GT Open, Nürburgring – Race Reports
Ferrari And Porsche Share The Spoils

Race One

Porsche took its revenge in the first race of the Nürburgring GT Open, as IMSA Performance’s Raymond Narac and Patrick Pilet imposed their 911 RSR for the first time this year, after a lively fight with the Edil Cris Ferrari F430 of Enrico Toccacelo & Raffaele Giammaria, which came third, and a strong final charge from Pilet. The F430 of Tim Mullen & Chris Niarchos was second,  giving CRS Racing its first ever GT Open podium. Pierre Kaffer & Alvaro Barba (AF Corse Ferrari) retain the leadership in the championship but had a difficult day, given the high handicap and a slow puncture.

In GTS, French team Luxury Racing took its maiden victory in the series after a faultless race  from flag-to-flag by Jean-Philippe Dayraut and Stéphane Ortelli. Second was the Kessel Ferrari of Couceiro-Frezza (now co-leading the GTS standings with the day’s winners) and third the Villois Aston of Lancieri-Lancelotti.

It was sunny and dry at the start of race 1, and poleman Kaffer took control ahead of Mullen,  Peter, Narac, Toccacelo, Dayraut (who goes off-track in lap 2), Bontempelli and Couceiro; while there was contact between Dutchmen Versluis and Dijkstra, following an overtaking attempt by the former.

The leading Ferraris pulled away and began a lively fight, with Mullen eventually passing Kaffer (who was suffering a slow puncture) on lap 12; while 11 seconds further back, Philip Peter and Raymond Narac were having an equally heated duel. In GTS, Dayraut was firmly in command, but with only a very small advantage over Bontempelli, Couceiro, Lancieri and Gruber.

On lap 21, after the driver change (where Kaffer and Narac had to serve the longest handicaps, respectively 30 and 20 seconds), it was Niarchos leading in the #91 CRS Ferrari, with 21 seconds over Giammaria and Pilet – who were in full fight – Lietz, Ortelli, Broniszewski, Livio, Frezza, Lancelotti and Scheier.

On lap 24, Giammaria and Pilet exchanged positions twice, with the Frenchman eventually going through after cutting a little bit of the chicane, which infuriated the Italian and resulted in an investigation by the marshals on the incident. Pilet pre-empted a sanction by giving back the position gained and retaking second in lap 29. “I was slowly but surely climbing back up the order when, as I came up to overtake Gianmaria in the chicane, I locked the rear wheels," explained Pilet. "Like him, I went straight on but overtook at the same time. Five laps later, I was asked to let him re-pass following a decision from Race Control. In the end I lost some time letting him back past before overtaking him again on the same lap. I could not wait as there were only five or six laps to go and the drivers in front were several seconds ahead before I could catch and overtake.”

The incident allowed Niarchos to keep the lead but Pilet was charging furiously in the closing laps, taking the lead on lap 28 and winning ahead of Niarchos, Giammaria and Lietz.

“It was quite satisfying as this victory not only allowed us to reduce the gap in the championship but also helps us to remain confident with the technical decisions we took," said Pilet. "The team made the correct choices, the car had good performance and was enjoyable to drive during the entire race.”

In GTS, Ortelli completed the good work of Dayraut and took first ahead of Frezza and Lancieri.

Race Two

Pierre Kaffer and Alvaro Barba reinforced their leadership in the International GT Open, by clearly imposing (for the third time out of four races this year) their AF Corse Ferrari in the second race in the Nürburgring. They beat the two Porsches 911 RSR of Pilet-Narac (IMSA) and Lietz-Roda (Autorlando), which are respectively third and second in the current standings.

The GTS race saw a one-two from the Ferraris of the Luxury Team, with Stéphane Ortelli-Jean Philippe Dayraut taking their second win of the weekend ahead of team-mates Johan Boris Scheier & Michael Petit, at the end of a glorious week-end for the French outfit. The Autorlando Porsche of Gruber-Deverikos was third.

After a very rainy morning, the track dried up just in time for the start allowing everybody to race on slicks. Lietz immediately took the lead, with Pilet also passing Barba on lap two. Third was Matt Griffin, ahead of Tiemann, Giammaria, Scheier and Goodwin. The unfortunate  Versluis spun and hit the armco on lap three.

After six laps, Pilet closed up on Lietz and started his attack, passing the Austrian one lap later. Shortly after, Barba also started attacking the Autorlando Porsche. Niarchos stopped twice in the pits after hitting debris. In GTS, Tiemann was controlling the race ahead of Scheier, Lancelotti and Ortelli.

Barba opened the round of pits stop for driver changes on lap 11, with the leaders Pilet and Lietz (separated by six seconds) stopping on lap 14, while the Phoenix Audi came back to the pits at a slow pace. A drive-through was imposed on Wolfgang Kauffman and Alex Mortimer for infringement of the pit stop procedures.

After the pit stops, Roda led by 12s from Kaffer, Gerber and Narac, ahead of Peter, Toccacelo and Wiser in the Aston GT2. In GTS, the trio composed of Matthews, Petit and Gruber was in a close fight, with the Frenchman taking the category lead ahead of the Austrian, and Dayraut catching up everybody to take second place. In the meantime, Kaffer had caught Roda and took the lead in lap 20.

The last laps saw Dayraut passing team-mate Petit to take a double win for Luxury in GTS, ahead of the Autorlando Porsche of Gruber.

Kaffer won the race in front of the Porsches of Roda and Narac, the Ferraris of Peter and Gerber and the Aston of Wiser, while Luca Moro crashed on the last lap.

Overall Standings GT Open: 1. Barba-Kaffer, 70 p.; 2. Pilet-Narac, 54; 3. Roda-Lietz, 52; 4. Dayraut-Ortelli, 36; 5. Giammaria-Toccacelo, 33

Overall Standings GTS: 1.Ortelli-Dayraut, 26 p.; 2. Deverikos-Gruber, 19; 3. Couceiro-Frezza, 16; 4. Petit-Scheier, 15; 5. Lancieri-Lancelotti, 14

Teams Super GT: 1. AF Corse, 36 p.; 2. IMSA Performance, 24; 3. Autorlando Sport, 22; 4. Edil Cris, 14; 5. CRS Racing, 11

Teams GTS: 1. Kessel Racing, 37; 2. Luxury, 26; 3. Autorlando Sport, 19; 4. Villois Racing, 14; 5. Phoenix Racing, 13