Emil Frey Racing have taken the victory at the opening 2017 International GT Open race at Estoril.
Albert Costa started the Lexus RC-F alongside pole-sitter Rob Bell in the Balfe McLaren. Bell held the lead off the start, and fellow McLaren factory driver Côme Ledogar followed him into second at the expense of Costa. The top three would break away from the rest of the pack, with the two McLaren’s easing away from Costa through the first stint.
Costa came into the pits to hand over to Philipp Frommenwiler with 33 minutes to go, two laps prior to the leading pair. The Garage 59 squad executed a slightly faster stop, allowing Ledogar’s teammate Alexander West to take the lead away from Shaun Balfe as they headed back out onto the track five seconds clear of Frommenwiler.
With just over twenty minutes remaining, Frommenwiler had closed up, and passed Balfe at turn one. Alexander West then made an error going into turn two, bouncing over the gravel and dropping to third. Frommenwiler slowly extended his gap to a comfortable 3.6 seconds, taking victory ahead of Balfe and West. The McLaren pairings though would take a 1,2 in the Pro-Am class
Dominik Farnbacher (Farnbacher Lexus) finished fourth ahead of the Biaggi/Venturini Imperale Lamborghini. The FFF Racing Lamborghini of Liuzzi and Hamaguchi finished sixth.
Antonio Felix Da Costa (Teo Martin BMW) came home seventh, after advancing from outside the top ten early in his stint.
