First GT Open’s visit to Austria Ring raises great expectationsThe new Red Bull Ring to host second half of the season’s openerMontermini-Moncini (Villorba) and Bontempelli-Gattuso (Kessel) to defend their 1-point lead in respective categoriesThomas Gruber and Raceteam Deboeuf as local heros with GT3 Porsche Camathias back with JMB Racing while new Mosler GT3 makes its debut
With the summer break coming to an end, it is time for the International GT Opento resume activity! This will happen next week-end, with the 5th round of theseries, which marks the beginning of the second half of the season, taking place atthe Red Bull Ring.It is a very awaited
round, as on one hand, this will be the first visit of the GT Opento Austria, and on the other, this will be one of the first main international eventto take place on the new Red Bull Ring, the track that has revived the legacy of theglorious Österreichring and that has re-opened this year on the renewed venuelocated between Zeltweg and Spielberg, in the idyllic scenery of Styria’s hills.It will also be a key round towards the championship battle, which is as “hot” aspossible, with a good number of teams in contention for the titles and two leaders,the Villorba Ferrari of Montermini-Moncini (in the scratch) and the Kessel Ferrari ofBontempelli-Gattuso (in GTS) that both have the slightest possible advantage: 1point! In the overall standings, the runner-ups are Frezza-López (Vittoria Ferrari),one point behind, and Soheil Ayari (JMB Ferrari), now 3rd and only two pointsbehind the leaders thanks to his double win in Brands Hatch. In GTS, the runner-upis the Autorlando Porsche of Roda-Babini.
The great interest for GT racing that exists in Austria and in neighboring countries,like Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, promises a greatattendance of racing fans and raises the expectations of participants from thearea, in particular Austria’s Deboeuf Raceteam and Thomas Gruber, one of themost popular figures in the series.
The 25-car entry list, issued today, will contain some interesting novelties, amongwhich the Porsche GT2 of Swiss team Seminole with Egidio and Daniele Perfetti,and the brand new Mosler Super GT600, the latest GT3 machine, powered by a 7-litre Chevrolet engine of the British manufacturer.
It is the Blue Jumeirah Team that enters this car for Spanish driver RafaelUnzurrunzuaga, who brought the car to his race debut a few weeks ago in the IberGT round at Estoril.
Other significant changes in the entry list see the come-back of former GT Opendouble champion Joël Camathias (the Swiss will share the wheel of the JMB RacingFerrari 458 GT2 with Soheil Ayari) and of Italian GT expert Matteo Malucelli, whojoins Gabriele Lancieri at the wheel of the Villois Racing Aston Martin. On his side,Raffaele Giammaria, will not be able to attend, because of another commitment,and will exceptionally be replaced by Matteo Cressoni alongside Miguel Ramos onthe EdilCris Ferrari 458.
With the Red Bull Ring being unknown to most of the teams and drivers, anadditional 2-hour testing session has been scheduled on Thursday. The weekendwill also see in action the FIA Formula 2, the F.Abarth European Series Selenia andthe Boss GP series for vintage F.1 cars, among others.The Red Bull Ring races will be comprehensively covered live by TV stations aroundEurope, such as Motors TV (pan-European), Nuvolari and Primocanale (Italy),Teledeporte and Canal + Deportes (Spain), Sport TV (Portugal) and Orange TV Sport(Poland), while all the action can also be viewed live in streaming TV onwww.gtopen.net.
GT Open Red Bull Ring Timetable / Horario GT Open Red Bull Ring
Thursday 25 August 2011 / Jueves 25 Agosto 201113:00-15:00 Private Testing / Test Privado
Friday 26 August 2011 / Viernes 26 Agosto 201109:15-10:15 Free Practice 1 / Libres 113:30-14:30 Free Practice 2 / Libres 2
Saturday 27 August 2011 / Sábado 27 Agosto 201109:00-09:15 Qualifying / Clasficación1 GTS09:15-09:20 Qualifying / Clasficación1 SGT + GTS09:20-09:35 Qualifying / Clasficación1 SGT11:35-11:50 Qualifying / Clasficación 2 GTS11:50-11:55 Qualifying / Clasficación 2 SGT + GTS11:55-12:10 Qualifying / Clasficación 2 SGT15:00-16:10 Race 1 / Carrera 1 (70’ - Rolling Start / Salida lanzada)
Sunday 28 August 2011 / Domingo 28 Agosto 201113:20-14:10 Race 2 / Carrera 2 (50’ – Salida lanzada)
