Ezequiel Perez-Companc and Raffaele Giammaria triumphed for AF Corse Ferrari in the first of the weekend’s two International GT Open races at Estoril in Portugal on Saturday, leading home a Ferrari 1-2-3 at the former Portuguese Grand Prix venue.
At the start, polsitter Phil Keen (Balfe Motorsport Ferrari, below) held the lead into T1, and Raffaele Giammaria (AF Corse Ferrari) remained second, too, with no incidents through the first few corners for the 13-car grid.
Cesar Campanico’s Novadriver Audi was third, ahead of Nicola Benucci’s Villorba Corse Ferrari. Sixth-place Pasin Lathouras (AF Corse) was the man on the move in the early stages, attacking fifth-place Francisco Guedes’ similar Ferrari into T1 on the first lap but having to back off and remain in position.
Campanico (above) soon found himself at the head of four-car train scrapping for third, comprised of him, Benucci, Lathouras and Guedes. Further back, Argentinian Mathias Russo was getting racy behind the Teo Martin Motorsport McLaren of joint championship leader Miguel Ramos in seventh and eighth.
Guedes managed to drop Lathouras to an extent and was soon more concerned with attacking Benucci for fourth by lap seven, eventually getting past through T2 when the Italian ran slightly wide exiting T1. Another wide moment for Benucci on the following lap allowed Lathouras through as well, dropping the Villorba Ferrari to sixth.
Up front Giammaria was keeping Keen honest in the lead, maintaining the gap at just a few tenths of a second. Down the field, Benucci’s tough run continued as he lost two more places to Ramos and Russo through running wide. Those two continued to battle closely for sixth as the first stint wound down.
Lathouras and Ramos were among the first to stop when the pit window opened with 40 minutes remaining on the race clock, while Balzan quickly took over from the struggling Benucci in the Villorba Ferrari.
Leading duo Giammaria and Keen left it later to stop, but there was heartbreak for Joel Camathias, who ground to a halt shortly after taking the Novadriver Audi over from Campanico. Russo was the last to pit, handing the Baporo Ferrari over to countryman Emiliano Lopez.
Once the order had shaken out after the stops, Giammaria’s co-driver Ezequiel Perez-Companc led in the AF Corse Ferrari, Guedes’ co-driver Felipe Barreiros was second and Lopez was third in the Baporo Ferrari, ahead of Balzan.
Shaun Balfe was fifth, with the formerly race-leading Balfe Motorsport Ferrari having lost some time in the stops and now running ahead of Ramos’ co-driver Parente in the Teo Martin McLaren (below).
Balzan was soon on the attack, suddenly snatching third from Lopez through the T9 hicane with 25 minutes of the race to run. A short while later, leader Companc’s car was spotted with left-rear corner damage after snagging the Astroturf through the final corner – although the pace of the car seemed unaffected.
Meanwhile, Balzan’s charge continued as he got past Barreiros (below) for second on lap 30 – again using the T9 chicane for his move. He was now 10 seconds behind Companc with a little under 20 minutes left to run.
In the midfield, Parente had closed right up on Balfe with 15 minutes to go and got a good run down the start-finish straight several times but wasn’t close enough to outbrake him and take fifth. This gave Alvaro Barba’s Lamborghini a chance to close up behind both of them in seventh – with Rugolo not far behind either in the Ferrari started by Lathouras.
Parente finally made a move stick through T11 with seven minutes remaining, moving into fourth and leaving Balfe to deal with the attentions of Barba and Rugolo. Barba soon slipped up with a spin, though, dropping him behind the Ferrari – while ahead Parente got the McLaren in front of Lopez’s Ferrari to move into fourth.
Balzan continued to chase down Companc at the front, closing to within a few car lengths with a lap or two remaining, but he couldn’t quite get close enough for a passing attempt, leaving the overall top three as Giammaria/Companc, Benucci/Balzan and Guedes/Barreiros at the flag.
Stephen Errity
