Michele Beretta and Frederik Schandorff were crowned 2021 International GT Open Champions after race 1 at Barcelona, in the penultimate race of the season.
A P7 finish was enough for the Vincenzo Sospiri Racing pair to put an end to the suspense, despite his closest rival, Andy Soucek finishing one position ahead, 6th, in the Lechner Racing Porsche shared with Al Faisal Al Zubair.
The race was won by the 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes of Ethan Simioni and Martin Kodrić, who took a second win in two rounds. They beat guest stars Jim Pla-Thomas Drouet in the AKKA ASP Mercedes and the other VSR pair, Yuki Nemoto-Baptiste Moulin, in their fifth podium finish of the season.
Race 1 also crowned the 2021 Pro-Am Champions, as Brendan Iribe-Ollie Millroy finished the job at the wheel of the Inception Racing McLaren by taking third in a race won by Florian Scholze-Loris Spinelli (AKM Motorsport Mercedes).
The race win in Am went to the other Mercedes of Baporo Motorsport, driven by local heroes Daniel Díaz- Varela and Jaume Font.
It was a lively start with up to 4-5 cars abreast on the straight, but poleman Pla (fastest in qualifying in his first appearance) kept the advantage ahead of Schandorff, Nemoto, Sbirrazzuoli, Kodric, Seyffert, Scholze, Moss and Iribe.
There were several contacts on the first lap, with Al Zubair dropping to 12th and Moller spinning.
Schandorff tried to attack Pla but without success. There was a great recovery from Al Zubair, who was ninth by lap 5, while Moss spun, dropping to 13th.
It was a great fight between Pla and Schandorff for the lead and three seconds back there was another between Nemoto and Kodric for third.
Sbirrazzuoli and Seyffert followed, while Al Zubair, trying to pass Scholze for 7th, had contact with the German, that allowed Iribe and Dinan to get by.
Seyffert passed Sbirrazzuoli for P1 in Pro-Am, right before the safety-car came in to rescue the Porsche of Bozzoni, stuck in the gravel at the last turn.
At the restart, Pla kept Kodric at bay while Kodric passed Nemoto for third, Syffert was fifth having passed Sbirrazzuoli leading a very compact and lively group with Al Zubair 7th.
The Omani was the first to stop when the driver change window opened on lap 15.
After all stops, Simioni led Drouet by 11 seconds and Moulin by 14, then (but at a distance) Beretta, Spinelli, Soucek, Osborne and Foley.
“What a move by the Brit in the McLaren.”@osbornejoe Around the outside, no the inside, wait send it through the middle…#GTOpen #McLaren #Barcelona pic.twitter.com/aNcT9YdVNE
— Optimum Motorsport (@OptimumMSport) October 23, 2021
Soucek was naturally pushing hard, but it was Joe Osborne that pulled the move of the race (arguably the move of the season!), surprising everybody on lap 28, while Spinelli and Soucek also passed Beretta.
When @McLarenAuto provide the hot knife I’ll find some butter. pic.twitter.com/vo3awejQHl
— Joe Osborne (@osbornejoe) October 23, 2021
A technical fault for Osborne would drop him down the order later though.
There were still battles aplenty but the fun was interrupted on lap 34 when Janosz and Estragués collided in turn 5, prompting the safety car for the last few minutes and up to the chequered flag.
