What started out as a dominant performance by Aston Martin, crossing the finish line 1-2 during Round 2 of the FIA GT1 World Championship at Silverstone, unraveled after the race and promoted third place finisher Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes in the Sumo Power Nissan GT-R to the top spot on the podium.

First came the news that the the #9 Hexis Racing DB9 of Frederic Makowiecki and Thomas Accary had covered more than three laps before serving a drive-through penalty, promoting Sumo Power to 2nd place. Then an hour later came the news that #7 Aston Martin of team Young Driver was being excluded for excessive plank wear. Post-race inspection showed that a few millimeters too much had been shaved off the #7 DB9′s belly plank from running too aggressively over the corner rumble strips. The Young Driver AMR team is appealing this ruling, but for now at least the official race victory belongs to Sumo Power‘s Campbell-Walter and Hughes.

This may not be the way Nissan or Sumo Power GT wanted to win their first race in the FIA GT1 World Championship, but it certainly does not take anything away from the impressive pace the Sumo Power GT-Rs displayed throughout the Silverstone weekend. Meanwhile, the Swiss Racing Team GT-Rs couldn’t quite match the pace of the Sumo Power Nissans, the #4 SRT GT-R finishing 9th and the #3 GT-R finishing 17th.

It will be interesting to see how the Aston Martin appeal unfolds in the days and weeks before Round 3 of the Championship, May 21-23 at Brno in the Czech Republic. For updates on the series and for live video feeds from each race, visit the official FIA GT1 website at http://www.gt1world.com

The complete Nissan press release from Silverstone and a collect of photos are available after the jump.

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Nissan’s NISMO motorsports department has finally announced full details on the 2010 FIA GT1-spec GT-R race car and along with some expected changes, there’s also a big surprise. Under the hood you won’t find Nissan’s twin-turbo V6, but rather a naturally aspirated 5.6-liter V8 engine that produces 600-hp and 480 ft-lbs of torque. That’s sure to motivate the GT-R rather briskly, thanks to a curb weight that has been reduced to just 2,756 lbs.

Along with the significant weight reduction, thanks in part to a striped out-interior and the use of a carbon fiber aerodynamics, the FIA GT1-spec GT-R also gets 18-inch RAYS wheels and carbon ceramic brakes with six-piston calipers.

Two GT-R’s will run in the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship, fielded by Britain’s Sumo Power GT and Swiss Racing Team and supported by NISMO. They will compete against Corvettes, Aston Martin DBR9s, Ford GTs, Lamborghini Murciélagos and more, with the first race of the season taking place in the United Arab Emirates on April 17th

GALLERY: FIA GT1 Nissan GT-R Race Car