Joint GT Open and Spanish GT season-opener attracts 51 carsNew Aston Martin Vantage GT2 joins Ferrari-Porsche duel in Super GTFerrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Audi and Ford to fight for honors in GTS

The engines roar again for the International GT Open, as the fifth edition of the seriesis ready to kick off: the season-opener will take place on 17-18 April in the CircuitRicardo Tormo in Valencia. After a long and cold winter break, everything is ready tohave an exciting 2010 season, which starts under the best auspices. No less than 51cars are entering for this joint GT Open and Spanish GT event (32 for the GT Open and19 for the Spanish GT).

Jesús Pareja, CEO of GT Sport, comments: “We are delighted that the Valencia eventis attracting so many participants, which is a rewarding sign considering that we arestill going through a challenging overall economic context. The world of GT racing isgetting more clearly defined and the GT Open is more and more recognized as thereal option for GT2 and GT3 racing at European level. We will continue to work inthat direction and to provide participants with the best possible return on theirinvestment”.

The basic principles of the International GT Open remain, of course, unchanged for2010: the technical regulations are unchanged, with two categories of eligible cars,Super GT (GT2) and GTS (GT3); event format is still based on a 70 minutes race onSaturday and a 50 minutes race on Sunday; and the handicap system in time continuesto apply (on the basis of a 15-10-5 seconds penalty for the top three finishers at everyrace). Keeping costs under control, ensuring a sportive and friendly atmosphere in thepaddock and offering a premium TV package continue to be cornerstones of the GTOpen proposition.

• About the Valencia EventIn Valencia, GT Open and Spanish GT entrants will race together, but participants willonly score points for the championship they have entered (with the only exception ofthe Aurora Ferrari of López-Gião, which is entered in both series).

The Sunday race, as it is customary when the number of entries allows it, will be splitby categories, with the GTS race in the morning and the SuperGT race in theafternoon.

Finally, a day of collective free test will take place on the Wednesday preceding theevent, in replacement of the official test scheduled in Spa late March which had to becancelled due to the collapse of a tunnel in the Belgian track

A top-level entry listThe provisional entry list shows that quality has joined quantity for theopening event of the 2010 season. In the Super GT category, the duel betweenPorsches and Ferraris will be as exciting as ever.

The Ferrari F430 delegation is led bythe three cars of AF Corse (with Barba-Kaffer and Griffin-Gerber confirmed for theentire season), the two cars of CRS Racing (the British stalwart team is making itsdebut in the GT Open with Niarchos-Mullen and Goodwin-Hummel), the Kessel Racingcar making its debut in the category (with current GTS champions Peter-Broniszewski),and the units brought by Edil Cris (for Giammaria-Toccacelo) and Aurora (Gião-López).Are also making their debut in the Open the AT Racing F430 (prepared by AF) ofBelarus Alexander Talkanitsa father and son, and of Dutch GT expert Peter Versluis.

In the Porsche camp, Autorlando Sport is present with two 911 RSR (for Lietz-Roda andMoro-Kaufmann), while IMSA is concentrating on one car for its leading pair Narac-Piletand Spain’s Drivex team enters Amaral-De Castro. Last but not least, Britain’sTrackspeed has confirmed two cars with driver line-ups being finalized at the moment.This said, the most interesting novelty in this category is the brand new Aston MartinVantage GT2, which will make its debut in the series with Villois Racing. The Italianteam, the most faithful representative of the British marque in the GT Open, will startthe season with a Prodrive-prepared car before using its own as from the Imola event.Wiser-Guerrero will be the drivers.

In the competitive GTS category, variety is the main word, with Ferrari, Porsche,Aston Martin, Audi and Ford bidding for the title. Kessel Racing gives the assault withfour F430 Scuderias (and Livio-Bontempelli and Frezza-Couceiro as the leading pairs).Five other F430 in total will be entered by French teams Sofrev ASP, Protonic, M.Petitand Luxury (with Stéphane Ortelli and Jean-Philippe Dayrault at the wheel).

The Ford GT will make its first appearance in the series, thanks to British team RPMand Mortimer-Bamford, while the Villois Racing Aston Martins DBR9 will try to retainthe category’s Team title, with Lancieri-Lancelotti as its leading pair. For the firsttime, Porsche will bid for the crown in the junior category as well, through a 997entered by Autorlando Sport for Thomas Gruber and a driver still to be designated. Sowill also do Audi, whose most competitive R8 is entered by Phoenix Racing for MarcelTiemann and Jim Matthews. Another privateer R8 is entered by Brinkmann Motorsport.

• Live TVThe Valencia GT Open will enjoy excellent live TV coverage, at pan-European levelthrough Motors TV (which broadcasts in 6 languages to 18 million households in 50countries), and at national level thanks to Canal + Deportes (Spain), Nuvolari (Italy),Sport TV (Portugal) and nSport (Poland).

• Valencia Timetable

Friday 16 April 201011:40-12:55 Free Practice 116:25-17:40 Free Practice 2

Saturday 17 April 201009:30-09:50 Qualifying 1 GTS09:50-09:55 Qualifying 1 SGT + GTS09:55-10:15 Qualifying 1 SGT12:15-12:35 Qualifying 2 GTS12:35-12:40 Qualifying 2 SGT + GTS12:40-13:00 Qualifying 2 SGT15:30-16:40 Race 1 (SGT+GTS) 70’ Rolling Start

Sunday 18 April 201010:00-10:50 Race 2 (GTS) 50’ Rolling Start14:00-14:50 Race 2 (SGT) 50’ Rolling Start