ZRS Motorsport drivers Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana charged to their second International GT Open win at the Hungaroring, returning to the top step of the podium since their debut victory at the Portimão season opener.
Tom Lebbon jumped the start in the #17 Elite Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo after he eased away from his competitors, leaving the pole-sitting #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche of Alexander Fach compromised against the pack behind.
Fontana’s #911 Porsche began in third position and overtook Fach, who fell to fourth overall behind Maximilian Götz’s #71 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Fach still retained the Pro-Am lead during the opening laps.
Despite Fontana eating into Lebbon’s lead gap, Elite Motorsport’s five-second time penalty for jumping the start, in addition to pit compensation time, meant that the #911 Porsche was in a prime position to hold the lead after the pit stop phase.
Fontana stayed out as long as he could before handing his #911 Porsche to Armanni, who led the race ahead of the #71 Motopark Mercedes of Christian Mansell.
A safety car bunched the pack together and set up a tense 12-minute green flag finish.
Mansell sat eagerly on Armanni’s tail, but ZRS Motorsport held their place to win the first of two sprint races this weekend.
“I think here, it was nice to go back on the top step of the podium,” said Fontana after the race.
“The race was clean. At the start, there was a bit of a confusing situation with the (#17) car that was misplaced, but I could take advantage of that, passing the guy in front.
“And then Pietro did an awesome job with a safety car at the end. Pietro is not doing so many races this year, but to manage those kinds of situations, he did it with a lot of maturity, a lot of good speed, so I’m really happy about that.
“It has been a really difficult race for me,” added Armanni. “Especially at the restart with the safety car because there were a lot of marbles everywhere, so you know, the tyres were very dirty. But we managed to do a great race. So, in the end, a good result.”
The safety car was deployed with 21 minutes remaining due to the #107 AF Corse Pro-Am car, driven by debutant Ray Acosta. He went wide at Turn 9, lost control of the rear of his Ferrari, and became stuck in the gravel trap at Turn 10.
Soon after this safety car period was called, Elite Motorsport’s race turned from bad to worse when Tom Lebbon pitted the #17 Ferrari as the car was wheeled into the garage.
As Götz/Mansell claimed second position, the #33 Greystone GT McLaren 720S GT3 Evo ran a solid race from which Dean Macdonald endured a tricky start.
After the staggered race start, Macdonald dropped from P4 to P6, falling behind and thus battling Vincent Abril’s #55 AF Corse Ferrari.
Greystone’s #33 McLaren was handed over to Zac Meakin, who watched Mansell challenge Armanni to the end and rounded out the podium.
In fourth place overall, the #55 AF Corse Ferrari duo of Abril and Laurent De Meeus secured Pro-Am victory after the #75 Team ISR Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 incurred a 10-second time penalty at the end for incident responsibility.
The incident occurred during the final 12-minute sprint when the #11 Fach Auto Porsche driven by Alexander Schwarzer pitted for a rear-left puncture.
This positioned Filip Salaquarda’s #75 ISR Audi in pursuit of the other Audi ahead, the #26 Saintéloc Racing car driven by Michaël Blanchemain.
Salaquarda initiated rear-left contact with the #26 Audi into the T2 braking zone, leaving Blanchemain’s R8 wounded yet still running.
Salaquarda ended up crossing the finishing line ahead of De Meeus, but the time penalty guaranteed AF Corse’s Pro-Am victory.
Fifth position overall was taken by the #96 AF Corse of Yaroşlav Veselaho/Thomas Neubauer, who utilised the safety car to carry out a strong comeback from P14 to P6 outright.
The other #28 Mercedes from Motopark, driven by Dominik Baumann and Marcelo Ramírez, experienced gearbox issues that placed them 18th on the starting grid. They made a remarkable comeback, aided by the safety car, ultimately finishing in sixth place overall.
Team ISR’s Audi ended up seventh ahead of the #63 Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Rodrigo Testa and Leonardo Moncini.
Tomasco Mosca brought the #51 AF Corse Ferrari in ninth with his teammate, Rafael Durán.
Yannick Mettler and Dexter Müller enjoyed third in Pro-Am for the #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes, ahead of fellow Pro-Am rivals Olimp Racing’s #5 Ferrari (Krystian
Korzeniowski/Karol Basz) and the #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Kobe Pauwels and Charles Bateman.
In 13th position overall, Galid Osman brought the #16 AF Corse Ferrari home to Am class victory after his teammate Marcelo Hahn put on a brave move at the opening corner of the race into P2, before retaining his place towards the front of Am.
Joel Monegro finished 1.641 seconds behind the #16 AF Corse Ferrari in his #12 Fach Auto Tech Porsche, as the #6 Baron Motorsport (pre-generation) Ferrari of Adrian Lewandowski closed out the Am podium in 17th overall.
Seweryn Mazur finished fourth in the Am category and 20th overall in Sendom Racing’s #79 Lamborghini.
He collided and spun with the Pro-Am-entered #7 PTT Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo, driven by Hubert Dartmetko, at the T6/7 chicane. The BMW consequently received a 10-second time penalty.
Piotr Wira’s #14 Good Speed Aston Martin rounded out the top five in Am after a late spin meant he was unable to catch Mazur’s Lamborghini.
Qualifying tomorrow at 09:35 CEST/local time will set up the grid for the seventh race of the 2026 season, a 60-minute sprint from 14:00.
Images of the outright and Pro-Am winners, courtesy of GT Sport / © FotoSpeedy
