International GT Open, Barcelona - Race Reports

Wins For Villois And Manthey - Title for Leo and Bruni

Race One
 
Matteo Malucelli and Álvaro Barba, with the Villois Racing Aston Martin, took their fourth win of the season in Race 1 in Barcelona, sending the title battle to the wire as championship leaders Gimmi Bruni-Federico Leo (AF Corse Ferrari) finished fifth.

That left the Italian with the 8 point advantage they held before the race began, but to a different rival as Villois overtook Manthey in the standings!

Nick Tandy-Marco Holzer were the big Saturday losers after a gearbox failure saw the Manthey Racing Porsche stranded in the opening laps.

That dropped them to third in the standings, 15 points behind the leaders, with 22 points still to be awarded.

The aabar Villorba Ferrari of Montermini-López took an excellent second place ahead of the V8 Racing Corvette of Giammaria-Ramos.

In GTS, the Aston Martin of Belgian squad GPR, with Maxime Martin and Bertrand Baguette at the wheel, took a clear victory on their debut, beating the Alméras Porsche of Anthony Beltoise-Nicolas Armindo and the Kessel Ferrari of Gattuso-Zanuttini.

Daniel Zampieri-Michael Dalle Stelle, with a fourth place finish though moved within a single point of the GTS title. Kessel Racing had already virtually secured the GTS Teams title, with Ferrari clinching the Manufacturers’ crown in both SGT and GTS classes.

At the start, Malucelli hesitated and lost his pole position advantage. passed by Bruni, Montermini and Tandy while Hamilton spun on lap 1, worse still he beached his Autorlando Porsche on a kerb, bringing out the safety-car.

Ramos was fifth ahead of Martin, Peter, Estre, Beltoise, Zampieri and  Campaniço.

On lap 5, Malucelli passed Tandy and one lap later Montermini, but there was slight contact between the two Italians, while Peter passed Martin on the straight.

Lap 12 saw Tandy slow to a halt with a terminal gearbox problem.

After the pit stops, Leo retained the lead but would be passed by Lopez, Barba, Giammaria and Broniszewski while Baguette led comfortably in GTS ahead of Eskelinen, Samon and Dermont.

López though held a 2-second advantage over Barba and kept the Spaniard behind for many laps before the Argentine finally had to cede the lead on lap 30. 

Leo, who went up to 4th after passing Broniszewski, was caught and eventually passed by Pilet, while Baguette won a further duel with  the Pole, who later punctured a tire, and took 6th overall on top of the GTS win.

Race 1 Result

1 12 Álvaro Barba/Matteo Malucelli Villois Racing Aston Martin Vantage SGT 36 1:10:02.764 - 143.5 5 1:49.008 153.7
2 2 Andrea Montermini/Juan López Scuderia Villorba Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 36 1:10:08.000 +5.236 143.4 6 1:49.274 153.4
3 17 Miguel Ramos/Raffaele Giammaria V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6R SGT 36 1:10:22.814 +20.050 142.9 18 1:49.649 152.8
4 16 Raymond Narac/Patrick Pilet Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 SGT 36 1:10:23.372 +20.608 142.8 18 1:50.249 152.0
5 4 Federico Leo/Gianmaria Bruni AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 36 1:10:24.349 +21.585 142.8 5 1:48.541 154.4
6 91 Maxime Martin/Bertrand Baguette Maxime Martin Aston Martin V12 Vantage IGTS 36 1:10:27.073 +24.309 142.7 6 1:49.960 152.4
7 99 Anthony Beltoise/Nicolas Armindo PRO GT by Philippe Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 36 1:10:31.628 +28.864 142.6 6 1:50.424 151.8
8 19 Bernardo Sousa/Emanuele Moncini V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6R SGT 36 1:10:32.214 +29.450 142.5 7 1:50.004 152.3
9 5 Alexander Talkanitsa sr/Alexander Talkanitsa jr AT Racing Team Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 36 1:10:46.441 +43.677 142.1 8 1:51.232 150.7
10 77 Marco Zanuttini/Stefano Gattuso Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 36 1:11:18.294 +1:15.530 141.0 18 1:51.669 150.1
11 44 Daniel Zampieri/Michael Dalle Stelle Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 36 1:11:20.651 +1:17.887 140.9 6 1:50.547 151.6
12 80 Manuel Giao/Carlos Vieira Team Novadriver Audi R8 LMS Ultra SGT/S 36 1:11:21.608 +1:18.844 140.9 26 1:51.648 150.1
13 86 Karl Wendlinger/Domink Baumann Seyffarth Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 IGTS 36 1:11:22.465 +1:19.701 140.9 22 1:51.397 150.4
14 63 Jan Seyffarth/Kenneth Heyer Seyffarth Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 IGTS 36 1:11:38.506 +1:35.742 140.3 18 1:51.969 149.7
15 22 Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin MTech Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 36 1:11:39.195 +1:36.431 140.3 21 1:51.386 150.4
16 97 Franck Perera/Eric Dermont PRO GT by Philippe Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 36 1:11:45.033 +1:42.269 140.1 5 1:51.428 150.4
17 56 Stefano Bizzarri/Andrea Rizzoli AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 36 1:11:49.616 +1:46.852 140.0 6 1:50.793 151.3
18 98 Antoine Leclerc/David Tuchbant PRO GT by Philippe Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 36 1:11:50.774 +1:48.010 139.9 24 1:52.149 149.4
19 84 Klaas Hummel/Maro Engel Lapidus Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 IGTS 36 1:11:51.037 +1:48.273 139.9 32 1:52.082 149.5
20 90 Kevin Estre/Tony Samon Attempto Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 36 1:11:55.811 +1:53.047 139.8 6 1:50.256 152.0
21 82 Patrick Cunha/José Ramos Goodsense Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ SGT/S 35 1:10:05.453 1 Lap 139.5 5 1:53.059 148.2
22 55 Matteo Beretta/Joao Ramos Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 R IEGTS 35 1:10:07.454 1 Lap 139.4 18 1:53.117 148.1
23 31 Alessandro Pier Guidi/Alvaro Fontes Ray Racing Team Ferrari 430 GT2 SGT/S 35 1:10:14.904 1 Lap 139.2 6 1:52.103 149.5
24 67 Miguel Toril/Pol Rosell Baporo Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 35 1:10:18.065 1 Lap 139.1 5 1:52.697 148.7
25 75 Lars Stugemo/Stefan Landmann Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 IGTS 35 1:10:26.279 1 Lap 138.8 32 1:53.414 147.8
26 60 Mario Cordoni/Joel Camathias Ombra Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 35 1:10:28.269 1 Lap 138.7 11 1:52.983 148.3
27 52 Steven Earle/Freddy Kremer Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 35 1:10:56.531 1 Lap 137.8 28 1:54.658 146.2
28 64 Tanakorn Ramindra/Nicola Caldani AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 35 1:11:17.620 1 Lap 137.1 6 1:53.137 148.1
29 89 Tim Muller/Arkin Aka Attempto Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 35 1:11:24.766 1 Lap 136.9 7 1:53.480 147.7
30 81 Cesar Campaniço/Mikko Eskelinen Team Novadriver Audi R8 LMS Ultra SGT/S 35 1:11:51.643 1 Lap 136.0 2 1:50.612 151.5
31 58 Martin Lanting/Bob Herber AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 35 1:11:54.116 1 Lap 136.0 7 1:54.184 146.8
32 51 Alan Calari/Iradj Alexander Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 34 1:10:08.078 2 Laps 135.4 2 1:52.539 148.9
33 85 Antonio Nogueira/Pedro Salvador Antonio Nogueira Porsche 997 GT3 R SGT/S 34 1:11:58.146 2 Laps 131.9 6 1:52.049 149.6
34 92 Luis Villalba/Francesc Gutiérrez Luis Villalba Ginetta G50 GT4 GT L 33 1:10:30.292 3 Laps 130.7 18 1:59.706 140.0
35 11 Michael Broniszewski/Philipp Peter Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 32 1:03:00.089 4 Laps 141.9 6 1:49.973 152.4
36 65 Howard Blank/Sandro Montani AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 31 1:04:03.225 5 Laps 135.2 20 1:54.370 146.5

Not classified:

8 Marco Holzer/Nick Tandy Manthey Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 SGT 11 22:16.345 6 1:49.659 152.8
6 Ivan Jimenez/Isaac Tutumlu Drivex School Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 SGT 6 13:57.274 5 1:53.012 148.3
54 Marco Mapelli/Archie Hamilton Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 R IEGTS

Race 2

Gimmi Bruni and Federico Leo were confirmed as the 2012 Champions of the International GT Open after a thrilling finale in Barcelona.

The Italian pair came fourth in a race that was won by their strongest rivals, Marco Holzer-Nick Tandy, who took their fifth win of the year with the Manthey Racing Porsche and finish runner-ups in the championship, three points behind. The other title contenders, Álvaro Barba and Matteo Malucelli (Villois Racing Aston Martin) finished 9th in the race and third in the final standings.

Patrick Pilet-Raymond Narac (IMSA Porsche) were an excellent second on the day ahead of Raffaele Giammaria-Miguel Ramos (V8 Racing Corvette), who repeated Race One’s third position.

Daniel Zampieri and Michael Dalle Stelle (Kessel Racing Ferrari) secured the GTS title with a fourth position, beating the Race 2 winner Stefano Bizzarri, paired with Andrea Rizzoli in the AF Corse Ferrari.

Ferrari took the Manufacturers’ titles in both categories, Super GT and GTS, with AF Corse and Kessel Racing taking the Teams’ crowns.

The started with the dilemma of what tires to choose, after a storm left the surface wet before the start.  Some went for slicks straight away, like Holzer, while others changed at the last minute (Leo, Barba), having to start from the pits, and some others (Lopez, Griffin) changed tires on the grid after the 5’ panel, incurring in a drive-through.

Griffin led the initial laps, with Pilet and Holzer emerging soon after passing Giammaria and Lopez. The two Porsches battled nicely for most of the race, before and after the pit stop, while the AF Ferrari and the Villois Aston climbing up positions steadily.

A couple of laps from the end, Bruni was sixth, and therefore not champion, but in the last few corners he managed to pass Bizzarri and Peter and attacked Ramos, which almost ended in a contact.

In GTS, the win went to Bizzarri, ahead of the GPR Aston of Baguette-Martin and the Seyffarth Mercedes of Wendlinger-Baumann.

Race 2 Result

1 8 Marco Holzer/Nick Tandy Manthey Racing Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 SGT 25 50:40.850 - 137.8 13 1:50.272 152.0
2 16 Raymond Narac/Patrick Pilet Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 SGT 25 50:41.572 +0.722 137.7 12 1:50.446 151.7
3 17 Miguel Ramos/Raffaele Giammaria V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6R SGT 25 50:59.673 +18.823 136.9 23 1:50.683 151.4
4 4 Federico Leo/Gianmaria Bruni AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 25 51:02.039 +21.189 136.8 14 1:49.781 152.6
5 11 Philipp Peter Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 25 51:02.468 +21.618 136.8 13 1:50.490 151.7
6 56 Stefano Bizzarri/Andrea Rizzoli AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 51:03.106 +22.256 136.8 22 1:51.878 149.8
7 91 Maxime Martin/Bertrand Baguette Maxime Martin Aston Martin V12 Vantage IGTS 25 51:10.456 +29.606 136.4 14 1:49.507 153.0
8 5 Alexander Talkanitsa sr/Alexander Talkanitsa jr AT Racing Team Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 25 51:18.602 +37.752 136.1 11 1:51.934 149.7
9 12 Álvaro Barba/Matteo Malucelli Villois Racing Aston Martin Vantage SGT 25 51:19.480 +38.630 136.0 24 1:51.071 150.9
10 86 Karl Wendlinger/Domink Baumann Seyffarth Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 IGTS 25 51:23.403 +42.553 135.9 6 1:52.361 149.1
11 2 Andrea Montermini/Juan López Scuderia Villorba Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 25 51:28.293 +47.443 135.7 13 1:49.965 152.4
12 75 Lars Stugemo/Stefan Landmann Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 GT3 IGTS 25 51:31.508 +50.658 135.5 11 1:51.044 150.9
13 31 Alessandro Pier Guidi/Alvaro Fontes Ray Racing Team Ferrari 430 GT2 SGT/S 25 51:31.601 +50.751 135.5 15 1:51.782 149.9
14 67 Miguel Toril/Pol Rosell Baporo Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 51:32.462 +51.612 135.5 19 1:53.347 147.8
15 81 Cesar Campaniço/Mikko Eskelinen Team Novadriver Audi R8 LMS Ultra SGT/S 25 51:34.217 +53.367 135.4 13 1:52.155 149.4
16 44 Daniel Zampieri/Michael Dalle Stelle Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 51:38.013 +57.163 135.2 16 1:51.323 150.5
17 60 Mario Cordoni/Joel Camathias Ombra Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 51:38.493 +57.643 135.2 24 1:53.216 148.0
18 99 Anthony Beltoise/Nicolas Armindo PRO GT by Philippe Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 25 51:42.941 +1:02.091 135.0 14 1:51.444 150.4
19 89 Tim Muller/Arkin Aka Attempto Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 25 51:49.942 +1:09.092 134.7 24 1:54.294 146.6
20 98 Antoine Leclerc/David Tuchbant PRO GT by Philippe Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 25 51:52.030 +1:11.180 134.6 14 1:51.791 149.9
21 63 Jan Seyffarth/Kenneth Heyer Seyffarth Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 IGTS 25 51:58.853 +1:18.003 134.3 13 1:51.534 150.3
22 64 Tanakorn Ramindra/Nicola Caldani AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 52:08.934 +1:28.084 133.9 16 1:53.022 148.3
23 54 Marco Mapelli/Archie Hamilton Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 R IEGTS 25 52:10.458 +1:29.608 133.8 11 1:52.498 149.0
24 77 Marco Zanuttini/Stefano Gattuso Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 52:14.102 +1:33.252 133.7 13 1:51.945 149.7
25 80 Manuel Giao/Carlos Vieira Team Novadriver Audi R8 LMS Ultra SGT/S 25 52:17.758 +1:36.908 133.5 21 1:51.623 150.1
26 52 Steven Earle/Freddy Kremer Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 52:19.526 +1:38.676 133.4 11 1:54.616 146.2
27 51 Alan Calari/Iradj Alexander Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 25 52:23.228 +1:42.378 133.3 16 1:52.867 148.5
28 97 Franck Perera/Eric Dermont PRO GT by Philippe Almeras Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 24 50:43.875 1 Lap 132.1 13 1:51.285 150.6
29 85 Antonio Nogueira/Pedro Salvador Antonio Nogueira Porsche 997 GT3 R SGT/S 24 51:33.400 1 Lap 130.0 12 1:51.940 149.7
30 22 Duncan Cameron/Matt Griffin MTech Ferrari 458 GT Italia SGT 24 51:43.305 1 Lap 129.6 21 1:53.691 147.4
31 84 Klaas Hummel/Maro Engel Lapidus Racing Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 IGTS 23 48:03.872 2 Laps 133.7 14 1:51.629 150.1
32 6 Víctor Jimenez/Isaac Tutumlu Drivex School Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2012 SGT 23 52:13.004 2 Laps 123.0 11 1:51.814 149.9
33 19 Bernardo Sousa/Emanuele Moncini V8 Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6R SGT 21 44:00.634 4 Laps 133.3 13 1:51.801 149.9
34 58 Martin Lanting/Bob Herber AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 20 42:53.994 5 Laps 130.2 17 1:54.107 146.9

Not classified:

82 Patrick Cunha/José Ramos Goodsense Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ SGT/S 18 38:26.858 15 1:52.048 149.6
92 Luis Villalba/Francesc Gutiérrez Luis Villalba Ginetta G50 GT4 GT L 16 36:01.199 14 1:59.478 140.3
55 Matteo Beretta/Joao Ramos Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 R IEGTS 7 17:18.898 5 1:57.315 142.8
90 Kevin Estre/Tony Samon Attempto Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R IGTS 5 10:54.406 4 2:03.608 135.6
65 Howard Blank/Sandro Montani AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 IGTS 5 11:10.420 3 2:08.970 129.9