Glorious weather welcomed the International GT Open at Portimão, with private testing taking place on Thursday and the two free sessions on Friday. The V8 Corvettes topped both sessions, with local hero Miguel Ramos and Nicky Pastorelli setting the fastest time of the day in session 1 (1.44.662) and Diederik Sijthoff coming first in session 2, which was slower.

Cumulative times saw Griffin-Cameron (now on an AF Corse car) second-fastest ahead of Montermini-Filippi (Villorba Ferrari), all within half-second, with Sijthoff (who races alone) in fourth and the Talkanitsas fifth. Daniel Zampieri (subbing for Magnussen on the ‘Danish’ 458 of Kessel Racing) was the fastest man in GTS, preceding Pier Guidi, on the debuting Esta Ferrari, and Razia-Van der Drift on the Bhai Tech McLaren.

A total of 29 cars are present in Portugal, with the second Porsches of Autorlando and Drivex not making it for various reasons. Among last-minute driver changes, Álvaro Barba, the 2010 GT Open Champion, is back for this race, replacing Clarke on the Ombra Racing Ferrari of Costantini.

Source : International GT Open