Behind the wheel of their Ferrari 458 Montermini and Lopez became second in the first race of the GT Open finale after a lot of exciting fights and overtaking action. Tomorrow's race-2 will start at 12:55 with live coverage in Italy on RaiSport2 and Primocanale
Barcelona (Spain), November 3, 2012. A breathtaking race allowed the aabar Abu Dhabi Villorba racing with Ferrari Team to clinch a superb second place in race-1 of the GT Open finale. At Barcelona, behind the wheel of their powerful Ferrari 458, race drivers Andrea Montermini and Juan Manuel Lopez ended on the podium after a lot of exciting and spectacular fights and overtaking action, during which, without faults, their supercar from Maranello also was damaged by a couple of contacts. Thanks to their stunning performances the Italian squad can celebrate the second podium in a row after third place grabbed in Monza.
At the Circuit de Catalunya today Montermini made a very good start from fourth on the grid and already was the second after only a few turns. The former F.1 driver from Modena fought hard to keep a fast pace despite a an early contact which did not allow him to make the most out of his Ferrari. After the mandatory pit-stop for driver change and many other exciting battles for the lead, monopolizing the attention of the cameras, Lopez finished the job and the whole aabar Abu Dhabi Villorba crew could celebrate a great day on the podium.Tomorrow's race-2, the last of the season, will start at 12:55. The event will be broadcasted live by many TV stations throughout Europe, including RaiSport 2 and Primocanale in Italy.
We have all done a great job - says Raimondo Amadio, Team Principal - and we also tried to win. Certainly the victory was within our possibilities if we had not been clearly affected by the gap from our closest rivals, due to the balance of performance. However, we will still be there tomorrow and try to get as many points as possible: in GT Open you never know.
It was a great race - says Montermini - and I am very happy with this result. We did everything we could and it was impossible to get more. Now we will focus on race-2 and, although we have a high handicap to pay during the pit-stop, we will try to finish the season with another exciting and very positive performance.
