The 2011 FIA GT1 Abu Dhabi round was an auto racing event held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Taking place over 25–26 March 2011, Abu Dhabi was the opening round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season. It is the second consecutive year that FIA GT1 has opened its season in Abu Dhabi, although the 2011 event will be held on a shorter 4.730 km (2.939 mi) layout of the Yas Marina Circuit. Marc Hennerici is the only returning driver who won during the event last season, while Corvette and Ford both are defending victors. The event is also unique on the FIA GT1 calendar as it is the only one held over a two-day period rather than the normal three; Qualifying is held following Practice on Friday while the Qualifying Race and Championship race are both held on Saturday. The weekend is shared with a trio of local racing series: The UAE Sportscar series, the Cytech UAE GT series, and the Total UAE Touring Cars series.

Münnich Motorsport earned pole position in the qualifying session, only to be penalized for an infraction and handing pole to the Young Driver team of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner. Early incidents in the Qualifying Race led to Marc VDS Ford winning their first GT1 race with Maxime Martin and Frédéric Makowiecki driving. Marc VDS was unable to hold the lead after starting from pole in the Championship Race as a quick pit stop vaulted Stef Dusseldorp and Clivio Piccione's Hexis Aston Martin into the race lead, fending off the Nissan of JR Motorsports but less than half a second at the finish.

Background

Following the announcement of an entry list featuring twenty cars from ten teams for the full 2011 season, only eighteen were entered for Abu Dhabi. The two Corvette squads of Team China and DKR Engineering both entered only a single car due to each team lacking a second chassis. All eighteen cars participated in a pre-season test held at the circuit on 23 March, with the No. 37 Münnich Motorsport Lamborghini of Nicky Pastorelli and Dominik Schwager setting the fastest lap of the day, followed by their second team car.^[1]

Qualifying

Qualifying result

For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. The fastest lap for each session is indicated with bold.

Pos	No.	Driver 1	Team	Session 1	Session 2	Session 3	Grid
		Driver 2
1	37	Nicky Pastorelli	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	1:52.705	1:52.006	1:51.668	61
		Dominik Schwager
2	8	Stefan Mücke	Young Driver AMR	1:52.521	1:52.183	1:52.113	1
		Darren Turner
3	41	Maxime Martin	Marc VDS Racing Team	1:52.820	1:52.603	1:52.197	2
		Frédéric Makowiecki
4	7	Alex Müller	Young Driver AMR	1:53.107	1:52.010	1:52.547	3
		Tomáš Enge
5	11	Mike Hezemans	Exim Bank Team China	1:52.892	1:52.521	1:52.750	4
		Nicky Catsburg
6	22	Peter Dumbreck	JR Motorsports	1:53.189	1:52.223	1:52.866	5
		Richard Westbrook
7	20	Enrique Bernoldi	Sumo Power GT	1:52.909	1:52.631	1:53.191	7
		Ricardo Zonta
8	23	Lucas Luhr	JR Motorsports	1:53.332	1:52.786	1:53.336	8
		Michael Krumm
9	21	David Brabham	Sumo Power GT	1:52.667	1:52.804		9
		Jamie Campbell-Walter
10	5	Karl Wendlinger	Swiss Racing Team	1:53.355	1:52.907		10
		Peter Kox
11	3	Clivio Piccione	Hexis AMR	1:53.037	1:52.914		11
		Stef Dusseldorp
12	40	Marc Hennerici	Marc VDS Racing Team	1:53.114	1:53.159		172
		Bas Leinders
13	47	Michaël Rossi	DKR Engineering	1:53.830	1:55.549		12
		Jaime Camara
14	38	Markus Winkelhock	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	1:53.486	No Time		13
		Marc Basseng
15	4	Christian Hohenadel	Hexis AMR	1:54.178			14
		Andrea Piccini
16	10	Martin Matzke	Belgian Racing	1:54.274			15
		Miloš Pavlović
17	9	Antoine Leclerc	Belgian Racing	1:54.564			16
		Fabien Giroix
18	6	Max Nilsson	Swiss Racing Team	1:54.570			18
		Jiří Janák

1. ^ The No. 37 Münnich Lamborghini was given a penalty of five grid spots for the Qualifying Race for ignoring a marshal's flag requiring the car to pits after illegally starting from an external battery during Qualifying 1.^[2]
2. ^ The No. 40 Marc VDS Ford was given a penalty of five grid spots for the Qualifying Race for changing an engine during practice.^[3]

Races

Qualifying Race

Race result

Pos	No.	Team	Drivers	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired
1	41	Marc VDS Racing Team	Maxime Martin Frédéric Makowiecki	Ford	31
2	22	JR Motorsports	Peter Dumbreck Richard Westbrook	Nissan	31	−1.476
3	23	JR Motorsports	Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr	Nissan	31	−18.069
4	20	Sumo Power GT	Enrique Bernoldi Ricardo Zonta	Nissan	31	−21.514
5	3	Hexis AMR	Clivio Piccione Stef Dusseldorp	Aston Martin	31	−22.460
6	38	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock	Lamborghini	31	−23.049
7	11	Exim Bank Team China	Mike Hezemans Nicky Catsburg	Corvette	31	−37.828
8	21	Sumo Power GT	David Brabham Jamie Campbell-Walter	Nissan	31	−43.637
9	4	Hexis AMR	Christian Hohenadel Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin	31	−48.575
10	5	Swiss Racing Team	Karl Wendlinger Peter Kox	Lamborghini	31	−49.454
11	40	Marc VDS Racing Team	Bas Leinders Marc Hennerici	Ford	31	−55.779
12	10	Belgian Racing	Martin Matzke Miloš Pavlović	Ford	31	−1:07.877
13	6	Swiss Racing Team	Max Nilsson Jiří Janák	Lamborghini	31	−1:08.866
14	9	Belgian Racing	Antoine Leclerc Fabien Giroix	Ford	31	−1:49.703
15 DNF	8	Young Driver AMR	Darren Turner Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin	15	Broken wheel
16 DNF	7	Young Driver AMR	Tomáš Enge Alex Müller	Aston Martin	1	Damage
17 DNF	37	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager	Lamborghini	0	Collision
18 DNF	47	DKR Engineering	Michaël Rossi Jaime Camara	Corvette	0	Collision

Championship Race

Race result

Pos	No.	Team	Drivers	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired
1	3	Hexis AMR	Clivio Piccione Stef Dusseldorp	Aston Martin	31
2	22	JR Motorsports	Peter Dumbreck Richard Westbrook	Nissan	31	−0.474
3	38	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Marc Basseng Markus Winkelhock	Lamborghini	31	−14.539
4	4	Hexis AMR	Christian Hohenadel Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin	31	−15.296
5	8	Young Driver AMR	Darren Turner Stefan Mücke	Aston Martin	31	−15.934
6	7	Young Driver AMR	Tomáš Enge Alex Müller	Aston Martin	31	−16.713
7	5	Swiss Racing Team	Karl Wendlinger Peter Kox	Lamborghini	31	−17.277
8	41	Marc VDS Racing Team	Maxime Martin Frédéric Makowiecki	Ford	31	−22.053
9	21	Sumo Power GT	David Brabham Jamie Campbell-Walter	Nissan	31	−32.952
10	11	Exim Bank Team China	Mike Hezemans Nicky Catsburg	Corvette	31	−39.805
11	37	All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport	Nicky Pastorelli Dominik Schwager	Lamborghini	31	−46.478
12	10	Belgian Racing	Martin Matzke Miloš Pavlović	Ford	31	−1:23.319
13	47	DKR Engineering	Michaël Rossi Jaime Camara	Corvette	31	−1:38.366
14	23	JR Motorsports	Michael Krumm Lucas Luhr	Nissan	30	−1 Lap
15 DNF	6	Swiss Racing Team	Max Nilsson Jiří Janák	Lamborghini	24	Retired
16 DNF	20	Sumo Power GT	Enrique Bernoldi Ricardo Zonta	Nissan	20	Retired
17 DNF	9	Belgian Racing	Antoine Leclerc Fabien Giroix	Ford	16	Retired
DNS	40	Marc VDS Racing Team	Bas Leinders Marc Hennerici	Ford	–	Did Not Start

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1= Clivio Piccione 27 1= Stef Dusseldorp 27 3= Peter Dumbreck 24 3= Richard Westbrook 24 5= Marc Basseng 16 5= Markus Winkelhock 16

Teams' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Hexis AMR 39 2 JR Motorsports 28 3 Young Driver AMR 18 4 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 16 5 Swiss Racing Team 6

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.