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International GT Open, Monza - Race Reports Last weekend saw the penultimate International GT Open double header, at Monza and Race One saw the IMSA Performance Porsche take the win, their 11th win in the series, but the first one this season. After qualifying well and without handicap, Raymond Narac and Patrick Pilet drove a perfect race, beating the V8 Racing Corvette of Ramos-Giammaria and the Manthey Porsche of Tandy-Holzer, (who had a close battle with the AF Corse Ferrari of Bruni-Leo), eventually beating the Italians despite a spin and taking the provisional lead in the standings (162 vs 159 points). The GTS race had an even more dramatic finale with the Autorlando Porsche of Mapelli-Hamilton and the Kessel Ferrari of Zampieri-Dalle Stelle, which dominated most of the race, being pipped at the very end by the other Autorlando car of Matteo Beretta and Marcello Puglisi, taking their second win of the year, ahead of the AF Ferrari of Stefano Bizzarri (which retook the points lead) and Andrea Rizzoli, and the Kessel Ferrari of Zanuttini-Gattuso. The start, on a damp track, was fairly orderly with Bruni retaining the lead from the pole over Montermini, Zampieri, Ramos, Bontempelli, Christodoulou, Tandy, Narac and Barba. Whilst there were some chicane cutting by Montermini, Bruni and Barba the biggest fight was for fifth, with Tandy emerging after a few laps but then spinning at the second chicane on lap 5 before rejoining back in 14th place. After 10 laps, Bruni held a 10 second lead over over Montermini with Zampieri a further couple of seconds further back, Ramos in fourth, and then Christodoulou, Peter (who was soon forced to stop soon after a fire in the engine compartment), Narac meanwhile was fighting with Moncini, then Bontempelli, Beretta and Tandy. After the driver changes, Leo (who had a 20” handicap) still led but on lap 22 was passed by both Pilet and Giammaria (who then missed a chicane), while Lopez was fourth 12 seconds back ahead of Holzer, Sijthoff, Mapelli (who led GTS despite having lost the front bumper), Malucelli, Dalle Stelle and Puglisi. The Autorlando Porsche indeed was losing all sorts of body pieces but continues with obstinacy. Pilet kept the lead over Giammaria with Leo third and Holzer now fourth, after having passed Leo - The German though spun at Ascari on lap 29, with Leo retaking third. On a slippery track Leo spun on the final lap leaving third to the Porsche. There was drama too in GTS as the three leaders (Mapelli, Dalle Stelle and Puglisi) find themselves alongside each other at Lesmo and collided. Puglisi survived to take the win ahead of Rizzoli and Gattuso, while Dalle Stelle spun off track and Mapelli finished fourth after pitting to change a tyre. The McLaren meanwhile stopped on track with a mechanical problem on the last lap. Race 1 Result 1 16 Imsa Performance Matmut
Raymond Narac/ Patrick Pilet Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 Super GT 1º 34 laps
1.10'24.578 NOT
CLASSIFIED Race 2 Day 2 at Monza saw good weather, ideal conditions for the Villois Racing Aston Martin which took its third win of the season after a perfect race from Matteo Malucelli and Alvaro Barba. Second came the AF Corse Ferrari of Federico Leo and Gimmi Bruni, after a solid performance, the Italian duo regaining the lead in the championship standings and going to the season finale in Barcelona with a 7 point advantage over Holzer-Tandy (Manthey Porsche), the Anglo German combo only managing fifth. Last spot on the podium for the race was for the aabar Villorba Ferrari of Andrea Montermini-Cochito Lopez. As yesterday, the GTS race was decided in the closing lap, with championship leaders Daniel Zampieri-Michael Dalle Stelle (Kessel Ferrari) inheriting a lucky win when the Autorlando Porsche of Mapelli-Hamilton punctured, they would still come home second in class though. De Lorenzi and Alessandro Garofano gained their first podium position to the GDL Mercedes. At the start, Pilet, despite pressure, retained the advantage whilst Malucelli and Giammaria passed Holzer at the first chicane. Broniszewski meanwhile was fifth ahead of Leo, then Gattuso first in GTS, Mapelli and Lopez. It was very tight between the first three, with Pilet keeping the door shut and on lap 4, Mantovani spun before the Roggia hitting Cordoni as he did so. At the beginning of the 5th lap, the Aston passed Pilet on the straight but was forced to cut the first chicane in doing so; Soon after, the Corvette also overtook the Porsche. Leo meanwhile was particularly fast in this phase of the race and took third on lap 6. On lap 8, the McLaren of Hummel stopped with fire in the exhaust area, while Sijthoff stopped with a problem on the right rear wheel. On lap 10, Malucelli led with Giammaria right behind him, Leo was third 2 seconds back, then the Porsches of Pilet and Holzer, GTS leader Mapelli, Gattuso, Lopez and Bernoldi. The duel between Malucelli and Giammaria continued, not even disturbed by the lapping of the other Corvette, and the Aston stopped for its driver change one lap before the Vette. After the pit stops, Barba led from Bruni, who had just passed Montermini, Ramos (who had 15” of pitstop handicap), Tandy, Narac, Talkanitsa and Peter. Hamilton at that stage comfortably led GTS ahead of Zampieri, Bizzarri (who punctured on lap 20), Beretta and De Lorenzi. The final laps saw no major changes in the top positions except for the fight between Tandy and Peter which ended with a slight contact and the Austrian in the gravel at the Parabolica. Meantime, the GTS race had a thrilling finale, Archie Hamilton suffering late puncture and leaving the win to the Kessel Ferrari with the Mercedes of De Lorenzi taking third in extremis from Beretta. Race 2 Result 1 12 Villois Racing Álvaro
Barba/ Matteo Malucelli Aston Martin Vantage Super GT 1º 27 laps 50'52.490 NOT
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