Excellent first outing for the Spaniard driver of Kurdish roots that, teaming with Dimitris Deverikos, was battling for podium both overall and in class. Finally an alternator problem forced Barzani Racing Team ́s Porsche 997 GT3 R to pit.
Isaac Tutumlu and Barzani Racing Team have shown their competitiveness at their very first race in the International GT Open, the championship starting at Paul Ricard this weekend. Tutumlu, born in Barcelona but with Kurdish heritage, already posted the fastest time during Friday practice sessions behind the wheel of his Autorlando Sport Porsche.
Just like yesterday, Dimitris Deverikos continued his teammate ́s strong performance and was among fastest cars in GTS class, despite difficult wet conditions. Greece ́s pilot set a best lap of 2:24.440, 7th fastest in GTS class and good enough to start on the 4th of the starting grid. Today ́s timetable was delayed by fog, so Tutumlu couldn ́t dispute his qualifying session and it has been rescheduled for tomorrow early in the morning.
The race was begun with Deverikos at the wheel of the Kurdish car and steady rain once again. The Greek overtook several rivals and after a few laps, he was in 4th place both in overall and class rankings. Then, Tutumlu initiated his stint after thirty-five minutes into the race and the Spaniard, setting very quick lap times, passed another car to lie in third place. Tutumlu was able to defend his place even battling with Super GT- specifications cars, but then, as Tutumlu explained, “I ́ve had to pit because an alternator failure affected firstly the gearbox, then the steering,… a shame. But racing is like that. Anyway we ́re quite happy because our race pace is there, not just in GTS but overall as well”. For tomorrow, Tutumlu stressed that “if weather carries on like that, we could have nice surprises. With a bit of luck, podium isn ́t out of reach”.
Tutumlu will take part in the second qualifying session tomorrow at 08.15 and four hours later, at 12.20, race two is due to start.
Source : Isaac Tutumlu