MUNDIAL - GT OPEN - BARCELONA

Sábado, 21 Setembro 2019 08:29 | Actualizado em Quarta, 10 Abril 2024 03:11

Titles’ battles heat up ahead of Barcelona, for once not the decisive round !  

Fans to enjoy hot battles for the title and an unparalleled race program despite the Catalan track not hosting the grand finale for the first time

Costa-Altoè (Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini) to defend overall leadership from the Teo Martín Motorsport McLarens of Chaves-Kodrić and Rueda-Saravia

Pierburg-Onslow Cole (SPS Mercedes) and Schandorff (VSR Lambo) duel at the top of Pro-Am class

Hrachowina-Konrad (HTP Motorsport Mercedes) back to defend their Am class leadership

Boutsen Ginion Racing makes debut in the GT Open

The International GT Open heads to Barcelona, and it is not … the last stop! Breaking a tradition that has built over the first thirteen editions of the series, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is not holding this year the final and decisive round, which will be in Monza mid-October. This, though, will not change much to the special atmosphere the event always entails and to the suspense for the title fights in all categories.

The late summer event in Catalonia will also provide fans a very rich race programme that includes the sister series promoted by GT Sport, the Euroformula Open and the GT Cup Open Europe, together with the TCR Europe, the Alpine ELF Europa Cup and the F.Region European.

The last round at Silverstone broke the tie-break at the top of the overall standings and allowed Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoè to take a 17-points lead, thanks to their double win at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan EVO of Emil Frey Racing, but everything is far from done. For Albert Costa, it will be home race, but so it will be for the Teo Martín Motorsport squad, whose two McLaren 720S entrusted to Henrique Chaves-Martin Kodrić and Fran Rueda-Andrés Saravia are only 17 and 22 points behind the leader.

Titles’ battles heat up ahead of Barcelona, for once not the decisive round !  
Fans to enjoy hot battles for the title and an unparalleled race program despite the Catalan track not hosting the grand finale for the first time
Costa-Altoè (Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini) to defend overall leadership from the Teo Martín Motorsport McLarens of Chaves-Kodrić and Rueda-Saravia 
Pierburg-Onslow Cole (SPS Mercedes) and Schandorff (VSR Lambo) duel at the top of Pro-Am class
Hrachowina-Konrad (HTP Motorsport Mercedes) back to defend their Am class leadership
Boutsen Ginion Racing makes debut in the GT Open

The International GT Open heads to Barcelona, and it is not … the last stop! Breaking a tradition that has built over the first thirteen editions of the series, the Circuit de BarcelonaCatalunya is not holding this year the final and decisive round, which will be in Monza midOctober. This, though, will not change much to the special atmosphere the event always entails and to the suspense for the title fights in all categories. 
The late summer event in Catalonia will also provide fans a very rich race programme that includes the sister series promoted by GT Sport, the Euroformula Open and the GT Cup Open Europe, together with the TCR Europe, the Alpine ELF Europa Cup and the F.Region European. 
PRO: A real Overall battle 
The last round at Silverstone broke the tie-break at the top of the overall standings and allowed Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoè to take a 17-points lead, thanks to their double win at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan EVO of Emil Frey Racing, but everything is far from done. For Albert Costa, it will be home race, but so it will be for the Teo Martín Motorsport squad, whose two McLaren 720S entrusted to Henrique Chaves-Martin Kodrić and Fran RuedaAndrés Saravia are only 17 and 22 points behind the leader, who will have to face a high time handicap in the Spanish races, as pointed out by Lorenz Frey: “Following the successful weekend at Silverstone we are now going to face a very  difficult task, as we have very large handicap for Saturday and Sunday. You never know where you will end up in a weekend like that, except that you need to have an impeccable weekend.” 
 

 
 
The Swiss team has also a second weapon in interesting position, as Mikaël Grenier-Norbert Siedler are only 23 points behind the top, with the SPS Automotive Mercedes of the always consistent pair Miguel Ramos-Fabrizio Crestani is only 5 points further aback. 
The Pro camp contains many other race win contenders, starting from the Aston Martin Vantage of Optimum Motorsport, which has tasted the sweetness of success with Ollie Wilkinson, here associated with Darren Turner, the BMW M6 of Senkyr Motorsport in the hands of Breitske Vissen-Richard Gonda, the Antonelli Motorsport Mercedes of Daniel Zampieri-Loris Spinelli and the Lamborghini Huracans fielded by Ombra Racing for Federico Leo-Najiy Razak and by Lazarus Racing for local hero Elíseo Martínez paired with Nicola DI Marco. 
PRO-AM: A three-way matter for the title
The games are completely open also in the very competitive Pro-Am class, where reigning champions Valentin Pierburg-Tom Onslow-Cole (SPS Automotive Mercedes) have a short lead (9 points) over Frederick Schandorff, the Danish rising star, very competitive at the wheel of the Lamborghini by Vincenzo Sospiri Racing he now shares with Finnish young gun Tuomas Tujula. Third in contention is the other race-winning Lambo of Ratón by Target driven by Jiatong Liang and Raffaele Giammaria. 
Always to be taken into account are the HTP Motorsport Mercedes of Russell Ward-Indy Dontje and the Teo Martín Motorsport McLaren of Marcelo Hahn-Allam Khodair, as well as all-Polish outfit Olimp Racing with its Audi R8 LMS and Marcin Jedlinski-Mateusz Lisowski, who are back for this round, and the other car of Ratón by Target entrusted to Christoph Lenz and a driver to be designated. A total new entry is the Mercedes AMG fielded by German squad GetSpeed Performance for Russia’s Denis Remenyako, who debuts in the GT Open, associated with young and fast Fabian Schiller, while Portuguese team Sports&You, a regular contender in Am, is new to the Pro-Am class this year, with Márcio Basso-Guilherme Salas, who do a comeback in the GT Open, coming from the GT Cup.
AM: A golden Lambo challenges the AMGs
Things got closer in the Am class, as the leaders (and winners of 6 races) Alex HrachowinaMartin Konrad had to miss the Silverstone round because of the former being sick. The Austrian duo is back in full form at the wheel of their HTP Motorsport Mercedes but have seen their advantage on Giuseppe Cipriani (Antonelli Motorsport Mercedes) drop to 7 points, with the Italian eager to reopen the discussion for the title. GetSpeed is back for its third outing of the season, and Anglo-American duo Janine Hill-John Shoffner, on their third outing in the series, will aim at a third podium position, while Olimp Racing and Stanislaw Jedlinski completes the ranks in the huge AMG flotilla. 
 

 
 
Last but certainly not least, Barcelona will see the debut in the GT Open of a stellar team such as Boutsen Ginion Racing. The family’s squad of the Belgian former F.1 star won’t get unnoticed, thanks to the shining golden livery of their Lamborghini Huracan, which will be in the safe hands of French duo Claude-Yves Gosselin-Pierre Feligioni. 
An important final note relates to the qualifying system, which reverts to the traditional format (each driver taking part to one of the qualifying sessions and taking the start of that race). A consultation process following the alternative system tested at Silverstone yielded a wide consensus among teams to stick to the system that has been always in use in the series.
 
All the action can be followed from fans at home thanks to live coverage by major national broadcasters in key countries such as UK (BT Sport), Italy (Auto Moto TV), Spain (Teledeporte RTVE), Portugal (Sport TV), Central Europe (Digisport), and Russia / CIS countries and Baltics (Poverkhnost Sport), among others. In addition, US and international coverage is ensured by Motors Trend (Discovery Channel) on demand. Races are also livestreamed in English and Italian with commentary by Scott Woodwiss and Antonio Caruccio, respectively, on our website www.gtopen.net and on the GT Open channel on Youtube.
 
 
 
GT Open Round 6: Barcelona, Spain   Timetable (All times local, CET)
 
Thursday 19 September 2019 17:10-18:00 Bronze test
 
Friday 20 September 2019 12:10-13:10 Free Practice 1 17:00-18:00 Free Practice 2
 
Saturday 20 September 2019  10:55-11:25 Qualifying 1 (Driver 1) 16:10-17:20 Race 1 (70’ - Rolling Start)
 
Sunday 21 September 2019 09:30-10:00 Qualifying 2 (15 min each driver) 14:20-15:20 Race 2 (60’ - Rolling Start)
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 10 OF 14 Overall: 1. Costa-Altoè, 100; 2. Chaves-Kodrić, 83 points; 3. Rueda-Saravia, 7!; 4. Siedler-Grenier, 77; 5.  Ramos-Crestani,72; 6. Wilkinson, 42; etc Pro-Am: 1. Onslow Cole-Pierburg, 64 p.; 2. Schandorff, 55; 3. Liang-Giammaria, 36; 4. GriffinCameron, 32; 5. Tujula, 29; 6. Habul-Jäger, 27; etc Am: 1. Hrachowina-Konrad, 34 p.; 2. Cipriani, 27; 3. Silva Sardinha-Coimbra Da Costa, 24; 4. Roda, 23;  5. Hill-Schoffner, 10.   Teams: 1. Emil Frey Racing, 106 p.; 2. Teo Martín Motordsport, 94; 3. SPS Automotive Performance, 54; 4. Optimum Motorsport, 20; 5. Senkyr Motorsporrt, 12; 6. Antonelli Motorsport, 10; etc.