Second For GTS Title Challenger Michael Lyons At Silverstone GT Open

Michael Lyons kept his GTS Class title campaign in the International GT Open firmly on course during the championships first ever visit to British shores over the weekend, 13th/14th July, by claiming his third podium of 2013 with second place in round nine at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.Following Saturday afternoons excellent result in the events opening encounter, the Felsted racer and AF Corse team-mate Matteo Beretta climbed from fourth in the GTS standings into second position. Although missing out on more points in round 10 on Sunday, having finished eighth in class, the duo concluded the weekend third in the GTS title battlejust nine points shy of the lead.In a championship like this, where its so competitive, youve got to get every podium you can so were really pleased with the race one result, said the Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 driver, The handling of the car was pretty good, we were harder on the tyres than we thought wed be but, other than that, it was good.We achieved a really nice balance in qualifying, we had a car which was very competitive and I was able to hook my lap together on the new tyresthat has been a bit of a weak point for me this year but we got it nailed this weekend. There are a lot of positives for us to take away from Silverstone.Posting the fourth fastest time in qualifying for round nine, seventh overall on the grid, 22-year-old Michael took the opening stint of Saturdays 70-minute race and produced a terrific performance by breaking into the GTS top three prior to the driver-change pit-stop at around the 40 minute mark.Proving a real handful for the McLaren MP4 12C of Chris van der Drift, Michael piled on the pressure to his vastly more experienced rival and as the upper order in the Super GT Class began to take their mandatory pit-stops the AF Corse Ferrari moved up into third overall as well as third in GTS.After handing the car over to Beretta, the Italian had to unsurprisingly give best to some of the quicker Super GT cars but he retained third place in GTS to claim the duos third podium. Post-race, however, the Bhai Tech Racing McLaren of van der Drift and Luiz Razia was served with a 30-second time penalty which elevated Michael and Beretta into second place in class, sixth overall.The Italian took the first stint for Sundays 10th round, having qualified in 15th place overall and 10th in class, and made his way into seventh position in GTS before making the mandatory driver-change stop with around half an hour remaining of the allotted 50 minutes.Stationary in the pits for an additional 10 seconds, as per a handicap penalty for finishing on the podium in round nine, when Michael rejoined he had to battle plenty of defensive backmarkers which made fighting through to the podium an impossible task. Even so, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) Rising Star worked his way into 11th position overall and eighth in the GTS Class.Around Silverstone in traffic, as soon as they defend you lose half a second and the second time they do it you lose a second and so on, commented Michael, Race two was quite frustrating, we were forced off track a few times by slower cars and we were lacking straight-line speed. All they have to do is try to unsettle you in the corner and then just drive away from you on the straights!Its been a good weekend overall though, qualifying was a big improvement and the podium in race one was obviously the highlight. As soon as you get the handicap for being on the podium, youre done really for the next race so you just have to get the most you can from it, which we did.Rounds 11 and 12 of the International GT Open will take place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium a full eight weeks from now on 7th/8th September.Provisional 2013 International GT OpenGTS Class Standings (after Rd10):3rd Michael Lyons/Matteo Beretta, 30ptsProvisional 2013 International GT Open Standings (after Rd10):11th Michael Lyons/Matteo Beretta, 48pts

Related Motorsport Articles

84,520 articles