Behind the wheel of their powerful Ferrari 458, race drivers Andrea Montermini and Juan Manuel Lopez secured a crucial victory in the second race of the fifth round of the series. However, the race results were suspended because of a decision by the stewards which the Italian squad has claimed

Le Castellet (France), July 22nd, 2012. Today the aabar Abu Dhabi Villorba racing with Ferrari Team secured a crucial win in race-2 of the fifth International GT Open round. On the Paul Ricard circuit race drivers Andrea Montermini and Juan Manuel Lopez scored both the overall and the Super GT class victory, securing a comeback behind the wheel of the powerful Ferrari 458 of the Italian squad led by Raimondo Amadio.

In Le Castellet this afternoon Lopez was battling the Porsches for the whole first part of the race, between the sixth and the seventh position. After the mandatory pit-stop driver change, Montermini regained the track and made a comeback that has attracted the attention of the cameras during the second half of the competition. In a short time the Italian former F.1 driver took the lead and crossed the finish line in first position.

However, the aabar Abu Dhabi Villorba 458 received a 30 penalty for contact with a Corvette. The team has appealed, therefore the sanction is suspended until the appeal is examined by the local sporting authority.

In this case - says Raimondo Amadio, Team Principal - we do not think this is fair nor is it a justified action against us. Equality in a major championship like the GT Open is always necessary when it comes to judging objectively. Today we had two or three incidents of contact against us and no one mentioned or acknowledged it. We will use every tool we have to prove our arguments. Today's incident was normal, and contacts like this happen.