Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron took at home their third victory of the year. The AF Corse pair made perfect use of their zero handicap to come first, three seconds ahead, of the Villorba Ferrari of Filippi-Montermini. The Italian pair repeated their second of yesterday but most of all take a substantial step in the championship points, as their direct rivals, Pastorelli-Ramos (V8 Racing) had to retire because of an electrical failure of the Corvette during the pit stop. The Dutch team still placed its other car, driven by Diederik Sijthoff and Bert Longin, in third, like yesterday.
Miguel Toril and Renger van der Zande imposed the Seyffarth Mercedes in a very lively GTS race, which saw the Rhino’s Leipert Lamborghini of Kox-Hamprecht take second ahead of the SMP Russian Bears Ferrari of Rosell-Mavlanov. The Spaniard now retakes the lead in the GTS points standings.
At the start, Filippi pulls away ahead of Griffin, Pastorelli, Bleekemolen, then Kox, Razia, Vd Zande, Magnussen, Longin, Talkanitsa and Rosell. In lap 3, Login passes Magnussen while the McLaren of Razia comes back to pits at very slow speed, with a throttle sensor failure. In lap 7, there is fight and contact between the two Ombra Ferraris of Camathias and Costantini, with both off-track, the Italian left stuck in the gravel and the Swiss stopping soon after.
In the lead, Filippi, Griffin and Pastorelli are within 3 seconds as the driver change window opens. The pit stop is fatal to the Corvette, which cannot be restarted. While pit stops are on the way, there is an interesting Dutch battle, between Kox and van der Zande.
After the pit stop and the handicaps, Cameron leads with 31″ over di Guida, 36″ on Hamprecht, 37″ on Montermini and 39″ on Toril and Talkanitsa, with Laursen, Sijthoff and Mavlanov following. In lap 17, Montermini is already 2nd, while also Toril passes Hamprecht and Di Guida, who are in full fight to contain Sijthoff and Talkanitsa. Sijthoff takes fourth in lap 20, while Hamprecht manages to get past Di Guida, overtaken also by Mavlanov.
The Corvette will be soon third after passing Toril, while Heyer punctures a tire. In the lead, Cameron controls well the charge of Montermini, who finishes four seconds behind. The final thrill is courtesy of Pantano who passes Bontempelli for fourth in GTS with a superb move.
The successes in the Gentlemen’s Trophy were for Talkanitsa (SuperGT) and Laursen (GTS).
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER RACE 10 OF 16
Overall: 1. Montermini, 182; 2. Filippi, 168; 3. Pastorelli-Ramos, 125; 4. Cameron-Griffin, 103; 5. Sijthoff, 92; etc.
Drivers SuperGT: 1. Montermini, 89; 2. Filippi, 78; 3. Pastorelli-Ramos, 56; 4. Cameron-Griffin, 50; 5. Sijthoff, 46; etc
GTS: 1. Toril, 39; 2. Pantano-Suzuki, 38; 3. Beretta-Lyons, 30; 4. Van der Zande, 28; 5. De Marco-Bontempelli, 28; etc
Teams SuperGT: 1. V8 Racing, 114; 2. Villorba Corse, 84; 3. AT Racing, 40; 4. AF Corse, 38; 5. Drivex, 19; etc
Teams GTS: 1. Bhaitech Racing, 63; 2. Kessel Racing, 51; 3. Autorlando Sport, 40; 4. Seyffarth Motorsport, 39; 5. AF Corse, 30; etc
Constructors Super GT: 1. Ferrari, 155; 2. Chevrolet, 105; 3. Porsche, 19
Constructors GTS: 1. Ferrari, 114; 2. McLaren, 63; 3. Porsche, 40; 4. Mercedes, 39; 5. Aston Martin, 20
Gentlemen’s Trophy: 1. Talkanitsa Sr, 74; 2. Laursen, 57; 3. Maleev, 51; 4. Cordoni, Sdanewitsch, 24; etc