Matteo Malucelli and Alvaro Barba, with the Aston Martin of Villois Racing, won the 100th Race of the International GT Open after another lively show in sunny Hungaroring. With this third win of the season, the Italian and Spaniard retake the lead in the overall standings. They conducted today’s race from flag to flag, resisting to the strong final attack of the aabar Villorba Ferrari of Andrea Montermini-Cochito Lopez. Third was the V8 Racing Corvette of Emanuele Moncini-Diederik Sijthoff, which preceded the two other title contenders, Leo-Bruni (AF Corse Ferrari) and Tandy-Holzer (Manthey Porsche).
In GTS, Lorenzo Bontempelli was a lone and happy winner, giving its maiden win to the Ombra Racing’s Ferrari 458 GT3, while Zampieri-Dalle Stelle, second, retook the points leadership in the category. The other Kessel car of Gattuso-Zanuttini completed the podium.
At the start, there is big battle between Malucelli, Leo and Moncini, but the Aston keeps the advantage, while the Corvette goes wide in lap 2, and has to let Tandy and Lopez past him. Ramos spins in lap 4 in the middle of the group, but without damage. So after 5 laps, Malucelli leads ahead of Leo, Tandy, Lopez, Moncini and the three GTS leading cars of Mapelli, Gattuso and Bontempelli. There is big fight in the second group of GTS between Rizzoli, Roos and Dalle Stelle, with the Swede taking the advantage on lap 7 and the three catching up on Pilet and Broniszewski to fight altogether.
Mapelli and Gattuso collide in lap 13, with Bontempelli taking the lead in GTS, while the driver changes start at the top of the race.
With no handicap, the Villois keeps the advantage on the Villorba Ferrari, with a mere 1.5 gap between Barba and Montermini, who get soon together. Follow Sijffert (16″ behind), Holzer (21″), then Peter (who gets a 20″ penalty for not having respected the handicap time) and Bruni, while Talkanitsa and Pilet collide (lap 20). In GTS, Bontempelli leads over Zanuttini and Stugemo. Bizzarri and César Ramos get a drive-through for speeding in the pit-lane.
The final laps are animated by the fight for victory between Malucelli and Montermini (with a contact on lap 24) while Holzer has catch Sijthoff and threatens him for fourth, but overtaking seems impossible in both cases. Except for Bruni, who coming from the back, manages to steal fourth to Holzer in the closing lap. In GTS, it’s Zampieri taking second behind Bontempelli after passing Zanuttini.
Championship Standings after Race 12 of 16 Scratch: 1. Barba-Malucelli, 150; 2. Holzer-Tandy, 142; 3. Leo-Bruni, 141; 4. Montermini-Lopez, 127; 5. Pilet-Narac, 98; 6. Ramos-Giammaria, 93
GTS: 1. Zampieri-Dalle Stelle, 66; 2. Bizzarri, 60; 3. Hamilton-Mapelli, 58; 4. Rizzoli, 42; 5. Puglisi-Beretta, 28
Teams SGT: 1. Villois Racing, 65; 2. AF Corse, 62; 3. Manthey Racing, 62; 4. Villorba Corse, 56; 5. V8 Racing, 40
Team GTS: 1. Kessel Racing, 96; 2. Autorlando Sport, 86; 3. AF Corse, 70; 4. Ombra Racing, 25; 5. Lapidus Racing, 24
Manufacturers SGT: 1. Ferrari, 147; 2. Porsche, 97; 3. Aston Martin, 65; 4. Chevrolet, 40 Manufacturers GTS: 1. Ferrari, 160; 2. Porsche, 99; 3. McLaren, 24; 4. Mercedes, 23; 5. Lamborghini, 18.
Source : International GT Open