Miguel Ramos and Nicky Pastorelli (V8 Racing Corvette) took their second win of the year inan extremely hot afternoon in Jerez. The first-ever GT Open race on the Andalusian track wasred-flagged eight minutes from the end to allow rescue of the Drivex Porsche that had caughtfire. Niccol Schir-Archie Hamilton managed to salvage third position, after a greatperformance, as the classification was frozen one lap before the dramatic incident. AndreaMontermini-Luca Filippi (Villorba Ferrari) were second.
In GTS, the Autorlando Porsche of Isaac Tutumlu and Dimitris Deverikos dominated, alwaysrunning in the top 5 overall, and beat the Ombra Ferrari of Stefano Costantini-JoelCamathias, which obtained its first podium of the season, and the Kessel Ferrari of LorenzoBontempelli-Nicola De Marco.
RACE - At the start, Montermini takes the lead from poleman Schir ahead of Tutumlu,Schir, Ramos, Da Veiga, Campanio, Castellacci, Retera, Rugolo, De Marco, Longin andCostantini. The race started without the AF Ferrari of Cameron-Griffin, too damaged in anaccident in qualifying. While Montermini pulls away a little bit and Tutumlu holds in second,Schir comes under attack for third from Ramos, who passes in lap 6. One lap later, thePortuguese is second after passing Tutumlu.
There is an interesting lively second group with a battle between De Marco and Longin for 9th,then Costantini and Zampieri, while Razia has passed Pier Guidi, who is followed by the otherMcLaren of Suzuki. In the meantime, Rugolo (suspension) and Toril (engine) have retired withmechanical problems.
Ramos is the top contender to stop for driver change and serve handicap (30). After the pitstops (lap 23), Hamilton leads with 36 over Pastorelli, Filippi (-9), Deverikos, Figuereido,Sijthoff, Camathias, bontempelli, Van der Drift, Pantano and Talkanitsa.The attention is for the duel between Hamilton and Pastorelli, who are basically within 1second, but in lap 27 the safety-car is out, as the Corvette of Camp is stuck in the middle ofthe track after a spin in turn 1. At the restart, the Porsche Drivex is passed by both Pastorelliand Filippi, who fly away.
In the meantime, the two McLarens get a 10-second penalty because of handicapinfringement, and the Autorlando Porsche of Bleekemolen a drive-through for. Lap 32 marksthe end for the Drivex Porsche, as the engine caught fire. The Brit is quickly out but the car isheavily damaged and the race is red-flagged, with the Drivex Porsche salvaging 3rd as aconsolation. Alexander Talkanitsa (SuperGT) and Johnny Laursen (GTS) win in theGentlemens Trophy.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER RACE 7 OF 16Overall: 1. Montermini, 126; 2. Filippi, 112; 3. Pastorelli-Ramos, 94; 4. Cameron-Griffin, 71; 5.Talkanitsa sr & jr, 53; etc.GTS: 1. Bontempelli-DeMarco, 25; 2. Van der Drift-Razia, Deverikos-Tutumlu, 22; 4. Ide-Soulet,20; 5. Toril, 19, etcTeams SuperGT: 1. V8 Racing, 76; 2. Villorba Corse, 58; 3. AT Racing, 28; 4. AF Corse, 24; 5.Drivex, 19; etcTeams GTS: 1. Kessel Racing, 42; 2. Bhaitech
