The International GT Open heads South-West for its second round of the 2015 season, to the Circuito do Estoril in Portugal. The beautiful track in the outskirts of Lisbon was a popular fixture at the beginning of the GT Open but the last visit dates back from 2008. Needless to say, there is great expectation to be back on the iconic track, especially from Lusitanian fans who will have many local heroes to cheer for.
The season-opener at the Paul Ricard has ended in a perfect tie, as two driver pairs lead the overall standings ex-aequo, with 36 points. Michele Rugolo-Pasin Lathouras, the Thai-Italian duo of AF Corse has the advantage of having conquered one win, while Miguel Ramos-Álvaro Parente brought home two valuable seconds for Teo Martín Motorsport.
No doubt that the two Portuguese stars, on their McLaren 650S, will want to please their fans by opening their wins count at home. Other victory contenders to watch are the Villorba Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Balzan-Nicola Benucci, who took the inaugural race of the year, the other AF Corse duo composed by Raffaele Giammaria-Ezequiel Pérez-Companc, the AERT Lamborghini of Anton Nebylitskiy- Álvaro Barba and the Baporo Motorsport Ferrari at wheel of which Emiliano López is now joined by fellow Argentine star Matías Russo.
As anticipated, local teams and drivers are present ‘en force’ for the delight of Lusitanian fans. On paper, the most competitive outfit is Team Novadriver, which starts its season here after a successful 2014 campaign with its Audi R8 LMS ultra.
For the occasion, César Campaniço is associated with one of the series greats, bi- champion Joel Camathias, the Swiss making his debut at the wheel of an Audi.
Sports&You, another well-known team in the series, is also back with its Mercedes SLS for its usual pair, António Coimbra-Luis Silva, who will bid for the podium in the GT-Am category against current leaders Sdanewitsch-Melnikov (AF Corse), another highly-rated local pair, Filipe Barreiros-Francisco Guedes, also enrolled by AF Corse, and long-time GT Open friend António Nogueira (Porsche 997).
Stalwart Lusitanian team Veloso Motorsport is behind the entry of three additional cars, the Porsches 911 R Cup of Marreiros-Batista and Manhau-Castro, and a Lamborghini Huracán for Eugenio Montez.
Last but not least, the Estoril round will see the first appearance of the year of Balfe Motorsport. The enthusiasts’ UK team have chosen Portugal for their first of the five planned GT Open outings this year with their Ferrari F458 GT3 entrusted to Shaun Balfe and Phil Keen.
Partnering with the GT Open in the rich racing programme of the weekend are the Euroformula Open, the SEAT León Eurocup and the Campeonato Nacional de Clásicos & Legend Classic Cup.
Fans at home can follow all the Estoril action thanks to the pan-European live coverage by Motors TV, with major national broadcasters also offering races live in key markets such as Italy (new agreement with Fox Sports 2), Spain (Teledeporte and Canal + Deportes), Portugal (Teledeporte), Turkey (Sport TV) and Central Europe (Digisport), among others. Races are also livestreamed on our website www.gtopen.net.