The Prancing Horse takes revenge with clear win of Bruni-Leo (AF Corse)New Aston SuperGT second in race debut, IMSA Porsche thirdWinning debut for the Seyffarth Mercedes (Heyer-Seyffarth) in GTSThree different manufacturers in both podiums

RACE 1Nürburgring, 22 May 2012Ferrari took a first revenge today at the Nürburgring with the AF Corse of Gimmi Bruni and Federico Leo car taking a clear flag-to-flag win. It beat the surprising new Aston Martin Super GT of Villois Racing, that Matteo Malucelli and Alvaro Barba brought to an excellent debut, and the IMSA Porsche of Patrick Pilet-Raymond Narac, with championship leaders Marco Holzer-Nick Tandy (Manthey Racing)finishing fourth.

It was three different manufacturers on the podium also in the GTS class, where the close fight ended with the first success of a Mercedes SLS AMG in the series, thanks to Kenneth Heyer and Jan Seyffarth (Sayffarth Racing). It preceded the Deboeuf Raceteam Porsche of Thomas Gruber-Marco Seefried, an excellent second, and the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Daniel Zampieri-Michael Dalle Stelle.

At the start, poleman Bruni keeps the advantage while Montermini brake wide at corner 1 creating some confusion behind, with Peter hit by Malucelli and forced to the pits to change a tire, and Mapelli losibg ground. Behind Bruni, it’s the Porsches of Pilet and Holzer leading the opposition while Talkanitsa Sr defends for a while an excellent fourth from the attacks of Malucelli, Piccini, Zampieri and Gruber. In lap 4, Piccini spins. Big fight for ninth between Mapelli and Bizzarri, who make no presents to each other. The AF car will have to pit shortly after, with a broken wheel. In lap 10, Amaral spins, while Montermini stops in the entranceof the pitlane.

As the pit stop nears, Bruni is still an unchallenged leader, with 12 seconds over Pilet while Holzer is challenged by Malucelli for third. The Italian passes in lap 15.Talkanitsa is fith ahead of the leaders in GTS, Zampieri and Mapelli. With two additional stops, the Villorba Ferrari is definitely leaving a bad day. After the driver change, the AF of Leo has a 28” advantage over the Aston of Barba, with Narac in third, followed by Tandy, Talkanitsa in fight with Giammaria. Follow DalleStelle, Seefried and Seyffarth fighting within 3 seconds for the GTS honours.

The final part of the race sees Talkanitsa spinning in lap 29 while the Mercedes of Seyffarth takes the win in GTS ahead of Seefried and Dalle Stelle. In the meantime, the Aston, the Black Ferrari and the Autorlando Porsche get 20” of penalty for infringing pit stop rules. That doesn’t modify things at the top with Leo winning ahead of Barba, Narac and Tandy. Also to be noted the excellent ninth place of the Lotus Evora, which takes its first points, with Johnny Mowlem driving the entire race.

GT Open Standings after Race 3 of 18Overall: 1.Holzer-Tandy, 54 points; 2. Pilet-Narac, 44; 3. Barba-Malucelli, 36; 4. Cadei-Bizzarri, 32; 5.Mapelli-Hamilton, 29GTS: 1. Mapelli-Hamilton, Cadei-Bizzarri, 18; 3. Zampieri-Dalle Stelle, 16; 4. Seyffarth-Heyer, 10; 5.Gruber-Seefried, 8Teams Overall: 1. Manthey Racing, 24; 2. IMSA, 20; 3. Villois Racing, 17; 4. AF Corse, 10; 5. KesselRacing, 8;Teams GTS: 1. Kessel Racing, 22 p.; 2. Autorlando Sport, AF Corse, 18; 4. Seyffarth Racing, 10; 5.Deboeuf Raceteam 8;