Race 1
Al Faisal Al Zubair and Fabian Schiller won the 2023 International GT Open season-opener at Portimão after a race that saw 33 cars in action. The pair, in the Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes beat off a spirited effort from the Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Sam De Haan-Charlie Fagg and the Motopark Mercedes of Marcos Siebert-Diego Menchaca.
The Pro-Am laurels went to Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler (CBXR by SPS Mercedes) ahead of the other Mercedes of Axel Blom-Steve Jans (GetSpeed) and the AF Corse Ferrari of Marco Pulcini-Eddie Cheever.
Motopark climbed up to the podium in Am, on the first step thanks to Heiko Neumann-Timo Rumpfkeil, after a close battle with the Barone Rampante Lambo of Giuseppe Cipriani, with Alessandro Cozzi-Giorgio Sernagiotto (AF Corse Ferrari) third.
David Fumanelli started 2023 with a pole. The Kessel Racing Ferrari kept the advantage at the start, followed by Mettler, Basz, Al Zubair, then Engstler who passed Siebert on lap 1, Barr, Agostini, and Rumpfkeil (first among Am cars), with the positions remaining stable in the first ten laps.
The gaps remained extremely tight, with the first three, joined by Agostini, covered by only 5 seconds by lap 18, when the pit stop window opened and first cars stopped.
After all routine steps were completed, Schiller rapidly took the lead ahead of Menchaca, Müller, Fagg, Marinangeli, Yip, Pitamber, Jedlinski, Haase and Blom, with Cipriani leading in Am ahead of Sernagiotto and Nana.
Pushing hard in the closing laps was Charlie Fagg, who would climb to take second by the flag, ahead of Menchaca, Haase, Marinangeli and Lietz. Neumann won in Am ahead of Cipriani and Cozzi, after a transponder glitch was corrected.
Race 2
Diego Menchaca and Marcos Siebert won Race 2 of the first weekend of the 2023 International GT Open in Portimão on Sunday, giving Motopark its first win in the series.
The Latin American pair, third in Saturday’s race 1, took the win over the winners of Race 1, Al Faisal Al Zubair and Fabian Schiller (Al Manar by GetSpeed) in another one-two for Mercedes AMG.
The Audi R8 LMS of debuting Eastalent Racing took its maiden podium with Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase.
An emotional Menchaca expressed his joy at the end of the race: “It’s great to win at our first round, it all went perfectly, I want to thank the team and all our partners, and most of all Marcos, who has become a brother for me”, said the Mexican referring to his Argentine teammate, with whom he shares similar career patterns.
There was big battle in Pro-Am, with the AF Corse Ferrari of Marco Pulcini-Eddie Cheever taking the win and the Italian team also imposed one of its cars in Am, with Alessandro Cozzi-Giorgio Sernagiotto.
Poleman Fabian Schiller took a perfect start, followed by Cheever, Haase and Menchaca, who all passed Fagg.
After 1 lap, the three first positions stayed the saw but a recovering Charlie Fagg climbed back to fourth, with Lietz also ahead of Menchaca, now sixth. Pitamber, Valente, Sernagiotto (first in Am), Rueda and Schirò followed behind with Conrad Grunewald is in the pits after the opening lap.
The gaps stayed tight in the first ten laps, with the first six covered by 10 seconds by lap 8, the most interesting battle going on for 7th between Pitamber, Valente and Rueda.
By lap 14, when the window for the driver change opened, Schiller’s advantage had grown to 5.5 seconds on Cheever, 7 on Haase, 8 on Fagg, 10 on Lietz and 12 on Menchaca. Pitamber was sixth, resisting well to Valente and Rueda, followed by Schirò, Sernagiotto , Chovet, Marinangeli, Kodric, Arrow and Azzam. The leading car stopped on lap 18, when it had a 7-second advantage.
The pit stop phase saw Siebert progress, he took the lead ahead of Reicher, passed by Al Zubair on lap 23, with Kolb and De Haan eight seconds behind the leader, then Pulcini, Barr, Scholze and Rosi. In Am, Cozzi led ahead of Cipriani, Kirchmayr and Rumpfkeil.
Siebert extended his lead to 4 seconds, now on Al Zubair, who had passed Reicher. The second group included De Haan, Barr, Kolb, Pulcini and Scholze.
Nothing changed in the top 5, but there was a fight for the win in Pro-Am, with Pulcini holding first position ahead of Scholze and a charging Basz. In Am, Cozzi kept the advantage ahead of Rumpfkeil and Cipriani.
