Belgian squad dominated a race where rain and fog put GTS cars aheadMagnussen-Laursen (Kessel Ferrari) secondMontermini-Filippi (Villorba Ferrari) 3rd and best SuperGT car after Sijthoff-Longin(V8 Racing Corvette) received penalty
The Vantage GT3 of GPR Racing paid the best tribute to Aston Martins centennial by taking aresounding win in the inaugural 2013 GT Open race.
Enzo Ide and Maxime Soulet conducted an impeccable race at the wheel of the car of the Belgian team of Pino Sperlinga. Heavy rain and fog dominated the day at the Paul Ricard, where the entire timetable had to be reshuffled.
This put 12 GTS cars on top of the grid and the race confirmed their competitiveness on a wet track. The Kessel Ferrari of Danes Jan Magnussen-Johnny Laursen took second overall, with the first Super GT car, the V8 Racing Corvette of Bert Longin and Diederik Sijthoff completed the podium before a post-race penalty of 30 for not respecting track limits, which dropped them to 7th leaving third spot to Montermini-Filippi (Villorba Ferrari).
At the start, poleman van der Zande on the Seyffarth Mercedes is passed by Ladyigin, Pantano, Magnussen and van der Drift who takes provisionally the lead at the chicane after cutting a chicane. He gives back the position to Ladygin, who leads in first lap, ahead of the New-Zealander, Pantano, Magnussen, Ide van der Zande, Deverikos and De Marco. First SuperGT car, the Corvette is Sijthoff, is 12th with Nathan 13th, Ramos 14th and Montermini 18th. On top, an Enzo Ide in great form, climbs to third and takes second after contact with van der Drift who spins, loses many positions and has to stop in the pits in lap 5. Shortly after, Ide takes the lead from Ladygin, who is passed at the chicane by Magnussen one lap later, while there is a big battle for fourth between van der Zande and Deverikos. De Marco retires after being hitting the barriers.
After the pit stop, with still a lot of rain, Laursen leads briefly before having to let Soulet go. Toril is third ahead of Tutumlu, Maleev, Filippi (first in SuperGT), Lyons, Tsyplakov and Longin. While Toril spins, Tutumlu gets stopped by a gearbox problem and Suzuki hits the wall on the McLaren, Longin and Filippi climb positions to take third and fourth behind the winning Aston and Laursen, who also wins the very first Gentlemens trophy.
After the race, a 30 second penalty was also inflicted to Sijthoof-Longin for cutting several times the chicane. They dropped to 7th leaving first spot in SuperGT to Montermini-Filippi (in the Villorba Ferrari).
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER RACE 1 OF 16
Overall: 1. Ide-Soulet, 22 p.; 2. Magnussen-Laursen, 18; 3. Montermini-Filippi, 18; 4. Cameron-Griffin, 13; Beretta-Lyons, 12
Drivers SuperGT: 1. Montermini-Filippo, 10; 2. Griffin-Cameron, 8; 3. Sijthoff-Longin, 6; 4. Talkanitsa sr & jr, 4; 5. Schir-Hamilton, 3
GTS: 1. Ide-Soulet, 10; 2. Magnussen-Laursen, 18; 3. Beretta-Lyons, 6; 4. Costantini-Clarke, 4; 5. Zanuttini-Gattuso, 3
Teams SuperGT: 1. Villorba Corse, 10; 2. Mtech, 8; 3. V8 Racing, 6; 4. AT Racing, 4; 5. Drivex,3
Teams GTS: 1. Kessel Racing, 11; 2. GPR, 10; 3. AF Corse, 6; 4. Ombra Racing, 4
Constructors Super GT: 1. Ferrari, 18; 2. Chevrolet, 6; 3. Porsche, 3
Constructors GTS: 1. Ferrari, 14; 2. Aston Martin, 10
Gentlemens Trophy: 1. Laursen, 10; 2. Talkanitsa Sr, 8; 3. Zanuttini, 6; 4. Maleev, 5; 5. Cordoni, 4
