MUNDIAL - GT OPEN EM SPA

Sábado, 08 Junho 2019 10:47 | Actualizado em Quarta, 24 Abril 2024 23:48

The GT Cup Open Europe ready for the Spa test!

Second event in the inaugural season of the new series brings contenders to the magic track in the Ardennes

Lamborghini’s success in season-opener expected to be seriously challenged by Porsche, McLaren, Mercedes and Audi top contenders

The Alpine A110 to make its debut, by the hand of Mirage Racing

EMG Motorsport to lead the charge of local heroes Vandierendonck and De Wilde

Launched with great success end of April at the Circuit Paul Ricard, the GT Cup Open Europe is ready for the second round of its inaugural season and to approach one of the greatest circuits in the world, Spa-Francorchamps. The legendary temple of speed in the Belgian Ardennes is ready to welcome the teams and drivers of the GT Cup, certainly eager to measure themselves on one of the most challenging tracks of all.

The GT Cup Open Europe ready for the Spa test! 
 
Second event in the inaugural season of the new series brings contenders to the magic track in the Ardennes
 
Lamborghini’s success in season-opener expected to be seriously challenged by Porsche, McLaren, Mercedes and Audi top contenders
 
The Alpine A110 to make its debut, by the hand of Mirage Racing 
 
EMG Motorsport to lead the charge of local heroes Vandierendonck and De Wilde 
 
 

 
Launched with great success end of April at the Circuit Paul Ricard, the GT Cup Open Europe is ready for the second round of its inaugural season and to approach one of the greatest circuits in the world, Spa-Francorchamps. The legendary temple of speed in the Belgian Ardennes is ready to welcome the teams and drivers of the GT Cup, certainly eager to measure themselves on one of the most challenging tracks of all. 
This second round will see the debut of a new car, the Alpine A110, bringing up to six the brands represented. The reincarnation of the mythical French ‘berlinette’ is certainly a valuable addition to the names already present: Audi, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche. The team entering the Alpine is Mirage Racing, which has already great experience at French and European level with this machine, and is entrusting its car to a pair of popular figures in French motorsports, such as Philippe Haezebrouck and Philippe Bourgois. 
The Ricard season-opener saw the Lamborghini Huracán SuperTrofeos taking a double win, and there is great eagerness among competitors to revert the situation. Still, the two winners in France, Heinz-Peter Koller and Glauco Solieri, who both won driving alone, are only 4th, tied on 15 points, in the overall standings. The Swiss of Vincenzo Sospiri Racing will be joined again by his official team mate, Edoardo Liberati (who fell ill ahead of Race 1 at the Ricard), while the Italian driver of Antonelli Motorsport will continue alone, as planned, his campaign. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Leading the overall (and Am standings) are Brazil’s JP Mauro and Rodolfo Toni, also at the wheel of a VSR Lambo, eight points clear from the Pro-Am leader, Márcio Basso, in the Sports&You Mercedes. For this round, Guilherme Salas won’t be alongside Basso, who will be associated to Portugal’s Lourenço Beirão Da Veiga, wellknown in the GT Open these recent years. 
They will have strong contenders in the Pro-Am class, as local hero Nicolas Vandierendonck is joined by Dutch young gun Bas Schouten, successful in GT4 and TCR, at the wheel of the EMG Motorsport Porsche 911 Cup. Two other top Porsches come from Italy by the hand of Duell Racing (with Fernando Navarrete jr joied by Stefano Bozzoni) and Tsunami Racing Team, with the Curti brothers, Lino and Carlo. 
In the Silver Cup, the two pair of young guns by Teo Martín Motorsport, sporting the McLaren 570S, will try to both keep the advantage and untie themselves, as Faust Salom-Guillem Pujeu and Marc De Fulgencio-Thiago Vivacqua, are currently leading the standings on the same points. Their main opponent is the Duell Racing Porsche 911 with Eugenio Pisani now associated with Marco Cassera. 
Battle will be fierce in the most well-attended category, the Am class, where the already mentioned leaders, Mauro-Toni (VSR Lambo) should expect to be seriously challenged by their direct rivals, the Porsches of John De Wilde (EMG Motorsport) who will race at home, and of Swiss GT expert Niki Leutwiler (PZ Oberer Zurichsee by TFT), and the VSR Lambo of Glauco Solieri. In contention for honours are also the cars of Baporo Motorsport, with Manel Cerqueda-Daniel Díaz-Varela (Audi R8 LMS) and Jaume Font (Porsche 911 Cup), racing alone as Joan Vinyes has a rally commitment, not forgetting the Mercedes AMG of Three sixty Racing Team, with the Brazilian pair Fernando Fortes-Julio Carlos Martini, and the Martinet by Alméras Porsche entrusted to Pierre Martinet-Gérard Tremblay. 
At Spa, the GT Cup Open Europe will share the race programme with its sister GT Sport-promoted series, the GT Open and the Euroformula, as well as the TCR Europe, the Alpine ELF Europa Cup and the Peugeot Racing Cup, in a rich proposition for the connoisseur fans that usually come to the Belgian track. 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
GT Open Round 2: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
 
Timetable (All times local, CET)
 
Friday 7th June 2019 12:05-12:45 Free Practice 1 17:20-18:00 Free Practice 2 Saturday 8th June 2019  10:15-10:35 Qualifying 1 (driver 1) 14:40-15:30 Race 1 (50’ - Rolling Start) Sunday 9th June 2019 09:30-09:50 Qualifying 2 (driver 2) 12:40-13:30 Race 2 (50’ - Rolling Start)
 
STANDINGS AFTER 2 ROUNDS OF 12
Overall: 1.Mauro-Toni, 24 points; 2. Basso-Salas, 16; 3. Leutwiler, 16; 4. Solieri, Koller, 15; 5. De Wilde, 13; etc Silver: Salom-Pujeu, De Fulgencio-Vivacqua, 8 ; 3. Pisani-Merendino, 5. Pro-Am: 1.Basso-Salas, 9; 2. L&C.Curti, 7; 3. Koller, 5; 4. Hiesse-Mézard, 3;  Am: 1. Mauro-Toni, 18; 2. DeWilde, Leutwiler, 12; 4. Solieri, 10; 5.Cerqueda- Diaz Varela, 6; 6. Vandierendonck-Teukens, Font-Vinyes, 4.
 
The GT OPEN CUP EUROPE in a nutshell
 
 Calendar: 6 events  Format: 2 free practice of 60’- 2 Qualifying (1 per driver) of 20’ 2 Races of 55’ each (one on Saturday, one on Sunday)  Eligible cars:Audi R8 LMS, Ferrari 488 Challenge, Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, McLaren 570S, Mercedes AMG R (BoP done)   Alpine A110, Aston Martin Vantage AMR, BMW M4, Chevrolet Camaro R, etc (BoP pending)  Classes: Silver (2 Silver drivers), Pro-Am (1 driver higher than Bronze + 1 Am), Am (2 Am)  Tyres: Michelin
 
 
Live webstreaming on www.gtcupopen.net