluded from the results when the friction block of the flat bottom of the car was found not to be in accordance with the 25mm minimum thickness. The second placed Aston Martin was also handed a 15-second penalty for not serving a drive-through penalty within the required three laps and so the third placed Sumo Power Nissan GT-R of Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter was presented with the 25 championship points, ahead of Makowiecki and Accary, with the Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago of Jos Menten and Frank Kechele being classified in third. The Young Driver AMR team have appealed the decision to the FIA and the result remains provisional until the FIA Court of Appeal hearing on Tuesday 18 May in Paris.



Whatever the outcome of the appeal the FIA GT1 World Championship has already proven in just two events that, with four different winners in four races, the battle to become the first ever GT1 World Champion is unlikely to be decided until the final races in South America in November.

1 & 2 May 2010

The nr22 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R of Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter, which had originally finished third, was handed the win of the Silverstone round of the FIA GT1 World Championship after the nr7 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9 of Darren Turner and Tomas Enge was excluded from the results because the friction block of the flat bottom of the car was not in accordance with the minimum thickness. The second placed Hexis AMR Aston Martin of Thomas Accary and Frederic Makowiecki was also given a 15-second penalty for not serving a drive through penalty within three laps. The result is provisional and subject to an appeal that has been lodged by the Young Driver AMR team.

Qualifying Race: Saturday 1 May

Hexis AMR celebrated a 1-2 finish in the Qualifying Race at Silverstone when Fred Makowiecki took the chequered flag in the nr9 Aston Martin DB9 3.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Jonathan Hirschi in the nr10 Aston Martin after an action packed 60-minute race. The nr1 Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12, driven by Andrea Bertolini crossed the line in 3rd place, with the nr7 Young Driver AMR Aston of Darren Turner in 4th after losing the lead due to two pitlane infringements.

Championship Race: Sunday 2 May

After heavy overnight rain but with a drying track the race was declared wet but all of the 23 cars opted for Michelin slicks for the second race of the weekend. The two Hexis AMR Aston Martin’s lined up on the front row but it was the nr 10 Aston Martin of Jonathan Hirschi that got the best start to lead the pole sitter Frederic Makowiecki at the first corner. Championship leader Romain Grosjean’s torrid weekend got even worse when he was tapped into a spin at Copse and into retirement before his race even began.

At the front Hirschi held the lead until the second lap when Makowiecki dived down the inside of the leading Aston at Stowe to regain the lead. Stefan Mücke limped back to the pits with a puncture on one of the nr 8 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin’s Michelins.

On lap 3 the safety car was deployed when the nr14 Phoenix Racing / Carsport Corvette disappeared in a cloud of smoke at Stowe with Mike Hezemans making a rapid exit from the car as flames shot out from the rear of the Corvette and enveloping the track in a smoke screen. The safety car remained out on track until lap 7 while the marshals dealt with the incident and Hezemans walked dejectedly back to the pits.

Racing resumed on lap 7 with Aston Martin’s holding the top three places with Darren Turner in the nr7 Young Drivers AMR car keeping pace with Hirschi’s second placed Aston. Further back Andrea Bertolini in the Vitaphone Racing Maserati was fighting with the Sumo Power GT Nissan of Michael Krumm, the German trying to find a way around the Italian at Vale but they collided, taking the nr12 Corvette of Oliver Gavin into the gravel trap at Club.

Meanwhile Hirschi started to slow on lap 12 as his front right tyre was flat just as the pit window opened. Darren Turner was one of the first drivers to pit, handing over to Tomas Enge.

The order was shaken up for a few laps as the cars served the mandatory pitstop. The nr10 Hexis AMR Aston, now with Clivio Piccione at the wheel, spun at Vale, while there was drama for Henri Moser in the nr3 Swiss Racing Team Nissan as he went off the road at Stowe, hitting the tyre wall hard. The Swiss driver was OK, which was more than could be said for the Nissan.

Meanwhile Jamie Campbell-Walter, now at the wheel of the nr22 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R, was fighting his way up the field, moving ahead of Miguel Ramos in the nr2 Vitaphone Racing Maserati MC12 for 4th at Stowe on lap 19. Meanwhile the race leading car of Thomas Accary was just ahead of Tomas Enge’s aston Martin when he was notified that he had to serve a drive through penalty for starting his engine while on the jacks during the pitstop. The French driver continued to lap the Silverstone track, waiting more than the required three laps before coming in to serve the penalty. The Frenchman emerged still in 2nd place but now 17 seconds behind Enge’s leading Aston Martin.

Campbell-Walter was soon challenging the nr25 Reiter Lamborghini of Frank Kechele, the German holding off the British driver until lap 24 when the Nissan took the final podium position down the inside into Copse.

Christoffer Nygaard in the nr8 Young Driver AMR Aston Martin DB9 was making rapid progress up the order pulling past the nr40 Marc VDS Ford GT of Maxime Martin on lap 24 and then Nicolas Armindo in the nr11 Corvette a lap later. Martin also went past Armindo at Copse but there was contact between the two cars and the Mad-Croc Racing Corvette ended up in the gravel. On the final lap Nygaard took 6th place by moving past the nr33 Triple H Team Hegersport Maserati of Altfrid Heger at the end of Hangar Straight on the final lap of the race as the Danish drivers teammate Tomas Enge took the chequered flag 12 seconds ahead of Thomas Accary and 25 seconds in front of Jamie Campbell-Walter’s Nissan GT-R.

However after the podium celebrations the news came down that the FIA Stewards were investigating a number of incidents during the race and the nr9 Hexis Racing AMR Aston Martin was handed a 15 second penalty for not coming in to serve the drive through penalty within three laps. Then during the post race technical checks the winning car was found to have worn the friction block under the car beyond the minimum 25mm depth and was excluded from the results. The Young Driver AMR team decided to appeal this decision and the result of the Championship Race was declared provisional subject to the outstanding appeal. The provisional result gave the nr22 Sumo Power GT Nissan GT-R of Warren Hughes and Jamie Campbell-Walter their debut win in the FIA GT1 World Championship.

ENDS

Due to the Iceland volcanic disruption the European airspace crisis has caused disruption to businesses around the world, including the FIA GT1 World Championship. Following the opening round of the championship at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi flights to the majority of European destinations were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud. The Championship promoter SRO has worked tirelessly to find a solution to the problem of getting teams and their equipment back to Europe. Today the second of two cargo planes with the race cars and equipment has arrived in Luxemburg as planned and two charter flights to Europe have been booked to fly the teams and the organisers to Vienna, which will be arriving in the Austrian capital on Thursday morning.



“This situation has been extremely difficult but we have managed to pull all the different elements together to get the cars and teams to where they need to be so our next event at Silverstone can go ahead,” said Patricia Kiefer, Chief Operating Officer for SRO. “The cars are now back in Europe and the teams will arrive tomorrow; they will be able to pick up their cars and equipment before the weekend. The FIA GT1 World Championship races at Silverstone on 1/2 May will now be able to go ahead barring any further problems caused by mother nature.”



The Silverstone Supercar Event is taking place at Silverstone on 1st and 2nd May, with Round 2 of the FIA GT1 World Championship racing for the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy. The meeting also features the open rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship, the GT4 European Cup and the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series.



For more information on the FIA GT1 World Championship visit www.gt1world.com