The 2014 title of the International GT Open will be decided tomorrow in the very last race, as Race 1 today in Barcelona did not define the championship but further over-turned the situation. Andrea Montermini-Niccolò Schirò, the pair of the Villorba Corse, took a brilliant win with their Ferrari 458, the second year and are back in the lead of the standings by one point, over Roman Mavlanov-Daniel Zampieri (SMP Racing Ferrari), who came in second today. The Villorba pair, though, is the only one so far that has scored in all races and may have to drop some points (3) tomorrow, as the rules say that only the best 15 results out of 16 count towards the championship. Today’s unlucky ones were Nicky Pastorelli-Miguel Ramos (V8 Racing Corvette), who lost the leadership after a poor qualifying (P11) and a collision in lap 1 which resulted in body damage and a drive-through. They could only score 3 points and are now 15 points behind in the standings but still in the race. V8’s only consolation was the podium finish of Soulet-Sijthoff.
Today’s race, though, delivered the first verdicts: Giorgio Roda is mathematically the 2014 GTS Champion, after finishing 4th a difficult race, while Claudio Sdanewitsch (also AF Corse) has secured the Gentlemen’s Trophy. The win in GTS (but not the points as new entries in the last race do not score nor block points) was for the Ferrari of Shaun Balfe- Phil Keen, ahead of the Novadriver Audi of Campaniço-Patel and the Autorlando Porsche of Camathias-Beretta.
The start sees Zampieri and Soulet keeping the advantage, with Montermini taking third, then Leo, Keen, Hamprecht and Hamilton. There is a contact between Ramos and Cioci in the course of first lap, as the Portuguese tries to pass Campaniço, with the Corvette losing several positions and reporting visible front body damage, and the Ferrari rejoining last after visiting the gravel trap. For the championship leading Corvette will come also a drive-through.
The start sees Zampieri and Soulet keeping the advantage, with Montermini taking third, then Leo, Keen, Hamprecht and Hamilton. There is a contact between Ramos and Cioci in the course of first lap, as the Portuguese tries to pass Campaniço, with the Corvette losing several positions and reporting visible front body damage, and the Ferrari rejoining last after visiting the gravel trap. For the championship leading Corvette will come also a drive-through.
Positions at the top are stable, with Zampieri building a 5-second gap in the first ten laps, over Soulet, Montermini, Leo and Hamprecht while there is battle for 7th between Hamilton, Campaniço and Policand, with the Corvette being passed by both rivals. Zlobin is 10th ahead of Camathias, the BMW of Perera and Cioci, who is climbing back and has passed the direct rival for the GTS title, Maleev.
The Russian is the first to stop for driver change and his team mate Aicart puts the show on, as he gets involved in some rubbing with both Monje and Persiani. After all stops, Sijthoff leads with 3” on Schirò and 4” on Mavlanov, then Balfe, Sdanewitsch, Patel, Monje and Roda, while Pastorelli is 19th. Big fight for 16th between Persiani and Kox. Drive- through for the Sofrev Ferrari of Ricci, as Policand overtook under yellow in his stint.
With Schirò getting under the tail of Sijthoff, the battle for the lead starts to heat up. In lap 26, Schirò manages to pass the Corvette and soon after Mavlanov attempts the same at the chicane; there is a slight contact in which the Corvette loses its left mirror. Monje’s Audi stops in the straight.
The attention is all for the battle for second, with Sijthoff holding all Mavlanov’s attacks, but the Russian eventually goes through in lap 33. In GTS, Balfe leads ahead of Patel, Beretta, Roda, Sdanewitsch and Aicart. Stephen Earle-Johnny Laursen took the special Gentlemen Team Trophy on Kessel Racing’s return to the series.