The #63 Ombra Racing Ferrari of Alvaro Barba and Alan Sicart took a fine win at the Hungaroring to bounce back from their disastrous crash at the beginning of the second race in Jerez two weeks previously. With Stefano Constantini not fully recovered from his injuries, Barba took his place. Second was the #56 AF Corse Ferrari of Giorgio Roda and Paolo Ruberti, with the #2 V8 Racing Corvette shared by Migel Ramos and Nicky Pastorelli coming home third.
Poleman Roman Mavlanov in the #60 Russian Bears Ferrari led the field away at the rolling start, but fellow front-row man Andrea Montermini in the #1 Villorba Corse Ferrari pulled ahead on the run into turn one and neatly slotted himself into the lead. Paolo Ruberti in the #56 Ferrari and Barba in the #63 Ferrari completed the top four at this point.
By lap three, the leading four Ferraris were edging ahead of fifth and sixth: Isaac Tutumulu in the #6 Selleslagh Corvette and Ramos in the #2 Corvette, showing the Ferraris handling was better suited to the twisty track than the straight-line speed advantage held by the Corvettes.
A notable mover through the traffic in the early stages of the race was Archie Hamilton in the #4 V8 Racing Corvette, his team-mate Diederick Sijthoff having damaged their regular black car beyond repair in a free practice crash. The team had no option but to summon a spare yellow Corvette from Holland, which was delivered overnight and hastily converted into GT Open Super GT spec. The car was still in replica American Le Mans Series livery, having spent the previous weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed!
Barba was now growing impatient behind Ruberti in third, as the four-car leading train was slowly splitting into two groups. Ruberti had similar ideas as he took Mavlanov for third at turn two and then went in pursuit of Ruberti. This gave Barba a chance to attack Mavlanov as Ruberti went after race leader Montermini 1.5 seconds up the road.
Behind the top four remained Tutumulu and Ramos in the Corvettes, soon joined by Matt Griffin in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, but the Irish driver didn’t quite have the pace to challenge Ramos for sixth. Dennis Retera in the #99 V8 Racing Corvette soon had hard-charging team-mate Hamilton challenging him for seventh, too.
At the front, Montermini was extending his lead and was almost 2.5 seconds ahead of Ruberti as the race passed one-third distance. A second behind Ruberti, Barba was making serious moves to get ahead of Mavlanov, trying to outbrake him through the final section leading onto the start/finish straight and finally acheiving the pass at turn one. Barba made quick work of reducing the gap to Ruberti as the pitstop window looned.
The fifth and sixth-placed Corvettes immediately pitted, followed by third-place Mavlanov. The Corvettes switched positions during pitsops: Nicky Pastorelli was now in the #2 car ahead of Maxime Soulet in #6 – that car having to take a slightly longer compulsary pitstop.
Hamilton in #4 had handed over to Sjithoff, who got out of the pits just ahead of the previous race leader #1, now with Niccolo Schiro onboard after a lengthly stop. Schiro’s prospects of chasing the lead were almost destroyed when Sjithoff spun in front of him at turn one.
The second- and third-place cars were next to pit, Ruberti and Barba to hand over to Giorgio Roda and Alan Sicart respectivelty. Sicart got ahead during the pitstops to take the overall race lead from Roda after the window closed.
Duncan Cameron took over from Griffin in the #54 Ferrari, rejoining temporarily in third place. Daniel Zampieri was now in the #60 SMP Ferrari and had caught and split the #2 and #6 Corvettes. These three then made light work of Cameron, passing through turns five, six and seven.
Pastorelli, Zampieri and Soulet were now in a battle for third position, 17 seconds behind Roda in second. Cameron was demoted further by Aditya Patel in the #58 Novadriver Audi R8 and a recovering Schiro in the #1 Ferrari, who subsequently took Patel for sixth at turn one. Cameron was also passed by both Keilwitz in the #99 Corvette and Thomas Jaeger in the #70 Lechner Racing Mercedes SLS.
At the front, Sicart slowly pulled ahead of Roda, but the third-place battle was more intense, with Soulet tapping Zampieri wide into turn one. This eager move resulted in the Corvette’s bonnet popping open on the passenger side of the car, with race control calling the car in to have it secured.
Eagerness to pass seemed a common theme, as further back Francesco Castellaci in the #53 AF Corse Ferrari clumsily pushed both Jose Perez Aicart in the #61 SMP Ferrari and Michele Rugolo in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari into a spin at turn eight. Sjithoff had yet another spin at turn nine, missing heavy contact with Cameron by a hair’s width.
Sicart held on for the win, 1.6 seconds ahead of Roda, triumphing both overall and in the GTS class. Roda took a secure second as Super GT class winner Pastorelli was 23 seconds behind in third position overall. Fourth went to Mavlanov and Zampieri, with championship leaders Montermini and Schiro in fifth.
Ed Fahey
Images: FOTOSPEEDY
