MAGNY-COURS, 30 April 2006. The Race 2 of the France GT Open saw another closely-fought race, with breath-taking action at all levels, in front of a crowd of 50,000. Starting from the pole and having no handicap to comply with, the Edil Cris Racing Ferrari 360 of Paolo Ruberti and Matteo Cressoni took the victory, after having shown a great potential in all races so far. Once again in the podium, second-classified Playteam SaraFree is now a clear leader in the overall standings of the International GT Open, while the Autorlando squad, with Johnny Mowlem and Gianluca Roda, brought a Porsche to the podium for the first time. Racing Box won again in the GTS category, but this time after a very close battle with the Scuderia Italia. In GTB, the Escuela de Pilotos Ferrari 430 Challenge of Robert-Villacieros managed to break the winning strike of Scuderia Giudici.
Two cars did not start (the Playteam SaraFree Ferrari of Giannoccaro-Tedoldi, which broke the engine yesterday, and the Porsche 996 GT3 of Médard-Pla. At green flag, the Racing Box Viper of Perazzini remained stalled with electrical problems, having to start from boxes. The first lap saw also some wild moments, with Bastos half-spinning its GPC Ferrari 360 and Pérez-Aicart having to go out of the track to avoid contact with the Autorlando Porsche.
After a couple of laps, the situation got a little bit more stable, with Ruberti in the lead ahead of Bartyan (the gap between the two will stay stable, little below 2”, until the pit stop), and followed by the Escudería Bengala, spectacularly driven by Pérez Aicart (who later complained about handling problems with the rear), who had passed both the Autorlando Porsche of Mowlen and the Racing Box Viper of Perazzini, and the Sunred Seat Cupra GT of Gião. Further down, the RSV Motorsport Ferrari 430 of Romero was taken in sandwich between the two BMS Scuderia Italia Astons of Zani and Seiler. In GTB, Giudici led the initial laps ahead the 430 Challenge of Escudería Roger and of Escuela de Pilotos, and the sister 360 of Gini.
First casualties included the Riverside Lamborghini Diablo (in the gravel on lap 5), the Del Bello Porsche (mechanical problems on lap 6), the BMS Scuderia Italia Aston of Seiler (engine, lap 10) and the Ferrari of Santos, while the Viper # 27 went into boxes with further electrical problems.
The mandatory driver change, as expected, brought changes, as handicap differences were relatively wide. The leading Edil Cris and the Autorlando Porsche, with 45” seconds less to spend in boxes with respect to the Playteam SaraFree, emerged from the exercise with as first and second (separated by 19”), with the Playteam SaraFree third, 32” behind. Were following the Escudería Bengala Mosler, with Guerrero trying to resist the assault of the Sunred Seat of Amorim (soon out of contention, because of an oil leak) and the RSV Ferrari of Sundberg, which will take the fourth place in lap 23. Then the surviving Viper of Cioci (which lost the transponder) and the GPC Ferrari of Montermini.
The second part of the race lived on the spectacular charge of the Playteam SaraFree Ferrari, with Cressoni reducing the gap, passing the Porsche of Roda on lap 21 and closing steadily the gap with the leading Edil Cris. But on lap 25, a misunderstanding with a lapped Seat sent Cressoni into a spin, virtually ending the race.
The battle, though, was still going on and being fierce in the GTS category, with the Racing Box Viper of Cioci and the BMS Scuderia Italia of Malucelli exchanging positions and battling until chequered flag for the victory, which eventually was taken by the American machine. Exciting fighting also in GTB, where Spanish racing legend Kuru Villacieros managed to pass the two Scuderia Giudici’s Ferraris and impose the 430 Challenge of Fernando González Camino, the boss of the Escuela Española de Pilotos.
Intl. GT Open Overall Standings (provisional!): 1. Bartyan-Pier Guidi, 76 p; 3. Aicart-Guerrero, 58; 5. Ruberti-Cressoni, 53; 7. Belicchi-Zonca, 35; 9. Roda, 32; 10. Sundberg-Romero, 28; 12. Cutrera, 27; 13. Lancelotti-Capellari, 25; 15. Cioci-Perazzini, 23; 17. Arlotti-Gini, 23; 18. Mowlem, 22; etc
QuotesPaolo Ruberti (1st): “One is always happy when he wins! Today we could benefit from a perfect situation with regard to the handicaps and everything went well”. Matteo Cressoni (1st): “Paolo did most of the job, so I just had to control the sitaution and manage the advantage. Still, I had some trouble with a front tyre in the final laps”.
Michele Bartyan (2nd): “Under the circumstances, this is the best result we could expect in Race 2, with our 45” of victory handicap. We are now a strong leader of the Championship, that is the most important”. Alessandro Pier-Guidi (2nd): “I was charging hard, but I don’t think we could catch the Edil Cris. Unfortunately, I lost all chances of trying when I spun because of a lapped Seat. I think he did not see me, despite the blue flags. He went wide, I thought he was giving me way, then he suddenly closed the door in the corner”.
Johnny Mowlem (3rd): “It was a very though race for us, it was hard to try to stay in the pace of the two Ferrari, and we were on very hard tyres, but we managed to defend the third place, and we are happy of it”. Gianluca Roda (3rd): “We struggled all weekend to find a correct balance and we could not fight with the leading two Ferraris, but at least wd could keep back the others!”
