Philipp Peter and Allan Simonsen were left to rue a qualifying penalty after missing out on a podium finish in the final European race of the FIA GT Championship season at Zolder.

Simonsen had put the Gigawave Motorsport Aston Martin DBR9 onto pole position at the Dutch circuit, but the time was then taken away by race stewards who deemed that the Dane had completed the lap while yellow flags were being displayed.

A ten place grid penalty meant Simonsen was forced to start from eleventh place on the grid, but he was soon making up places and took four places in the opening two laps alone.

With solid driver changes and good strategy, Simonsen found himself back at the wheel for the run to the flag and embroiled in a heated battle for the final podium position with the similar Aston Martin of Karl Wendlinger.

Despite being all over the back of the Jetalliance car, Simonsen was unable to find a way past despite a desperate attempt on the final lap that saw him forced to take a trip across the gravel trap.

“I am very, very happy with the car's performance today and with our tactics,” Simonsen said. “It's hard starting from eleventh and, because of being in the pack, we sustained some damage to the rear diffuser which affected the car but it was a great fight.

“The team is just getting better and better.”