The 2011 GTS-class champion Lorenzo Bontempelli and his co-driver Marco Frezza gave Kessel Racing a much-needed boost on Saturday by taking overall victory in the first of the weekend’s two GT Open races at Spa. The Swiss Ferrari team was left reeling after a road accident near the circuit on Friday night put several of its personnel in hospital, but drivers and mechanics alike pulled together in difficult mixed weather conditions to take an opportunistic win.
Pole position had once again fallen to the Super GT-class Villorba Corse Ferrari – Andrea Montermini joined here by Davide Rigon due to his regular co-driver Luca Filippi’s F1 commentary commitments. The veteran Italian effectively defended first place into La Source at the start, while further back, GTS-class polesitter Marco Seefried also maintained his grid position in the Rinaldi Racing Porsche.
There was early drama for Jan Magnussen in the form of a right rear puncture, which put paid to his and co-driver Johnny Laursen’s hopes for a strong result in their Kessel Ferrari. Elsewhere in GTS, Seefried was quickly overcome by a determined Giorgio Pantano (Bhai Tech McLaren) and a fast-starting Michael Lyons, who went from eighth on the grid to fifth overall on the first lap at the wheel of his AF Corse Ferrari.
Fabian Hamprecht (Leipert Lamborghini) had a rough-and-tumble opening lap, making contact with Luiz Razia in the second Bhai Tech McLaren and then spinning out on his own, tumbling down the order. Pantano, meanwhile, successfully challenged Super GT runner Alexander Talkanitsa Jr (AT Racing Ferrari) for third overall in the early stages, and Lyons wasn’t long about following suit, demoting Talkanitsa to fifth at the exit of Les Combes. Frezza also passed the struggling Talkanitsa when the latter locked up and went straight on at the same corner on the next lap.
Further down the top 10, Duncan Cameron (AF Corse Ferrari) was finding it hard to keep GTS-class Porsche man Isaac Tutumlu behind him. The British GT regular robustly closed the door on the young Spaniard through the Bus Stop, but this fracas allowed a canny Enzo Ide (making his first GT Open appearance in the GPR Aston Martin since the Paul Ricard round) through into ninth overall.
At the front of the field, Montermini had put in a typically controlled performance to maintain a sizeable gap to second-place Miguel Ramos in the V8 Racing Corvette. Ramos himself was having to fend off Pantano’s McLaren as the pit window approached, and to add further drama, the engine in Pol Rosell’s Russian Bears Ferrari then let go at Blanchimont. This dropped oil on the high-speed corner, which led to some hairy moments for most of the field the first time they encountered it.
Seefried had been harrying Lyons for second in GTS for much of the first stint, but the Rinaldi Porsche came to a grinding halt on the start/finish straight just before the German was due to hand it over to co-driver Vadim Kogay. A serious accident in free practice had necessitated hasty overnight repairs to the car, which seemingly took their toll in their race.
Super GT runners Ramos and Cameron were among the first to stop when the pit window opened on Lap 11, as was V8 Racing Corvette driver Rick Abresch. Unfortunately, his co-driver Wolf Nathan outbraked himself on his first trip through Les Combes and hit the barriers hard facing backwards, ending the #8 car’s race instantly. This shunt was almost immediately followed by a serious accident at Eau Rouge for Chris van der Drift, who’d taken over the #66 McLaren from Razia. The Kiwi was unhurt in the impact, but the front of the Bhai Tech car took heavy damage and the safety car was immediately deployed to allow for its recovery.
This would prove vital to the outcome of the race, as potential class winners Montermini and Pantano both mistakenly pitted to change drivers under the yellows – prohibited by GT Open rules – and were later given one-lap penalties that dropped them out of contention.
While the safety car continued to circulate, spots of rain began to fall all around the circuit, and as soon as the pitlane opened again, Bontempelli (who’d already taken over the #51 Ferrari from Frezza in a routine stop) took a gamble and pitted for wets. Maxime Soulet (GPR Aston Martin) and Dimitris Deverikos (in the Autorlando Porsche started by Tutumlu) also acted quickly, and would soon reap the rewards for doing so.
Almost the entire field pitted on the next lap, and the only holdouts (Peter Kox in the Leipert Lamborghini started by Hamprecht, and Matteo Beretta in the AF Corse Ferrari started by Lyons) quickly fell down the order before pitting themselves on the following tour.
Bontempelli emerged in the lead on lap 21, with just 15 minutes to go, and he didn’t put a foot wrong for the rest of the race, eventually finishing a full 35 seconds clear of Deverikos. The latter also put in a disciplined drive, and while Nicky Pastorelli could not hold off Rigon in the final stint, the V8 Racing Corvette still took third overall and first in Super GT due to the Villorba car’s aforementioned penalty.
Matt Griffin hauled the AF Corse Ferrari to fourth overall and second in class, while the final spot on the GTS podium went to Soulet and Ide in their Aston Martin. The Talkanitsas’ Ferrari took third in Super GT, more by default than pace, while Beretta and Lyons were left regretting the decision to stay out on slicks, which relegated their Ferrari to seventh overall at the flag.
Stephen Errity (@83ste)
