Warm welcome expected for GT Opens first official round to Andalusian track29 cars entered as the series hits mid-season markA trio detaches itself in SuperGT, but battle rages up in GTS
For the fourth round of the season, the International GT Open and the European F3 Open are heading to sunny Andalusia. Jerez de la Frontera, homeland of sherry and equestrian arts, will host an official round of the GT Open for the first time, just a few months after having served as scenery for one of the Winter Series by GT Sport events. In the meantime, its almost summer and this, together with the expectation raised by the GT Opens first visit, will certainly contribute to a very pleasant atmosphere.
The event will already mark the end of the first half of the season; at the moment, a trio of competitors is detaching itself from the rest. Andrea Montermini leads in the overall points standings, with 108 points, while the Italians team mate at Scuderia Villorba, Luca Filippi, is second (94) by virtue of having missed one race. The V8 Racing Corvette of the Dutch- Lusitanian duo Nicky Pastorelli-Miguel Ramos is second (72), right ahead Matt Griffin-Duncan Cameron (AF Corse), the only other tandem (together with Montermini-Filippi) to have won two races so far. In GTS, the situation is closer: with the BhaiTech McLarens having now reached a good level of competitiveness, Chris Van der Drift-Luiz Razia are now the newleaders, ahead of season-openers dominators Ide-Soulet (GPR Aston Martin), the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Bontempelli-De Marco, Miguel Toril (Seyffarth Mercedes), the other BhaiTech MP4 12 C of Pantano-Suzuki and the SMP Russian Bears Ferrari of Rosell-Mavlanov, all within 5points!
Jerez has attracted a very good entry, with 29 cars on the provisional list. Worth of noting are the reappearance of the two Kessel Ferraris GT3 of Laursen-Magnussen and Flohr Castellacci, which had missed the Nrburgring round (the latter because of the heavy damages sustained in an accident) and of the Estamotorsports 458 GT3, with team owner Aleksandr Skryabin sharing the wheel with Alessandro Pier Guidi.
As usual for the events on the Iberian peninsula, the Jerez round is also valid for the Spanish IBER GT Championship and will welcome entrants such as the Novadriver Audis R8 and the Ginetta of Luis Villalba-Francesc Gutirrez.
The GT open will race jointly with the Spanish GT GT, while Spanish Endurance Championship (CER) and the Clio Cup Espaa complete the programme. Fans not present at the track will be able to follow all the action thanks to the GT Opens excellent live TV coverage, which includes: Motors TV (pan-European), RaiSport2 (Italy), Sport1+ (Germany), Teledeporte and Canal+ Deportes 5Spain), Sport TV (Portugal) and ESPN (UK), without forgetting the live webstreaming on www.gtopen.net.
GT Open Jerez Timetable / Horario GT Open Jerez (All times local, CET/ Hora local, CET)
Friday, 14 June 2013 / Viernes 14 Junio 201310:20-11:20 Private test / Test privado13:30-14:30 Free Practice 1 / Libres 115:30-16:30 Free Practice 2 / Libres 2
Saturday 15t June 2013 / Sbado 15 Junio 201309:00-09:15 Qualifying / Clasficacin1 GTS09:15-09:20 Qualifying / Clasficacin1 SGT + GTS09:20-09:35 Qualifying / Clasficacin1 SGT11:50-12:05 Qualifying / Clasficacin 2 GTS12:05-12:10 Qualifying / Clasficacin 2 SGT + GTS12:10-12:25 Qualifying / Clasficacin 2 SGT16:00-17:10 Race 1 / Carrera 1 (70 - Rolling Start / Salida lanzada)
Sunday 16 June 2013 / Domingo 16 Junio 201312:00-12:50 Race 2 / Carrera 2 (50Rolling start / Salida lanzada)
