Time flies, as we all know, and it’s already the last round of the season, the tenth for the GT Open! Like every year, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has the honor to host the final round and the decisive title battles, in what has become also an appreciated last-before-winter race for many GT contenders across Europe.

This year too, the battle for the overall GT Open title is going to the last grasp and the expectation is growing by the day: the Teo Martín McLaren pair of Miguel Ramos-Álvaro Parente is leading by 35 points and has taken a clear advantage in the last rounds, but the Portuguese still need to take 10 points (out of the 44 that will be awarded in Spain) to get the mathematical certainty of the title, an objective that Ramos has pursued with determination, after finishing in the top five (and twice, as runner-up) in the last five years. As expert GT star Álvaro Parente puts it: “We go to Barcelona with cautious confidence. The entire team has performed well throughout the season. If we do exactly the same and avoid mistakes, we should be OK.”

Regardless of the outcome, this will have been a successful campaign for the new McLaren 650S (which so far has scored points in all races and won three) and for Teo Martín Motorsport, the Spanish squad that returned to racing after almost two decades.

Nothing is done, though, and the Ferraris, which have conquered the title eight times out of nine in the series’ history, are certainly going to fight until the end. The main challenger is the AF Corse car of Michele Rugolo-Pasin Lathouras, who have also won three races this year and signed an excellent campaign.

The task in Barcelona will be challenging for the Italian-Thai pair, but as young Lathouras, who will be racing at Catalunya for the first time, explains, they will not give up: “We won’t give up the fight for the title and will be giving it everything and hope that a bit of luck comes our way. We want to end on a good note, after having been in the title fight all season, but we must reckon the championship leaders have a very strong package. Whatever happens, it will be pretty good to get to where we are and stay in the title fight right to the end.”

A third pair is still in the title race: Raffaele Giammaria-Ezequiel Pérez-Companc, the other AF Corse top duo. With a 42-point gap, their chances are more theoretical but one can expect a give-it-all last attempt by the Italo-Argentine pair, the one that has won more races (4) than any other so far.

For the decisive round, the title contenders will receive some support, as Teo Martín Motorsport is entering, like in spa, a second McLaren 650S (this time, with Andrew Watson associated with local hero Fernando Monje), and AF Corse can count on the the car of Duncan Cameron-Matt Griffin.

In the GT Am category, Claudio Sdanewitsch seems to be heading nicely to the title, as his main contender throughout the season, Filipe Barreiros, will not be in Barcelona. For the AF Corse German driver, another nice reward, he will certainly want to share with Ilya Melnikov, who was his team mate in all races but one.

As always, the Barcelona round is attracting additional entries from all over Europe. While the presence of the Ferraris of Scuderia Villorba (Balzan-Benucci), Balfe Motorsport (Keen-Balfe), of the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage (Hankey-Yoluc) and GT Cup’s Radical RXC V8 (Abbott-de Waard) is no novelty, other GT Open regulars are confirmed. This is the case of the Drivex Audi R8 LMS ultra already seen in Monza, this time with Matías Russo and Miguel Amaral, of the Sports&You Mercedes SLS for Portuguese duo Manuel Da Costa-Miguel Sardinha, Kox Racing McLaren 650S of Peter Kox-Nico Pronk and the AF Corse-run Ferrari of Yannick Mallégol-Howard Blank.

Among new joiners, Krypton Motorsport whose Porsche 911R was heavily damage in free practice 1 at the Red Bull Ring, will hope in better fortune and brings a former FIA GT World Champion, Thomas Biagi, alongside Stefano Pezzucchi. Austria’s HP Racing will be present with a Lamborghini Gallardo for GT star Hari Proczyk and “Coach McKansy”, While TDS Racing will be again in Barcelona, like last year, with its BMW Z4 and Franck Perera-Henry Hassid as drivers.

Least but not last, the Renault RS01 will be making its debut in the series, thanks to Monlau Competición and V8 Racing. The latest Renault racer has been adapted to GT3 standards thanks to the kit developed by the French maker. José Manuel Pérez-Aicart and Jürgen Smet will drive the machine of Catalan squad Monlau, while Dutch team V8 Racing is making its return to the GT Open with a pair to be confirmed.

With things so, no less than 10 different makers will be represented at the Circuit, for the delight of all GT lovers!

Fans on site will have a complete treat, as the weekend programme includes also the Euroformula Open with an exciting field of Dallaras F312, the SEAT León Eurocup, and the Radical European Masters Championship, in the exciting package customary of this season.