Time to hit the track again! The International GT Open is ready to kick-off again for the 2015 season, which marks the tenth edition of the series. Quite a long way has been raced since that rainy 1st of April back in 2006, when the first-ever International GT Open event took place in Monza’s legendary Autodromo.
Since then, the series has conquered its own position on the international GT scene, being one of the most attractive platforms for pro-am racing, thanks to a premium calendar on the most prestigious tracks around Europe, an excellent TV coverage, reasonable costs and stable rules.
The 2015 season will see further improvements to the formula, with a more homogenous field (all FIA GT3 –or assimilated- cars), a new category (the GT-Am) especially created for pairs of gentlemen drivers, and the start of a new technical partnership for tire supply with a world-leading company like Michelin.
For the first of the seven 2015 rounds, the series is going back to the Circuit Paul Ricard in Southern France, the ideal place for a season-opener. Estoril, Silverstone, Red Bull Ring, Spa, Monza and Barcelona will be the following stops.
The French rendez-vous anticipates a great battle, with no less than 7 brands represented, which anticipate a great show and some fierce battling!
An initial round-up of the entry list, which will be released ahead of the event, shows a strong delegation of the Prancing Horse being led by AF Corse, Scuderia Villorba and Baporo Motorsport. AF Corse, the stalwart Italian team and current GTS reigning champion squad, enters at least four Ferraris F458 GT3 with strong line-ups. Raffaele Giammaria is back to the series alongside Ezequiel Pérez- Companc, the youngest and very promising member of the Argentine saga, while Michele Rugolo shares duties with another rising star, Thailand’s Pasin Lathouras. Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin, a duo that needs no presentation, will also be present, and Claudio Sdanewitsch, the 2014 winner of the Gentleman’s Trophy, will bid for the new GT-Am title associated to Russia’s Ilya Melnikov.
Villorba Corse, on their side, bring a completely new duo, with GT star Alessandro Balzan and fellow Italian Nicola Benucci both debuting in the series. Baporo Motorsport, the team who brought SMP Racing to the drivers’ title last year, is also in the starting blocks, with Spain’s José Manuel Pérez-Aicart and another Argentine star, Emiliano López, in the top car.
McLaren will have a very strong presence, with at least two new 650S present in France. Teo Martín Motorsport, who dominated the Spanish racing scene in the 80s- 90s is back to competition, with one of the new machines from Woking, for a top level duo “made in Portugal”: Alvaro Parente-Miguel Ramos. The Madrid outfit is to add soon another car. The other 650S in France will be for the very well-known Dutch pro-am pair composec of Peter Kox and Nico Pronk.
A very interesting new entry is AERT, a new team with Russian and Spanish roots, led by Félix Porteiro, which will campaign a top Lamborghini Gallardo for Russian ace Anton Nebylitskiy and former GT Open champion Álvaro Barba.
The Corvettes, that so often shone in recent years, are present with a new leader, Solaris Motorsport from Italy, whose Z06 will be entrusted to a strong duo, composed of Francesco Sini and Stefano Costantini.
Among other key contenders, regular GT Open contenders such as the Lechner Racing Mercedes SLS of Mario Plachutta-Thomas Jäger and the Novadriver audi R8 LMS ultra led by César Campaniço will not miss the party, while the Team Parker Racing Audi R8 LMS makes its first appearance with Ian Loggie-Callum McLeod.
The field also includes interesting come-backs: the Maserati MC GT3 developed by Swiss Team is returning, with the brand’s 2014 World Trofeo champion, Mauro Calamia, at the wheel. Latest addition is Kessel Racing, with the stalwart Swiss team that dominated the GTS scene in 2010-12 (three consecutive double –Drivers’ and Teams’ title and 24 race wins!) making its comeback after one year of absence. Two well-known heavy names will be at the wheel of the Ferrari F458 GT3: Michal Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini.
More interesting news are waiting at the Ricard, where fans will have the possibility to enjoy a very rich racing programme, which includes the other GT Sport-promoted series, the Euroformula Open, top mono-brand trophies as the SEAT Leon Eurocup and the Maserati Trofeo World Series, and the Euroseries.