The second round of the 2016 International GT Open brings teams and drivers to one of the favorite spots of all of them and fans alike: Spa-Francorchamps. The legendary track in the Belgian Ardennes, defined as “arguably the best track in the world” is, without any doubt, one of the most traditional and popular fixtures in the calendar.
Fans will enjoy free entrance and have a conspicuous menu to delight themselves with, as this will be the first of the five rounds where the GT Open and the sister GT Sport series, the Euroformula Open, will be sharing the event with the re-launched Formula 3.5 V8, the well-known top F.1 driver feeder in the last decade. Moreover, the meeting will also see the inaugural race of the new TCR Benelux Series, on top of the always spectacular Radical European Masters.
The GT Open reaches Spa after a very interesting season-opener at Estoril, where established machines beat the ones from the newer generation, with both Balfe Motorsport and Garage 59 taking their maiden wins in the series. It will be interesting to see if on the fasts straights and corners of Spa the newer GT3s will take their revenge.
Top contenders include the two BMW M6 of BMW Team Teo Martín with Miguel Ramos- Roldán Rodríguez and Fernando Monje-Gustavo Yacamán, as well as the two McLaren 650S of Garage 59, with Estoril Race 2 last-minute winners Duncan Tappy-Michael Benham on car #59 and a change in the line-up of car #99, where French rising star Côme Ledogar will join Alexander West. Ledogar was actually the nominated professional driver on that car, but had to miss the season-opener because of another commitment. He now joins for the rest of the season the GT Open, a series new to him.
Lamborghini is also very well represented, thanks to the Orange1 Team Lazarus Huracán GT3 of Thomas Biagi-Fabrizio Cristiani but the “Bulls” are doubling their presence as from Spa, thanks to a top new entry: the Huracán of Ebimotors, usually associated to Porsche, entered for GT enthusiast ‘Chicco’ Busnelli and GT star Fabio Babini, on his first GT Open reappearance since 2011.
The Ferrari delegation also sees a slight change with respect to Estoril, with the AF Corse pair composed of Russia’s Alexander Moiseev making his debut alongside Marco Cioci, another GT Open star making his return. On the other car of the Italian squad, in the GT- Am category, Stéphane Lémeret is bound to play the role of top local hero, associated with Claudio Sdanewitsch. Last but not least, the Balfe Motorsport machine of Shaun Balfe-Phil Keen is bound to play again a prominent role.
Another brand to watch is Aston Martin, as the Vantage GT3 has always been competitive on the Belgian track. TF Sport’s Salih Yoluc-Eaun Hankey will make their real seasonal debut as they were force to withdraw after free practice in Estoril following an accident. Local stalwart squad Aston Martin Brussels should not miss the event, trying to repeat last year’s excellent results.
The field includes, of course, the Drivex Audi R8 LMS ultra of Andrés Saravia and a driver to be designated, the new Radical RXC Turbo GT3 of James Abbott-Colin Noble, and in the GT Am category, the Sports&You Mercedes AMG of Luis Silva-António Coimbra, which took a double win at home in Estoril, and the Renault RS01 of V8 Racing driven by Filipe Barreiros- Diederik Sijthoff. The Dutch squad is doubling its presence with its other car also on track, entrusted to Nicky Pastorelli and a driver still to be nominated.