Kaffer-Barba seek to confirm leadership in front of Ferrari’s tifosiIMSA and Autorlando to lead Porsche assaultFight between Ferrari, Porsche, Aston, Ford and Audi as open as ever in GTS
The third round of the 2010 International GT Open is at the doorstep: in one week timethe series will head to Italy, one of the homelands of GT racing, and stopping, for thesecond time in history, in the prestigious Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.Expectation is high to see if the trends seen in Valencia and Nuerburgring are confirmedin the fast and technical Italian track: the Ferraris have appeared in excellent shape sofar, and namely the AF Corse one driven by Álvaro Barba and Pierre Kaffer, who havewon three races out of four and are on top of the provisional standings, while the lastround in Germany has seen the Porsches reacting, with the IMSA car of Raymond Narac-Patrick Pilet giving the Stuttgart camp its first seasonal win.
In Imola, only a few kilometers away from Maranello, the Prancing Horse machines willcertainly want to shine and Barba-Kaffer will fight to retain their 16-points lead (70points is their current toll) in the championship. Still, with a higher handicap, theGerman-Spanish duo will have to defend itself from the assaults of Narac-Pilet (54points) and the other top Porsche, the Autorlando of Roda-Lietz (52 points).
This could also be an excellent opportunity for the Edil Cris Ferrari of RaffaeleGiammaria-Enrico Toccacelo, eager to confirm at home their good start of the season,and the other F430s of Peter-Broniszewski (Kessel Racing) and Niarchos-Mullen (CRSRacing).
In the SuperGT category, we will also follow with great attention the race of the AstonMartin Vantage GT2 of Guerrero-Wiser. After a promising debut, the British car is raisingits game and Villois Racing will be racing as from this event its own machine, aftercompeting in the first two rounds with a Prodrive-lended unit.
Worth of mentioning is also the come-back of the Porsche of Spanish team Drivex, withAmaral-De Castro, which will strengthen Stuttgart’s presence alongside the secondAutorlando car of Kauffman-Moro, the pair being a fresh FLM winner at the recent 1000km of Spa.
In the GTS category, competition will be fierce as always among the many contenders.Ferrari will be very well represented by the two units prepared by Luxury Racing forOrtelli-Dayraut (now leading the category standings with 26 points) and Petit-Scheier,which swept the competition in Nuerburgring, and by the three machines ofSwitzerland’s Kessel Racing (Livio-Bontempelli, Frezza-Couceiro and Kremer-Lavio). Thenew Porsche 911 GT3 entered by Autorlando is second in the standings (19 points) in thehands of Thomas Gruber-Dimitris Deverikos.
Others to watch in GTS are the Phoenix Racing Audi R8 of Jim Matthews and MarcelTiemann (who will seek this coming week-end a fifth consecutive success in the 24 hrs ofNuerburgring), the RPM Ford GT of Mortimer-Bamford and the Villois Racing AstonMartins DBRS9 of Lancieri-Lancelotti and Crespi-Sada.
With the Sofrev-prepared Ferraris of Savary-Ricci and Balthazard-Beaubelique makingtheir second appearance this year and the GDL Porsche GT3 Cup, the Imola round of theGT Open offers a 28-car entry of the highest quality and promises a great show, sharedthis time with the Auto GP, the Italian Prototype Championship and F.2000 Light.
All the action from Imola can be followed by fans via the live broadcasts in Italy(Nuvolari), Spain (Canal + Deportes), Portugal (Sport TV) and Poland (nSport) and theextensive delayed coverage ensured in 50 countries by Motors TV, and by Fox Sports andESPN in Central and South America.
Imola Timetable
Friday 21st May 201010:10-11.10 Free Practice 113.10-14.10 Free Practice 216:00-16:50 Free Practice 3
Saturday 22nd May 201010:15-10:30 Qualifying 1 GTS10:30-10:35 Qualifying 1 SGT + GTS10:35-10:50 Qualifying 1 SGT12:55-13:10 Qualifying 2 GTS13:10-13:15 Qualifying 2 SGT + GTS13:15-13:30 Qualifying 2 SGT16:00-17:10 Race 1 (SGT+GTS) 70’ Rolling Start
Sunday 23rd May 201009:45-10:05 Warm-up14:00-14:50 Race 2 (SGT+GTS) 50’ Rolling Start
