The International GT Open heads towards a busy couple of weeks, which represent the half-season mark: this week-end, the series will be in England for the now traditional round at Brands Hatch. One week later it will visit the Paul Ricard in Southern France, where an official championship round will be held for the first time. Two very different tracks, settings and climate, but same excitement in both places, with a taste of pre-Olympics atmosphere in the Kent track near London!
The championship situation is still very open at the moment the series crosses the Channel: Porsche and Ferrari are even in terms of race wins (three each) and the unexpected third contender, the new Aston Martin Vantage GT2 of Villois Racing, will be looking for its maiden win on British soil. In the standings, two Porsche pairs (IMSA’s Narac-Pilet and Manthey’s Tandy-Holzer) are at the top, with Nick Tandy certainly eager to shine at home. The Ferraris will try to reduce the gap, and it is to be noted that Gimmi Bruni has now become the regular team-mate of Federico Leo on the best-placed of the 458s, entered by AF Corse.
Another change for Brands Hatch sees Dutch GT expert Nicky Pastorelli joining V8 Racing at the wheel of one of their Corvettes, while British fans will also follow with attention the Lotus Evora driven by Johnny Mowlem.
In the GTS category, the Ferraris have taken a slight advantage over the Porsches, thanks to Stefano Bizzarri-Andrea Rizzoli (AF Corse) and Daniel Zampieri-Michael Dalle Stelle (Kessel Racing), but Autorlando Sport, who defends the colours of Stuttgart in the class, is ready to bounce back, with local hero Archie Hamilton and Marco Mapelli and the addition of a second car entrusted to Marcello Puglisi-Matteo Beretta.
The British round sees a number of local cars joining the party. They include the Aston Martin GT2 of Paul White, the Vantage GT3 entered and driven by John Gaw, and possibly Trackspeed’s Porsche. Also to be noted: Michele Rugolo is switching to Martin Lanting’side on AF Corse’s car #58.
The Brands Hatch round will enjoy the usual exhaustive TV coverage, live or slightly deferred, offered notably by Motors TV at pan-European level and key national broadcasters such as Raisportdue (Italy), Sport1+ (Germany), Teledeporte and Canal + Deportes (Spain), Sport TV (Portugal) and Orange Sport TV (Poland), to name just a few.
As usual, the European F3 Open and the FIA Formula 2 partner with the GT Open for the UK round, together with popular local series such as the Britcar and the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge.
Source : International GT Open