Thirty-two GT3 cars are entered in the first round of the 20th season of the International GT Open this weekend at Portimao.
Better news still is that 30 of those listed are full season entries, of which 30 are full-season, and the number of additional entries in selected events is on the rise. At the moment, six car brands are represented (Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche).
Jesús Pareja, CEO of GT Sport:
“It is rewarding to see that the trend initiated in the last couple of years is confirmed. We have a great grid, with a lot of new entrants and more young drivers, who turn to GT racing to build their professional present and future. All this fresh blood is making the competition fiercer and offering fans a terrific show, as we saw last year. We will continue working hard to keep the GT Open at the highest level and as one of the preferred platforms for Pro, Pro-Am and Am GT racing in Europe.”
PRO
With 13 cars entered at the Algarve, and six car brands represented, the Pro class is growing.
Sporting the #1, reigning champions Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase are back to defend their title, again faithful to their Audi R8 LMS entered by Austrian outfit Eastalent Racing.
Mercedes will be very well represented with two teams both fielding two AMGs.
At GetSpeed, Anthony Bartone and Fabian Schiller are back for a second campaign together, joined by a new pair – Mexico’s Marcelo Ramírez and Estonian Mercedes AMG factory driver Ralf Aron.
Team Motopark is also back, with renewed line-ups, as GT rookie Levente Révész from Hungary is paired with the rapid Matteo Cairoli, and Robert Viseiu and Niklas Krütten share another car.
AMG’s Pro class line-up is completed by a single car of new entry BDR Grupo Prom, entrusted to a Mexican-Belgian pair Luis Michael Dörrbecker-Amaury Bonduel.
Oregon Team will defend its Teams’ title with two Lamborghinis in the top class for Antoine Doquin-Artem Petrov and Robin Rogalski-Filip Ugran.
McLaren too has a two-car presence in the class, with single car entries from two returning British teams. Optimum Motorsport entrusts its 720S to Michael Porter and Zak Meakin while Greystone GT enters Dean Macdonald and James Kell, winners at the Monza GT Open 500 last year.
Ferrari meanwhile bring two one-car efforts with young drivers to the fray. Carl Bennett and Tommaso Mosca will race with AF Corse, and successful GT4 squad Elite Motorsport makes its debut in the series and in GT3 with Britons Tom Lebbon and Tom Emson.
Italy’s Dinamic GT returns to the series with a Porsche 911 GT3R for the Russian pair Alexey Nesov-Maksim Kizilov.
PRO-AM
The Pro-Am class continues to be the biggest (14 cars from 12 teams).
Mercedes will have the strongest presence: SPS automotive performance will field two cars, for Dexter Müller-Yannick Metller in their third season together, and Valentin Pierburg-Dominik Baumann, while GetSpeed enters Steve Jans-Aaron Walker and Ameerh Naran-Tom Jackson in the Vimana-backed car.
Team Motopark entrusts its third AMG (alongside their two Pro class cars) to Am reigning champion Heiko Neumann paired with Lukas Dunner.
Iron Lynx will make their series debut entering on a one-off basis an AMG for the Australian father-and-son pair of Stephen and Brenton Grove, part of a programme to prep the ‘dad and lad’, effort for their forthcoming Le Mans effort with Iron Lynx.
Car Collection Motorsport is back with one Porsche for ‘Hash’-Alex Fontana, already seen last season, and another 911 GT3R is fielded by Tsunami RT for Johannes Ziegler-Fabio Babini. The Sanmarinese squad graduates from the GT Cup Europe.
For Ferrari, Germany’s Mertel Motorsport enters a 488 GT3 Evo for the reigning GT Cup Europe champions, Luca Ludwig-Iván Velasco.
Poland’s Olimp Racing return with the Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz pair now at the wheel of a 296, while AF Corse enters Laurent De Meeus with Vincent Abril, and Austrian outfit Baron Motorsport fields a new duo, composed of Iran’s Masoud Jaberian and Edoardo Bacci from Italy in another 296.
Two Audi R8 LMS are present in the class, as Czechia’s Team ISR are back with Libor Milota-Filip Salaquarda and Saintéloc Racing will take part in their first full campaign with Michael Blanchemain and returnee Marcus Påverud.
AM
There will be new faces in the Am class, by virtue also of a small regulatory change, which now allows pairs composed of a Bronze driver with a Silver driver over 40 years of age, along with the usual Bronze-Bronze pairing.
This is why the AF Corse pairing of Gino Forgione and Michele Rugolo are able to enter the class with their Ferrari. Olimp Racing field another Ferrari with Am regulars Stanislaw Jedlinski-Krystian Korzeniowski.
The Porsche of Team Thor, fielding Audunn Gudmunsson and Thorvaldur Gissurarson will be the first all-Icelandic outfit to ever enter the series.
The only solo driver in the class this year (except at the GT Open 500 races) is Mexico’s Alfredo Hernández, who debuts at the wheel of a Mercedes AMG from BDR Grupo Prom.
Last but certainly not least, Garage 59 is back in the series, entering a McLaren 720S for Mark Sansom and Miguel Ramos. The latter is back after some years to a series where he has spent many seasons. In fact, he is joint holder of the records of overall titles won (two) and of most race wins (20), and he is the single record holder of race starts (146). Figures that with no doubt he will try to improve!
All the International GT Open races are live-streamed on www.gtopen.net and the GT Open channel on Youtube with commentary in English by Chris Stevens and George Morgan.
