Today it was a very difficult race-1 for the Venetian squad, with its race drivers Montermini and Lopez unfortunately forced to retire. Tomorrow (Sunday, May 27) the second race of the weekend will take place and the Italian-Argentine crew will start from an excellent third position on the grid.
It was a very tough day for the aabar Abu Dhabi Villorba racing with Ferrari Team at Nurburgring in the second round of the International GT Open 2012. The Venetian squad was forced to retire in race-1 due to electrical issues when the Ferrari 458 of Andrea Montermini and Juan Manuel Lopez lost a support of the car bonnet that pulled off the battery isolator turning off the car. After being able to regain the pits and then the track six laps behind the leader, the team has decided to stop the car to prevent further damage as there still were issues on the electrical system.
Unfortunately, this is the second retire in a row in the first race of the weekend this season for Montermini-Lopez after their Ferrari 458 was inadvertently pulled out of race-1 by a lapped car at the Portimao circuit.
So the aabar Abu Dhabi Villorba racing with Ferrari Team is intended to chase the leaders again, despite the fine qualifying of Andrea Montermini, who had grabbed an excellent front row starting race-1 from second on the grid. While the team, led by Raimondo Amadio, is working on the car the attempt for revenge is set for tomorrow, Sunday, May 27: race-2 (50 minutes) of the second round of the International GT Open is scheduled at 13:00 local hour and the Ferrari 458 of Montermini-Lopez will start from the second row on the grid in third position thanks to another positive qualifying, this time from Lopez.
“There is not much to say - commented Raimondo Amadio, Team Principal -, I believe that such an episode never happened before. It is just that from tomorrow’s race we are no longer allowed to make mistakes. Misfortune or errors, at this point we have played all the jokers in a tremendously competitive series like the GT Open.”
Source : Scuderia Villorba