Gruber-Seefried (Porsche Deboeuf) takes revenge on bad luck in Race 1 while Amos-Gai give maiden win to Vita4One Italy team in Race 2
In a very successful Winter Series event at Paul Ricard, Porsche and Ferrari drew wins, tokeep up with the tradition. The Deboeuf Porsche GT3 of Marco Seefried and Thomas Grubertook a solid win in Race 1, which repays the Austrian team from the bad luck of last year.They preceded another Porsche, the Alméras-prepared of Beltoise-Hassid and the Ferrari 458of debuting team Vita4One Italy of Amos-Gai, who then dominated Race 2, with Beltoise-Hassid second and again on the podium and Cirò-Ardagna (AF Corse) third.
Race 116 cars among the 21 present did enter for the race, with only the Ferrari of Talkanitsa notbeing able to start after a heavy crash in the last free testing. At the start, poleman Venturitakes the lead and builds a comfortable advantage on the Porsches of Seefried and Hassid, infull fight for second. Initial laps saw Cirò fourth ahead of Kessel, and then Homerson andAlexander in full fight.
Sdanewitsch and Pronk are the first ones to stop for the driver change. After that, the BlackBull Swiss Ferrari is still on the lead, with Andrea Invernizzi at the wheel, while the twoPorsches are still fighting for second, now with Gruber and Beltoise. On lap 17, though,Thomas Gruber takes the lead from Invernizzi, and quickly builds a 8-second gap. Two lapslater, Beltoise takes second. With Invernizzi now third, Calari is fourth ahead of Gai, Kox,Rugolo and Lanting. Few minutes before the end, there is a contact between Invernizzi andGai, to all benefit of Gai who takes third spot on the podium behind the Porsches.Race 2Kox, from the pole, is fastest at the start and takes the lead with the Reiter Lamborghini,building a 4-second gap in a couple of laps over Rugolo, Gai, Ardagna, Gruber, Beltoise,Ledogar and Dermont. At the opening of the driver change window, Kox has 21” of advantageover Rugolo and Gai, with Beltoise in fourth, followed by Dermon, Ardagna and Gruber, theselast two being the first ones to stop.
After the driver changes and the handicaps, the Lambo with Pronk has a 35-second lead overSdanewitsch, followed by Amos, Hassid, Cirò and Seefried. Unfortunately, the leading Lambo,who was keeping a comfortable advantage, got stopped on lap 17. Amos inherits the lead with17 seconds ahead of Sdanewitsch, who is producing a strong race, and will resist for a whileto Hassid, Cirò and Venturi, while Seefried has to stop on penultimate lap with a brokenbearing.
