ZRS Motorsport’s Alex Fontana and Pietro Armanni earned their third International GT Open victory at Circuit Paul Ricard after a chaotic multi-car incident on the first lap of the 70-minute contest.
Their #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo began in ninth but charged forward, particularly with Fontana pushing on and overtaking Al Manar by Dragon Racing’s #707 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo for the lead with 13 minutes remaining.
Al Faisal Al Zubair, in the #707 Ferrari, was briefly held up by Stanislaw Jedliński’s #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari, a backmarker. This enabled Fontana to go door-to-door with Al Zubair before he made the move at the Virage de L’Hôtel.
“This one was not easy for us because this track is not a Porsche track,” said Armanni after the race.
“With the BOP, we were not in a good position compared to the other cars, but he (Fontana) did a great job because I did just five laps at the start because of a crash in the first lap, but yeah, he did a crazy job, impressive.
“Yeah, I had to work quite hard,” added Fontana.
“Pietro did a great start in the previous rounds. He was losing a few positions.
“Today the target was not to lose any, maybe gain, which he did.
“So then we got a bit lucky with the safety car, not because it’s not fast, but because we didn’t want to lose ground from the leader while fighting all the people because we were starting P9.
“For sure we were going to fight, and the safety car helped us a little bit.
“Every car suits a track. GT3 is beautiful for this, different speed, different conditions. We did the best with the package we had.
“In race pace, it was strong, maybe a bit less so in qualifying, but I think we maximised what we had today.”
Championship leaders Elite Motorsport suffered a driveshaft issue which saw Tom Emson slow at the opening lap in his #17 Ferrari, unrelated to the unfolding incident far behind. Elite still retain the standings lead on 87 points heading into tomorrow’s race.
Regarding the first-lap incident, the #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Dexter Müller spun out on the exit of the S de la Verrerie, initiating a domino effect of contact among multiple cars in the middle of the field — with Müller having started P18.
He immediately collected Michaël Blanchemain’s #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2, unable to avoid the spinning #54 Mercedes and hitting it with considerable force.
Blanchemain’s #26 Audi subsequently collected Marcin Jedliński’s #777 Olimp Racing Ferrari. Another Am competitor, Marcelo Hahn, in his #16 AF Corse Ferrari, was also involved, along with fellow Am championship contender Joel Monegro.
Monegro’s #12 Fach Auto Tech Porsche remained stranded at Turn 2 along with the damage-stricken #54 Mercedes amid the debris left over from the incident before a 22-minute safety car clear-up.
Team Motopark utilised the opening lap to their advantage as Dominik Baumann jumped from P8 to P4 in the #28 Mercedes, as Christian Mansell did from P10 to P6 in his #71 Mercedes.
Pole-sitter Jonny Adam’s #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo had a good restart, but it was second and third behind him that were hotly contested.
Ben Tuck in second place was challenged by the #33 Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driver Joseph Loake, who made contact with the #707 Ferrari driver into Turn 1.
Despite how momentary the contact was, the #33 McLaren incurred a right-rear puncture and returned to the pits slowly, ending up multiple laps behind the leader to then become the seventh retirement.
Team Motopark’s #71 Mercedes duo of Mansell and Götz secured third place, their first podium appearance since winning the Spa 500.
Mansell pitted early, allowing his Mercedes-AMG factory driver teammate to continue the momentum.
Götz fronted a race-long fight against Scuderia Villorba Corse’s #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, and the #96 and #51 AF Corse Ferraris.
After Leonardo Moncini’s opening stint, his #63 Lamborghini teammate Rodrigo Testa withstood immense pressure from Götz, who braked late into the Virage du Pont, therefore going side by side with Testa before taking third with six minutes remaining.
Lorenzo Ferrari secured fifth in the #96 AF Corse Ferrari with his teammate Yaroslav Veselaho, equally sustaining pressure against David Perel’s #51 AF Corse Ferrari, which finished in sixth place with his teammate Rafael Durán.
After Charles Bateman’s respectable effort against the professional-graded drivers around him, he and Adam won in the Pro-Am category and finished seventh outright in the #97 Aston Martin.
Rinaldi Racing’s #15 Ferrari American duo of Alessandro Bazlan and Dylan Medler finished eighth ahead of the #28 Motopark Mercedes of Baumann and Marcelo Ramírez.
Alex Jefferies took second place in the Pro-Am category for the #25 Into Africa Racing by Dragon Racing Ferrari, four seconds ahead of the #7 4F PTT Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Fabian Dybionka and Hubert Darmetko.
Alexanders Schwarzer and Fach followed next in the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche as the #55 AF Corse of Laurent De Meeus and Vincent Abril rounded out the top five in Pro-Am.
In 18th overall, the #6 Baron Motorsport Ferrari of Adrian and Andjrez Lewandowski won in the Am category despite a 12-second time penalty for not serving the handicap correctly.
Piotr Wira ran promptly in second position for the #14 Good Speed Racing Aston Martin team before stopping on track and retiring, allowing the #79 Sendom Racing Lamborghini of Seweryn Mazur to inherit second place.
Mazur missed out on the win by just 0.881 seconds with the time penalty applied to the #6 Ferrari.
Alfredo Hernández’s #77 Grupo Prom Racing Mercedes completed the Am podium.
