The AF Corse duo, solid first leader of the 2010 GT OpenCeccato-Salucci, brilliant winners in GTS under the rain

Alvaro Barba and Pierre Kaffer repeated yesterday’s victory in the secondValencia race, taking control in the overall standings and giving their boss,Amato Ferrari a perfect birthday present. Dry weather eventually graced thisrace, allowing the Porsches to improve their handling. Pilet-Narac, on the IMSAmachine, finished second and the Autorlando car of Lietz-Roda fourth,sandwiching the Aurora F430 of Lopez-Giao.

Pilet took the lead at the start but was not be able to build a big gap on Kaffer,Aguas, Lietz and Mullen (whose bonnet will soon start to open), while Giao,Giammaria and Kaufmann fight closely for sixth. Gaps among the top carsremain very tight, and positions stable, with only Cruz Martins climbing uppositions.

In lap 16, when driver change have started (and Kaffer has stopped), Aguasmanages to pass Pilet, who is then overtaken also by Lietz but regains hisposition soon after, starting a beautiful duel with Lietz.

After all pit stops, Narac leads by 3” on Roda, Barba, Gerber, López, Niarchosand Toccacelo. With Barba closing up on the two leading Porsches, the finalpart of the race keeps its promises: the Spaniard will pass Roda on lap 21 andtake the lead from Narac on lap 24, to catch a second consecutive win for AFCorse. The Aurora Ferrari of Cruz Martins will cross the line second but losethree positions for not having served the entire handicap. In the last lap, acontact between Toccacelo and Gerber leaves both out of the top ten.

Standings GT OPEN: 1. Barba-Kaffer, 44p; 2. Ceccato-Salucci, 25; 3.Roda-Lietz, 24;4.Giao-Lopez, 21; 5. Matthews-Tiemann, 19; 6.Giammaria-Toccacelo, Livio-Bontempelli,Narac-Pilet, 18; etc

Dramatic win in rain-soaked GTS race for Ceccato-Salucci (Kessel)

Italians Andrea Ceccato and Uccio Salucci, on one of the Kessel Racing’s FerrariF430 Scuderia (the one bearing the legendary nr. 46 of their friend ValentinoRossi) took an unexpected and brilliant win in GTS’ Race 2, in front of teammatesLivio-Bontempelli and the Phoenix Audi R8 of Tieman-Matthews, whichdominated the first stint. The race was rain-soaked and had a dramatic finale,when the leading Ferrari of Dayrault suffered a mechanical failure and Ceccatoovertook Livio after a furious fight.

Tiemann takes the lead at the start in front of Frezza, Bontempelli, Ortelli,Lancieri, Scheier and Salucci, on a very wet track where visibility is an issuer.The Autorlando Porsche of Gruber goes off track on lap 2, remaining trapped inthe gravel for a moment, as does Frezza in lap 5, while Scheier passes Lancierifor fourth.

The Audi dominates until the pit-stop. After all driver changes are done,Matthews has to let Dayrault take the lead but he resists the attacks ofCeccato. There is a slight contact between the two and in lap 20, and Liviotakes the opportunity to pass both for second. The two Kessels are now chasingthe leading Luxury Ferrari and fighting between themselves.

The end of the race is spectacular, with Dayrault suffering a drive-shaft failureand Ceccato overtaking and touching Livio a few corners from the flag, to takea superb victory, as he did two years ago here, in similar conditions with theRacing Box Lambo. The Audi is third ahead of the Villois Aston, the secondLuxury car and the RPM Ford GT, while Escamez-Monzon win among Spanishchampionship contenders with their Lambo Gallardo.

Standings GTS: 1.Ceccato-Salucci, 13 p.; 2.Matthews-Tiemann, Deverikos-Gruber, 10;4. Livio-Bontempelli, 8; 5.Dayrault-Ortelli, 6;