- First victory for GPC Sport in a suspense-packed race- Sande e Castro Sport takes laurels in GTB + GTC- Racing Box wins again in GTS
Estoril, 24 June 2006
Italian GT stalwart squad GPC obtained its first victory in the GT Open Series in a spectacular and thrilling race 1 of the Portugal GT Open in Estoril. Former F.1 driver Andrea Montermini and Portuguese veteran racer Pedro Bastos beat in the last lap local pair Gião-Amorim (Playteam SaraFree) in a day that saw the revenge of “old” Ferraris 360. Racing Box Vipers, with Zonca-Belicchi, won for the fifth time in a row in GTS and Vaz Guedes – Cruz completed a remarkable day for Portuguese race fans by imposing the Sande e Castro Porsche 996 GT3 in the GTB race.
RACE 1 GTA + GTS
The start, despite the presence of 31 cars in the track, is relatively quiet, with Ruberti keeping the advantage of the pole position with his Edil Cris Ferrari 430 ahead of Sundberg (RSV Motorsport Ferrari 430), Gião (Playteam SaraFree Ferrari 360), Pérez Aicart (Escudería Bengala Mosler MT900R), Bartyan (Playteam SaraFree Ferrari 430), Bastos (GPC Ferrari 360) Pérez-Sala (AC Andorra Ferrari 430), Gardel (GPC Ferrari 430) and Euser (Marcos LM600). The gaps among the top nine cars remain minimal in the first laps, making clear that the race will be a very competitive one.
While the Sun Red Seat Cupra GT that Vivancos shares with Seat’s WTCC works driver Jordi Gené spins in lap 7 and then has to stop in the pits, the first “coup de théâtre” comes in lap 8 when Bartyan attacks Pérez Aicart on the inside in the chicane.
Contact is inevitable and the Mosler spins, but it is the leader of the series that gets the worst consequences: a pipe of cooling liquid in the front of the car is broken and leaks on the front right wheel, sending the car into a spin and then into the gravel. Pérez-Sala is also obliged to spin to avoid collision.
After 10 laps, Ruberti (who also sets the fastes lap in 1.42.495) has a 5 second lead on Sundberg and Gião, while Euser still fourth will soon be out of contention because a mechanical failure, leaving oil on track. Gardel is a little bit further ahead of the Drivex Porsche of De Castro and Pérez Aicart. Driver changes start in lap 12 and clearly penalize the cars having higher performance handicaps, like the Escudería Bengala Mosler (25”) and the RSV Ferrari (30”).
When things settle after the pit stops, it is Ni Amorim on the Playteam 360 leading ahead Matteo Bobbi in the Edil Cris 430. Soon the two will be duelling and on lap 20 they get in contact at the end of the straight, with Amorim spinning. The Portuguese rejoins the race in third position, behind Bobbi and a very fast Lambertini in the Playteam 430, but ahead of Romero, Montermini, Burgeño and Guerrero.
The final laps are pure drama: Lambertini spins in lap 23 and one lap later Bobbi stops in the pits believing he has a punctured tyre. Amorim is in the lead but cannot resist to the final charge of Montermini. They pass each other twice in the very last lap but it is the Italian taking chequered flag in first position.Good fight also in the GTS category, where the Racing Box Viper of Zonca-Belicchi clinches victory by few hundreds of a second in front of the two Scuderia Italia Aston Martin DBRS9 of Maluccelli-Zani and Groppi-Seiler.
RACE 1 GTB + GTC
At the start, poleman Santiago García in his Porsche 996 GT3 has no trouble in taking the lead of the 14-car field, followed by the other 996 of Sande e Castro Sport driven by José Vaz Guedes, the Camino Ferrari of Villacieros, the 430 of César Rodrigo, the Eficar Porsche of Näs, the Cetea Ferrari 360 of Lloveras, the Escudería Roger Ferrari 430 of Van Zoest and the Ferrari 360 of Ardigo.
The fight between García and Vaz Guedes is close; the gap never exceeds 2 seconds and starts to close after a while; on lap 11, the Portuguese overtakes the Spaniard and on lap 15 hands over the car in first position to team-mate Francisco Cruz who starts the second part of the race with an 11 seconds margin over his rival. The first half of the race sees also a brilliant performance of local Carlos Peres in the other Escudería Roger Ferrari 430: last in lap 1, he had made up until the 5th position at the time of the driver change. His team-mate João Terenas will retain the position after a good fight with Gini and Izquierdo, that will both spin.
The Ferrari of the Rodrigo brothers finishes at an excellent third place, despite a performance handicap of 40” ahead of the very consistent Camino 430 of Villacieros-Robert (which had a handicap of 20”).
Tomorrow, Sunday, Race 2 for GTB and GTC will be at 13:10 local time (CET -1) and Race 2 for GTA and GTS at 15:25. Both will take place on a 26 laps distance and be broadcasted live by Eurosport 2 in Europe, TVE in Spain, RTP in Portugal and Sportitalia in Italy.
