The AF Corse pair eager to wipe out Spa set-backPorsche to look for revenge in friendly track, with Narac-Pilet and Lietz-RodaDayraut to defend close GTS lead in home track27 cars entered, come-back for the Sunred supercar with J.Gené at the wheelThe International GT Open is heading to Magny-Cours for the fifth event of the season,which will also be the mid-season mark for the series. The traditional mid-July rendezvouswith French fans is expected to be hot, not only because of the particularly warmsummer in Western Europe, but most of all because of the close battle at the top ofall championships, following a Spa-Francorchamps round that has re-opened manythings.
Álvaro Barba and Pierre Kaffer, who have dominated the first half-season at the wheelof the AF Corse Ferrari F430, are still comfortable leaders but their advantage hasdecreased to 12 points (116 versus 104 points) with respect to the Autorlando Porscheof Richard Lietz and Gianluca Roda, who will be looking for their first win this seasonon a track that has often suited very well the Stuttgart machines.
The leading pair of Barba-Kaffer, after a frustrating Spa week-end, will try to recoverthe control of the situation. The Spaniard is now fully fit after his accident in race 2 inBelgium, and both drivers have ensured their union will not suffer of the Spain-Germany duel in the semi-final of the World Cup, which will inevitably leave one ofthem happier than the other...
Other Ferraris will have to be taken into account for victory, as both CRS Racing’sNiarchos-Mullen and EdilCris’ Giammaria-Toccacelo are among race winners this year(twice for the Britons and once for the Italians). The situation is similar in the Porschecamp, with the IMSA Performance machine of Raymond Narac and Patrick Pilet eagerto shine in their home race. The French outfit has so far given to the Germanmanufacturer its sole win this year and lie in fourth position of the overall standings.In GTS, the fight at the top is extremely close, with three teams in 7 points. Jean-Philippe Dayraut leads (44 p.) with his Luxury Ferrari F430 GT3 and the French is ofcourse determined to make the best use of his great experience in Magny-Cours.
Marco Frezza and Pedro Couceiro are two points behind and lead the attack of theKessel Racing, while the new Porsche 911 GT3 of Autorlando Sport driven by ThomasGruber and Dimitris Deverikos is only seven points behind. But, as always, there willbe a number of competitive outsiders, including the Villois Aston Martins and the RPMFord GT.
A total of 27 cars have been entered to the French round. The most notable noveltiesare the first appearance this year of the Sunred SR 21 (the Judd-powered Spanish GTbeing entrusted to Ferrán Monje and WTCC ace Jordi Gené), the return of AndreaCeccato-Alessio Salucci (who won in GTS in Valencia) on one of the Kessel Ferraris,and the presence of the Noël Del Bello Lamborghini Gallardo. With regard to driverline-ups, Stéphane Ortelli is back alongside Dayraut, while the second Luxury F430 willbe driven by Adam-Makowiecki, while Andrew Kirkaldy is again sharing with KlaasHummel the second CRS Ferrari.
All the action from Magny-Cours can be followed by fans via the live broadcasts in Italy(Nuvolari), Spain (Canal + Deportes; Intereconomía TV), Portugal (Sport TV) and Poland(nSport) and the extensive delayed coverage ensured in 50 countries by Motors TV, byOTV in Lebanon and the Middle East and by Fox Sports and ESPN in Central and SouthAmerica.
Magny-Cours Timetable / Horario Magny-Cours
Friday 9th July 2010 / Viernes 9 Julio 201009:30-10:30 Free Practice 1 / Libres 115:05-16:05 Free Practice 2 / Libres 2
Saturday 10th July 2010 / Sábado 10 Julio 201008:50-09:05 Qualifying 1 GTS / Clasificación 1 GTS09:05-09:10 Qualifying 1 SGT + GTS / Clasificación 1 SGT + GTS09:10-09:25 Qualifying 1 SGT / Clasificación 1 SGT11:30-11:45 Qualifying 2 GTS / Clasificación 2 GTS11:45-11:50 Qualifying 2 SGT + GTS / Clasificación 2 SGT + GTS11:50-12:05 Qualifying 2 SGT / Clasificación 2 SGT16:25-17:35 Race 1 (70’ - Rolling Start) / Carrera 1 (70’ – Salida lanzada)
Sunday 11th July 2010 / Domingo 11 Julio 201013:00-13:50 Race 2 (50’ - Rolling Start) / Carrera 2 (50’ – Salida lanzada)
