Autosportfoto

2012 battle of the brands goes down to the wire in Donington Park decider

A pulsating season which has produced eight rounds of intensely-fought competition reaches its conclusion at Donington Park this weekend with both drivers' and teams' championship going to the wire in the final round of 2012.

At Donington, the battle of the brands, comes down to a two-way fight between Mercedes and BMW.

Leading the drivers' standings by a single point are Germans Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock in the All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport SLS AMG No.38.

The pair assumed the lead after taking second place in the Championship Race in the penultimate round at the Nürburgring last weekend.

They usurped previous leaders Michael Bartels (DEU) and Yelmer Buurman (NLD) in the Vita4One Racing BMW Z4.

The Mercedes duo stand on 143 points with their BMW rivals on 142. With 33 points on offer at Donington, there is all to play for.

Basseng and Winkelhock collected 22 points for a third place in the Qualifying Race and a hard-fought second in the Championship Race while Bartels and Buurman took 15 for two fourth places. They surrendered the overall points' lead in the process.

For Basseng, who multi-tasks as driver and team manager for All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport, the trip to Donington will be something of a mystery tour.

"I have never been there before, I am not even sure where it is," he admits. "However, one of our English engineers knows it well from BTCC days and says the track will suit our car and Markus (Winkelhock) knows it from his single-seater days.

"I know it has a lot of history. I think Donington is a good solution for everyone as the choice for the final round as it is new for most of us. I need to learn the track from the start.

"As always we will do our best and if things fall our way we have a very strong chance for the teams' championship in particular and the drivers' championship as well. It would be a great way to end the season to win both.

"We go there in the lead of both championships so we are the hunted. We expect a tough contest."

Winkelhock, is something of a Donington specialist. He has raced there in Formula Renault 2.0 in 2000 and won the Formula Renault World Series race at the venue in 2005.

As for next weekend, his sights are fixed. "Our target for Donington is clear - scoring as many points as possible and winning the championship," he said.

"It has been a great season for me, Marc and the rest of the team. We have had many good results and if we could win both titles that would be just great.

"We have worked hard for this position and we hope to be able to defend it next weekend."

Bartels, a multiple GT world champion, who has raced at Donington in FIA GT in 2004, knows more than most about what it takes to win trophies in world-class GT competition.

The German was drivers' champion in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and has overseen several teams' titles for Vitaphone (now Vita4One) over that period. He was the drivers' champion, along with Italy's Andrea Bertolini in the inaugural season of the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2010.

He is keen to add another drivers' title for him and Buurman.

"There is only one point between us and Mercedes so it will come down to who makes the least number of mistakes at the final race weekend of the season," he says.

"Both Marc (Basseng) and Markus (Winkelhock) are very experienced so they will know how to handle the situation as well as us.

"Both cars have the basic ingredients to perform well at the circuit which is mainly medium-speed corners except for the last three corners.

"For me personally, I have to improve my qualifying and make sure that we get the weekend off to a good start. The team is ready even though there is a short turnaround time from Nürburgring.

"We will make sure our preparations are perfect. We are quite close with All-Inkl in the pit stop battles, the cars are evenly matched, so the drivers have to play their part.

"Ultimately, one small mistake could decide the championship."

Buurman also has previous experience at the circuit having competed there in Formula Renault 2.0, Formula 3, World Series by Renault and Superleague. 

"It's a nice flowing track and it's my favourite in the UK. Also I think it's is not bad for our BMW," he said. 

"We're now second in the championship, one point behind and 31 points ahead of the McLaren guys.

"We will do everything we can to be on top of the standings again after the Championship Race on Sunday." 

Having won in Russia and been title contenders ahead of Nürburgring, the Hexis Racing McLaren pair of Fred Makowiecki (FRA) and Stef Dusseldorp (NLD) saw their hopes dashed in Germany.

They took pole for the Qualifying Race but retired with front suspension damage and Makowiecki was deemed culpable in a clash with a GT3 car and was given a drive-through penalty in the main event. The McLaren broke down shortly after but was classified 10th.

Team boss Philippe Dumas is eager for the 2011 team champions to put the disappointment of Nürburgring behind them with a final flourish at Donington.

"We will continue to fight and raise Hexis and McLaren GT flags as high as possible. We will do our best to win the final race, I want to offer our British car a victory on its home soil," he said.

"Of course we are disappointed about last weekend's race because we were competitive on the track throughout the weekend and at the end of the day we just scored three points.

"We went close to something big this year but we must admit we had too many technical issues to claim the world title. That's life and that's racing.

"This new adventure with McLaren GT and the way we improved during the season reinforced Hexis Racing's credibility in the world of GT racing. But we still have to go to Donington to show we are the best and win."

Makowiecki and Dusseldorp, on 111 points, have only a mathematical chance of the title.

While All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport (234) and Vita4One Racing (198) squabble over the team's silverware, Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, third on 179, have designs on a podium place.

Feeling the heat from fourth-placed Hexis prior to the German round, the Belgians came away with their advantage intact.

Despite a disappointing weekend which saw them score just 14 points, their French rivals were kept at bay.

"The only good news is that Hexis, who were threatening us in the team standings, didn't take any points from us (at Nürburgring) so we go to Donington to defend a final podium position in the championship," explained Team WRT Sports Director, Pierre Dieudonné.

Local hero Oliver Jarvis, who shares the Audi No.33 with Germany's Frank Stippler, is delighted to be ending the season on home soil. "Donington is one of the great British tracks and I'm delighted that we will be finishing of the season there," he said.

"Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to race there in recent years so it will be extremely interesting to go back and especially to drive it in an Audi R8.

"We had hoped to be entering the final round in a position to fight for the championship however we are still fully motivated and it would be great to finish the season on a high and score at least two podiums as some reward for all the hard work the team have put in all year."

The winner's list in this season's eight rounds to date has featured no fewer than seven brands. Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche have all had their moments in the spotlight.

Only Aston Martin and Ford have not savoured the champagne in 2012.  

The line-up has featured a mouth-watering array of sportscar brands - Aston Martin DBRS9, Audi R8, BMW Z4, Ferrari 458 Italia, Ford GT, Lamborghini Gallardo LP600, McLaren MP4-12C, Mercedes SLS AMG and Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Close, exciting racing has been the hallmark of 2012 and visitors to Donington this weekend can expect more of the same as the destiny of the championships is finally settled.