Aurora Ferrari beats Peter-Broniszewski and Mullen-ChristodolouNo points for Barba-Kaffer, now leaders by 1 single pointToccacelo-Giammaria, 4th, become closest challengersFrezza-Cadei win in GTS but Dayraut (2nd) gets closer to titleLoeb-Sordo excellent 5th in category
The International GT Open could not dream of a more exciting finale today in thevery last race of the year. With championship leaders Barba-Kaffer scoring no pointson Saturday, the situation at the top couldn’t be close: the AF Corse pair (188 points) hasnow a one-point lead over Toccacelo-Giammaria (187). The EdilCris pair, today 4th,was the most benefitted today, while the Porsches of Lietz-Roda and Narac Pilet were5th and 9th. Both are still in the race, with the IMSA pair third with 178 points and theAutorlando fourth with 171.
Today’s race saw a superb win of Nelson Piquet and Álvaro Parente, both veryimpressive, at the wheel of the Ferrari of Portuguese team Aurora. They beat after aheated battle the other F430 of Mullen-Christodolou (CRS) and Peter-Broniszewski(Kessel).
In GTS, Jean-Philippe Dayraut is getting closer to the title. The French driver of Luxury,co-driven by Stéphane Ortelli, took second, just behind rivals Marco Frezza-Niki Cadei,and has now an 8-point lead over the Kessel pair, with still 10 points to be awardedtomorrow. Sébastian Loeb and Dani Sordo took an excellent fifth in the class with theAlméras Porsche.
At the start Griffin takes the advantage on Peter, Cerqueda, Piquet, Gené, Mullen,Toccacelo. The fight behind the first two is wonderful, with Cerqueda conceding hardhis position and Gené climbing up to third.
First lap sees plenty of drama as championship leader Barba and Collard collide andget out of the race. The AF Ferrari will rejoin the race 6 laps behind. The first part ofthe race will be dominated by Griffin and Peter, who fight fiercely until the Austrianpasses the Irish, with Mullen catching up progressively from behind. The CRS driverwill take the lead shortly before the driver change. At that moment, Piquet is thirdahead of Toccacelo, the best placed of the title contenders, with Narac 11th and Roda12th (soon to be penalized with a drive-through for not respecting yellow flags).
After the driver change, is Broniszewski leading with 5 seconds advantage onChristodolou, 14 on Parente and 33 on Giammaria, while Cadei is fifth and first in GTS,followed by Livio (who will soon do two spins) and Ortelli.
In the lead, things are hot with Christodolou and Parente closing on Broniszewski. Theyboth pass him and in lap 34 Parente, after a heated duel, overtakes Christodolou totake a superb win ahead of the other two Ferraris of CRS and Kessel.In GTS, Cadei keeps the advantage over Ortelli, Makowiecki, Livio and Loeb.
StandingsOverall: 1. Barba-Kaffer, 188; 2. Giammaria-Toccacelo, 187; 3. Narac-Pilet, 178; 4.Roda-Lietz, 171; 5. Mullen, 130
GTS: Dayraut, 84; 2. Frezza, 76; 3. Livio-Bontempelli, 72; 4. Ortelli, 66; 5. Couceiro,62
Team SuperGT: 1. AF Corse, 89; 2. EdilCris, 81; 3. IMSA Performance, 78; 4.Autorlando Sport, 72; 5. CRS Racing, 54
Team GTS: 1. Kessel Racing, 170; 2. Luxury Racing, 82; 3. RPM and Autorlando Sport,46; 5. Villois, 32
