International GT Open - Monza - Race Reports Race One - 3 October Ferrari fans could not have dreamt of a better Saturday: in Monza, in front of its Tifosi, Ferrari re-took the lead of the International GT Open. That's yet another leader change in the overall standings, thanks to the clear and solid win, the fourth so far in the season, for Marcel Fässler and Joël Camathias at the wheel of the Trottet Racing Ferrari F430. The Swiss duo, who started from the pole, only left the lead of the race for the first two laps to the Autorlando Porsche of Pedro Couceiro, but soon took control of the race, dominating both stints. Now, the Swiss lead the standings with 166 points, two more than Lietz-Roda (Autorlando Porsche), who finished second today after the usual final charge of the Austrian driver. Third in the standings is now the other Autorlando Porsche of Pedro Couceiro-Manuel Gião, with 132 points. The Portuguese pair today lost a podium finish in the very last lap, but most of all, their results this week-end are provisional as the stewards found non-championship standard fuel in the car after qualifying and the sample will have to be analyzed in the forthcoming days. IMSA Performance managed to bring its three cars into the points, but Patrick Pilet-Raymond Narac, who were running in the top four, eventually finished only 9th, after being forced to a second pit stop by a puncture and receiving a 20-second penalty for not serving their entire handicap. They lie now fourth in the standings with 129 points, while Michele Rugolo-Giacomo Ricci on the Advanced Engineering Ferrari F430 are fifth with 113 points, having produced another nice performance that brought them up to the podium in 3rd position. Also worth of note is the 8th position of the PCR Ferrari of Catalans Josep Mayola and Marc Carol, the latter shining in 4th position in the early laps, while the only major incident occurred in lap 2 when Bonetti went off with the EdilCris Ferrari. The race was lively in GTS as well, with the Kessel Ferrari of championship leaders Philipp Peter-Michal Broniszewski dominating in the first stint, before having to serve a heavy handicap, which allowed the Villois Aston Martin of Lancieri-Wiser to take the lead. But, like in Magny-Cours, the #61 had no luck, having to retire one lap from the end without any brakes left. Fortunately for the Villois squad, #62 of Marco Petrini- Lucas Guerrero had passed the two Kessel Ferraris of Broniszewski and Kuzminykh to collect a third success this year. This meant, of course, that Marco Petrini climbed to the podium with yet a new costume from his endless collection: this time it was Zorro! Third place was for the Corvette of Lagniez-Julià, after an excellent race despite a broken splitter. Race Result 1 5 GTF Trottet Racing Ferrari 430 GTC Marcel FASSLER/ Joel CAMATHIAS 37 laps
2 3 GTF Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Gianluca RODA/ Richard LIETZ +18.529
3 12 GTF Advanced Engineering Ferrari 430 GT2 Michele RUGOLO/ Giacomo RICCI +28.122
4 4 GTF Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Pedro COUCEIRO/ Manuel GIAO +29.131
5 18 GTF IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Jean-Philippe BELLOC/ Yannick DAVID +34.327
6 8 GTF Megadrive Ferrari 430 GT2 Marco CIOCI/ Piergiuseppe PERAZZINI +45.582
7 17 GTF IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Michel LECOURT/ Richard BALANDRAS +1:23.584
8 21 GTF PCR Sport Ferrari 430 GT2 Josep MAYOLA/ Marc CAROL +1:33.959
9 16 GTF IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Raymond NARAC/ Patrick PILET +1:34.638
10 10 GTF Vittoria Competizioni Ferrari 430 GT2 Sun Ho LEE/ Maurizio MEDLANI +1:50.825
11 62 GTS Villois Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 Marco PETRINI/ Lucas GUERRERO 36 laps
12 59 GTS Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 GT3 Scuderia Philip PETER/ Michal BRONISZEWSKI 36 laps
13 69 GTS Jean Claude Lagniez Corvette GT3 Miquel JULIA/ Jean Claude LAGNIEZ 36 laps
14 15 GTN Sun-Red SR21 Oscar FERNANDEZ/ Jacint VIVES 36 laps
15 9 GTF Advanced Engineering Ferrari 430 GT2 Peter BAMFORD/ Matt GRIFFIN 36 laps
16 56 GTS FR Motorsport Dodge Viper GT3 Filippo ZADOTTI/ Gabriele SABATINI 35 laps
17 71 GTS Maurizio Ardigo Dodge Viper GT3 Maurizio ARDIGO 35 laps
18 61 GTS Villois Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 Massimiliano WISER/ Gabriele LANCIERI 34 laps
19 58 GTS Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 GT3 Scuderia Vadim KUZMINYKH 28 laps NOT CLASSIFIED DNC 76 GTS Christian Kelders Ferrari 430 GT3 Daniel DESBRUÈRES/ Christian KELDERS 24 laps
DNC 90 GTS Vittoria Competizioni Ferrari 430 GT3 Hynn LEE/ Jean Francois DOMOULIN 10 laps
DNC 14 GTN Sun-Red SR21 Victor FERNANDEZ/ Lluis LLOBET 4 laps
DNC 6 GTF Racing Team Edil Cris Ferrari 430 GT2 Raffaele GIAMMARIA/ Alessandro BONETTI 1 lap International GT Open - Monza - Race Two 4 October 2009 It was a second exciting and eventful day of GT Open racing on the Sunday at Monza, which ended with a clear triumph of Ferrari over Porsche and a significant change at the top of the overall standings: Marcel Fässler and Joël Camathias won again today and now the Swiss pair of Trottet Racing has a 24-point advantage on Richard Lietz-Gianluca Roda (Autorlando Porsche), who today had to retire when the left rear tyre exploded shortly before the driver change. The pair lost the second position it was holding because of this accident, which was exactly the same they suffered last year here!  |
It was a beautiful late summer day in Monza, but it wasn't pretty for Porsche. The German machines seemed to be in a dominating position, with Pilet-Narac leading the race on the IMSA car, but soon after Lietz’ trouble, in lap 20, Raymond Narac who had taken over from Pilet got hit in the back by the Autorlando Porsche of Pedro Couceiro, as the Portuguese driver was fighting to get first position but missed the braking point at the first chicane. The incident left out both cars. There was still one Porsche 911 GT3 RSR left to chase the win, the IMSA car of Jean-Philippe Belloc and Yannick David, driven in the second stint by David, who tried to resist the final assault of Marcel Fässler but had to concede the lead in the very last lap. The French Porsche would lose the 2nd position after the race, as its wheelbase exceeded the maximum value by some millimeters. This meant that six Ferraris filled the top six positions, with Raffaele Giammaria-Alessandro Bonetti giving Racing Team Edil Cris its first podium of the season ahead of the Advanced Engineering car of Rugolo-Ricci. These two F430s had an exciting duel with the sister car of Cioci-Perazzini in the final laps, which ended with Perazzini in the gravel at Lesmo but able to rejoin the race and take fourth. Last year’s winners, Bamford-Griffin were 5th and the Vittoria car of Sun Ho Lee-Maurizio Mediani 6th. In the GTS category, for once, things were quiter, with the two Villois Astons of Max Wiser-Gabriele Lancieri and Lucas Guerrero-Marco Petrini cruising to a double win at home, ahead of the Kessel Ferrari of Lorenzo Bontempelli-Vadim Kuzminykh, with championship leaders Peter-Broniszewski, worried about consumption, took a fourth place still giving useful points for the championship. Race 2 Result 1 5 GTF Trottet Racing Ferrari 430 GTC Marcel FASSLER/ Joel CAMATHIAS 26 laps
2 6 GTF Racing Team Edil Cris Ferrari 430 GT2 Raffaele GIAMMARIA/ Alessandro BONETTI +11.697
3 12 GTF Advanced Engineering Ferrari 430 GT2 Michele RUGOLO/ Giacomo RICCI +12.479
4 8 GTF Megadrive Ferrari 430 GT2 Marco CIOCI/ Piergiuseppe PERAZZINI +25.474
5 9 GTF Advanced Engineering Ferrari 430 GT2 Peter BAMFORD/ Matt GRIFFIN +47.799
6 10 GTF Vittoria Competizioni Ferrari 430 GT2 Sun Ho LEE/ Maurizio MEDLANI +50.519
7 17 GTF IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Michel LECOURT/ Richard BALANDRAS +51.564
8 61 GTS Villois Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 Massimiliano WISER/ Gabriele LANCIERI +58.094
9 62 GTS Villois Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 Marco PETRINI/ Lucas GUERRERO +1:13.378
10 58 GTS Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 GT3 Scuderia Vadim KUZMINYKH +1:17.158
11 15 GTN Sun-Red SR21 Oscar FERNANDEZ/ Jacint VIVES 1:26.007
12 59 GTS Kessel Racing Ferrari 430 GT3 Scuderia Philip PETER/ Michal BRONISZEWSKI +1:34.747
13 90 GTS Vittoria Competizioni Ferrari 430 GT3 Hynn LEE/ Jean Francois DOMOULIN +1 lap
14 71 GTS Maurizio Ardigo Dodge Viper GT3 Maurizio ARDIGO +1 lap
15 56 GTS FR Motorsport Dodge Viper GT3 Filippo ZADOTTI/ Gabriele SABATINI +1 lap
16 14 GTN Sun-Red SR 21 Victor FERNANDEZ/ Lluis LLOBET +1 lap
17 4 GTF Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Pedro COUCEIRO/ Manuel GIAO + 6 laps
18 16 GTF IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Raymond NARAC/ Patrick PILET +7 laps NOT CLASSIFIED DNC 3 GTF Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Gianluca RODA/ Richard LIETZ 15 laps
DNC 76 GTS Christian Kelders Ferrari 430 GT3 Daniel DESBRUÈRES/ Christian KELDERS 9 laps
DNC 69 GTS Jean Claude Lagniez Corvette GT3 Miquel JULIA/ Jean Claude LAGNIEZ 4 laps
DNC 21 GTF PCR Sport Ferrari 430 GT2 Josep MAYOLA/ Marc CAROL 1 lap
DQ 18 GTF IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Jean-Philippe BELLOC/ Yannick DAVID 26 laps | 
