Close Fight to be Expected in All Categories in Istanbul GT Open• First-ever Participation in a GT Race of a Turkish Driver Pair
The International GT Open is back, after the summer break. While holidays are already a memory, competitors of the GT Open may hope to still find a glimpse of summer in Turkey, where activity will resume next week-end (23-24 September), with the Istanbul GT Open, in the modern and beautiful Istanbul Park circuit, located in the Asian hilly outskirts of the Turkish metropolis.
In this first visit to Turkey, the GT Open will pair again with the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), as it happened in Monza and Magny-Cours. It will be the fourth event of the year for the series created beginning of this year by GT Sport and aimed at reviving the genuine spirit of GT racing.
The entry list for the Istanbul race, with 22 confirmed cars to date, is more impressive in quality than in quantity. Jesús Pareja, head of GT Sport Organización, explains: “The fact that the race is taking place at a very busy moment of the calendar, combined with the financial and logistical challenge such a long trip poses to privateers and current concerns with regard security in this part of the world have clearly had an impact on the number of entries. But the good news is that all the big boys will be there and that the circuit is really one of the most technical and spectacular ones. All the ingredients are there for superb racing and we are confident and happy to bring a very good show to the Turkish public”.
With three driver pairs in no more than 7 points at the top of the provisional overall standings, the battle for the title is starting to heat up seriously as we enter the second half of the season. The Playteam SaraFree pair composed by Michele Bartyan and Alessandro Pier Guidi are in the lead of the championship with their Ferrari 430 GT (86 points and 2 victories), only four points ahead of José Manuel Pérez Aicart and Lucas Guerrero (82 points), who have not won yet but have been extremely consistent at the drive of the Escudería Bengala’s Mosler MT 900R. In third place, Paolo Ruberti, the leading driver of Edil Cris Racing is third (79 points) after winning one race on the Ferrari 360 and one on the new Ferrari 430 of the young Venetian team. In Istanbul, Ruberti will pair again with Matteo Cressoni.
Also to be watched closely in the GTA category are the GPC Sport Ferrari 360, which will try to repeat the win in Estoril, this time with Gianluca Roda and Johnny Mowlem, and the three Ferraris 430s prepared by RSV Motorsport, with Peter Sunberg-Domingo Romero and Michel Ligonnet-Roland Severin in the RSV-entered cars and former F.1 driver Luis Pérez-Sala sharing with Manuel Cerqueda the car carrying the colors of the Automòbil Club d’Andorra.In the GTB category, the dominating Giudici’s Ferraris 360 will try to win again and widen the four-point lead of Fabrizio Gini in the overall standings. A newcomer to the series will be the Cetea squad, which enters a Ferrari 360 Challenge. No surprise in the GTS class, where we can expect yet another fight between the dominating Racing Box Vipers (6 wins in 6 events) and the Aston Martins DBRS9 of BMS Scuderia Italia. Andrea Belicchi and Stefano Zonca (50 points) have a 10-point lead over team-mates Perazzini-Cioci.
Much to the delight of local fans, one of the Racing Box Vipers, co-entered by Intercity Racing, will have an all-Turkish driver line-up, composed of Vural Ak, who is a double Turkish Off-road Champion and a recognized competitor in international rally-raids, and Ahmed Özgün, who has so far been racing in the US. It is the first time that a completely Turkish pair of drivers participate in a major international GT race.
As usual, the two one-hour races (one on Saturday, one on Sunday) will be broadcasted live by the Eurosport network throughout the continent, while further live coverage will be provided in Spain (RTVE), Portugal (RTP) and Italy (Sport Italia).
Istanbul GT Open Timing (GMT+3)Friday 22 September 200613:00 – 13:45 – Free Practice 1 (45’)17:00 – 18:30 – Free Practice 2 (45’)Saturday 23 September 200610:45 – 11:20 – Qualifying 1 (35’)13:50 – 14:25 – Qualifying 2 (35’)17:10 – 18:10 – Race 1 (26 laps)Sunday 24 September 200608:30 – 08:45 – Warm up (15’)12:55 – 13:55 – Race 2 (26 laps)
