The Ferrari F430GT took a clean sweep of the GT2 podium positions in China today, with the AF Corse pairing of Dirk Müller and Toni Vilander taking their first-ever FIA GT Championship victory. The victory was inherited though as the first-past-the-chequered-flag BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 997 was excluded at post-race scrutineering.

The 2007 FIA GT Championship season swung into action yesterday at the Zhuhai circuit in China with two free practice sessions and a final qualifying session. The morning started with the first free practice, held in mixed conditions. After early Porsche dominance in when the track was quite wet, when full wet and intermediate tyres were used, the dry period saw the Ferrari cars improving, with Bruni in the nr 51 AF Corse Motorola car setting a time of 1:36.760 fifteen minutes before the end, and the nr 63 Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari going second. However the best time remained in the hands of the Porsches, with the nr 97 BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche of Collard and Malucelli setting a time of 1:35.765. There were problems for the nr 62 Scuderia Ecosse car, which blew an engine. Collard led early on in the BMS Porsche during the second free practice until Vilander set a better time in the AF Corse Motorola Ferrari.

AF Corse Motorola finally broke the Scuderia Ecosse domination of GT2 pole position during the qualifying session when Dirk Müller claimed pole on his FIA GT debut. The German driver, returning to his GT roots, set a time of 1:35.113 in the nr 50 Ferrari F430GT, one tenth ahead of fellow AF Corse newcomer Gianmaria Bruni, in the nr 51 car.
 

Scuderia Ecosse's Kirkaldy was third in the nr 63 Ferrari he shares with Chris Niarchos, bringing an end to the run of ten poles for the Scottish team. Fourth and fastest of the Porsche runners was the BMS Scuderia Italia car, Emmanuel Collard just five tenths off pole. This morning's warm up session in GT2 saw the nr 63 Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430 GT2 set the fastest time, 1.1 seconds ahead of the nr 50 AF Corse Motorola Ferrari 430 GT2 and the nr 97 BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 997 GT3 RSR.

The First FIA GT Championship encounter in the GT2 class today was as equally exciting as was the action in the GT1 category, with a chaotic start seeing the leading cars fall back, catching up later. First across the finish line was the BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche 997 GT3 RSR; however, the car later failed scrutineering due to the ground clearance. Its exclusion meant that AF Corse Motorola Ferrari cars took first and second place, giving Dirk Müller and Toni Vilander their first FIA GT2 victory. Stéphane Ortelli and Gianmaria Bruni, whose F430GT had been delayed due to a puncture, were second, with Scuderia Ecosse's Tim Mullen and Tomas Enge wrapping up an al-Maranello podium.