Levente Révész and Max Götz, at the wheel of the Team Motopark Mercedes AMG, won the GT Open 500 at Spa, the first of two endurance races on the calendar of the 2025 International GT Open.
It’s the second win of the season for the Hungarian, increasing his lead in the overall standings, and the first for his Mercedes AMG factory driver teammate who was making his debut in the series.
It was a clear success for the Motopark pair once the Greystone GT McLaren of James Kell and Dean Macdonald, which started from pole and dominated the first stint, hit trouble during the first stop and lost four laps before rejoining.
“We were a bit lucky, as the McLaren was very strong”, admitted Götz, but “we executed everything perfectly”, added Révész.
The battle for second place was fierce; eventually reigning champions Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase took the honours with the Audi of Eastalent Racing ahead of Anthony Bartone-Fabian Schiller in their GetSpeed Mercedes.
In Pro-Am, Steve Jans and Aaron Walker opened their account in the Mercedes by GetSpeed, ahead of another AMG of Valentin Pierburg-Dominik Baumann
(SPS) and the Olimp Racing Audi of Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz.
Miguel Ramos and Mark Sansom dominated the Am race giving the McLaren of Garage 59 its second win of the year, ahead of the AF Corse Ferrari of Gino Forgione-Michele Rugolo and the BDR Grupo Prom Mercedes of Alfredo Hernández-Stéphane Tribaudini.
The start took place under overcast skies and after some drizzle, but that was no issue for James Kell who kept control of the leading group in the pole-sitting Greystone GT McLaren, with Reicher sneaking in-between Revesz and Visoiu to take second, followed by Meakin, Bartone, Emson and M.Jedlinski.
In the initial phases, the attention was all on the battle for second, with Revesz eventually retaking the position, and Visoiu also passing Reicher by lap 13. Behind them, Ludwig was fifth after a great charge in the Mertel Ferrari 488. A contact at La Source by Ramirez on Neumann, who spun, cost the Mexican a 10-second penalty.
Shortly before the first stop, 35 minutes into the race, Kell had built a 15-second gap on Revesz, with the group led by Visoiu and including Reicher, Ludwig, Meakin and Emson ten seconds further back. Jans led in Pro-Am ahead of Stanley, and Sansom was leading in Am.
The first pit stop brought a change of leader, as the Greystone McLaren would not restart after electrical problems with four laps lost as the team undertook a battery change.
The second stint saw Götz leading with a comfortable advantage (up to 15 seconds) over Krütten, who had passed Reicher, then Schiller, Porter, Mosca, Lebbon, Montermini and Petrov, with Walker and Ramos keeping the advantage in their respective classes, Pro-Am and Am.
After the second driver change, Revesz kept the lead and the attention focused on the battle for second, with Reicher, Visoiu and Bartone as the protagonists. A contact between the Romanian and the American yielded a 10-second penalty for Visoiu, but no substantial changes would occur until the third and final driver change, where handicaps are served.
After all stops, Götz was still in the lead, with a 20 second gap on Haase, 23 on Krütten and 29 on Porter and Schiller who were in full battle. The German would pass on lap 66 after some rubbing between the two cars. Further back were Mosca, Lebbo, Walker (leading in Pro-Am) and Petrov, while Ramos was an unchallenged leader in Am.
The final stages saw an attack from Schiller on Krütten (who eventually would finish in fifth after counting the post-race penalty) to take third but there were no further on-track changes.
Pics: Photospeedy
