Leonardo Pulcini and Benjamin Hites retook the Championship in the International GT Open after a dominant run in the Series’ double-points endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps.
It was a great day for the Oregon Team, with Glenn Van Berlo-Kevin Gilardoni bringing the other Lamborghini Huracan of the Italian squad in third, sandwiching the Mercedes of the debuting HRT squad with Frank Bird-Jordan Love at the wheel.
It was a lively and entertaining race in all classes, but a very frustrating one for the Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Nick Moss-Joe Osborne, who arrived at Spa as championship leaders but fell victim of first corner drama.
In Pro-Am, Olimp Racing won with Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz and the Audi R8 LMS, who took their second win of the season and the points lead in the class, given the blank result of Theeba Motorsport. They beat the Kessel Ferrari of Murat Cuhadaroglu-David Fumanelli and the Aust Motorsport Audi of Dino Steiner-Max Hofer.
In Am, Kiki Sak Nana and Adam Osieka gave the GetSpeed Mercedes camp its first win of the season, ahead of local hero Laurent De Meeus and Jamie Stanley (AF Corse Ferrari), now tied in top of the standings with Alex Hrachowina-Martin Konrad (Mann Filter Landgraf Mercedes).
After a few days of searing heat (34 degrees on Saturday), temperatures cooled dramatically on Sunday and a few drops of rain fall shortly before the start, but everybody started on slicks.
Gilardoni got the best start from row 2, passing Hites and Moss on row 1, but the McLaren was touched and spun exiting La Source, which provoked a number of secondary contacts amongst the cars behind, involving amongst other Juffali and Scholze, who was forced to the pits. In the meantime, the McLaren stopped on track with broken suspension.
Gilardoni though was soon passed for the lead by teammate Hites with Max Hofer climbing to third on the first lap and managing to pass both Oregon Lamborghinis soon afterwards.
Aggressive and fast, the Austrian was unstoppable. Basz meanwhile stole third from Gilardoni, with Bird, and Bhirombhakdi sixth ahead of the three GetSpeed AMGs of Shoffner, Osieka and Jans.
By lap 10, Hofer led with 7 seconds on Basz, who had just passed Hites, 12 on Gilardoni and 16 on Bird, while Osieka led in Am. The fiercest battle was for P12 between Zanotti and Müller, who traded places a couple of times.
Bhirombhakdi though would spin, dropping to P10, right as the window for the first pit stop opened.
There was a hairy moment as Christodoulou exited the pit side by side with leader Max Hofer, who would receive a drive-through for overtaking a lapped car outside the track.
For Christodoulou, duelling continued but now with Earl Bamber. The two touched at Malmédy, both spinning into the gravel, prompting the safety-car. Only the Porsche would be able to continue.
Only three drivers (Hofer, Basz and Osieka) still had to pit when the safety-car was scrambled, with the group even more compact than in a rolling start.
After all the pit stops, Pulcini led by 2 seconds on Van Berlo, 4 on Love, and 5 on Baud. Further back were Jedlinski, Nana who led in Am, and Steiner, who had served the drive-through for Hofer.
The situation did not change much during the rest of the second stint, with Pulcini keeping a marginal lead on Van Berlo (2 seconds), Love (4) and Baud (5), with Nana first among the Am cars.
After the second pit stop, Hites led with 8 seconds on Gilardoni, with Bird a close third, then Jans (who had to stop in the pits with a technical issue), Basz (who received an 8-second penalty for not serving the entire handicap), Hofer, Osieka and Shoffner.
On lap 39, with the third pit stop window open, Bhirombhakdi was off in the gravel prompting the safety-car again, with most cars not having pitted yet.
Pulcini led after the final pit stop, right ahead of Love and Van Berlo, who attacked and touched the Australian as he stole P2. Steiner was fourth ahead of Fumanelli, while Basz (who hadn’t pitted yet) touched Hollings at the bus stop and sent him into a spin on lap 46. Not much would happen in the final laps except for the penalties that hit the two Oregon Lambos for track limits (10 seconds for the Van Berlo car, 5 for the Hites one) which allowed Love to retake second.
