GT Open: Brands Hatch

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#17 Corvette C6R finished ninth in Race1, but sounded amazing

The GT Open series visits Britain to brighten up a somewhat overcast Brands Hatch.

With the British summer proving to be somewhat of a misnomer so far this year, the task is falling on race series like the GT Open to provide some excitement and relief from the doom and gloom of overcast days and frequent rain showers.

Qualifying 1

Montermini on way to setting pole

The track stayed dry for Qualifying 1 despite a couple of short rain showers, and the theme shown already this year of the Super GT (GT2) Ferrari F458s being untouchable in the dry began to make itself clear once again.

At one point the top 3 positions were all Ferraris, and it was only a late lap by Nick Tandy in the Manthey Porsche GT3RSR (also Super GT) to secure P2 disrupted that order.

Q1 ended with Montermini in P1 in the Scuderia Villorba F458 GT, eight tenths up on Tandy in P2 - with just four hundreths separating P2-P4. The Villois Aston of Malucelli was running strongly as ever, qualifying fifth on the grid.

  1. #2 aabar abu dhabi Villorba Corsa - Ferrari 458 GT- 1:25.051
  2. #8 Manthey Racing - Porsche GT3 RSR - 1:25.857
  3. #4 AF Corse - Ferrari 458 GT - 1:25.872
  4. #11 Kessel Racing - Ferrari 458 GT - 1:25.892
  5. #12 Villois Racing - Aston Martin Vantage - 1:26.148

Qualifying 2

Mapelli-autorlando
Mapelli capitalises in changeable conditions to take pole

In Q2, the conditions deterioated throughout the session. This gave an advantage to the GTS cars, since in qualifying the GT3-spec GTS cars go out first, with the Super GTs - GT2 spec cars - coming out for the second half of the session.

The Autolando Sport Porsche GT3 R of Mapelli/Hamilton took pole with a quickest lap of 1:31.930, 6 seconds slower than the quickest laps in Q1, but also 6 seconds faster than the quickest Super GT car in Q2!

The quickest Super GT cars were the Porsches of Imsa Performance Matmut piloted by Pilet, and the Manthey Racing RSR hustled by Holzer.

  1. #54 Autorlando Sport - Porsche GT3 R 1:31.930
  2. #44 Kessel Racing - Ferrari 458 GT3 1:32.751
  3. #56 AF Corse - Ferrari 458 GT3 1:35.651
  4. #16 Imsa Performance Matmut - Porsche GT3 RSR 1:37.776
  5. #8 Manthey Racing - Porsche GT3 RSR - 1:38.017

Race 1

WET RACE WET RACE WET RACE!
WET RACE WET RACE WET RACE!

As the race started on an already damp circuit, the rain began to fall with a purpose. In the opening laps, Tandy in the #8 Manthey Porsche pressurised Montermini in the Scuderia Villorba Ferrari, with Montermini seeming to have just enough answers to the challenges Tandy was posing.

Just as Tandy's challenge seemed to be fading, Montermini made a mistake, losing 15 seconds or so and promoting Tandy to first, with the #11 Kessel Racing car piloted by Peter pushing hard behind.

Manthey's lead was not to last though, with them earning a 15 second penalty during pitstops for their victory last time out at Spa. This meant Holzer rejoined in 3rd behind the #11 Kessel Raing Ferrari now driven by Broniszewski, and the #4 AF Corse Ferrari piloted by Leo.

Victory goes to Broniszewski/Peter in the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari F458
Victory goes to Broniszewski/Peter in the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari F458

Holzer forced his way past Leo, and set about closing the gap to Broniszewski with the seconds tumbling down, especially after Broniszewski ran wide at Druids, but the race was just too short for a change in lead. Holzer settled for second, 1.9 seconds behind the leader.

Juan Manuel Lopez worked his way up to third, by passing Leo in the closing laps also. Further back, Pilet recovered from a difficult first stint for Narac in the #16 IMSA Performance Porsche, carving through the field and working his way up to 5th overall at the end.

The Villois Aston finished 6th, ahead of the GTS winners Hamilton and Mapelli in the Autorlando Porsche GT3 R. The top 10 was rounded out by the brace of V8 Racing Bv Corvette C6Rs, which won the virtual prize of best-sounding vehicles by a country mile.

  1. #11 Kessel Racing - Ferrari 458 GT
  2. #8 Manthey Racing - Porsche GT3 RSR
  3. #2 aabar abu dhabi Villorba Corsa - Ferrari 458 GT
  4. #4 AF Corse - Ferrari 458 GT
  5. #16 Imsa Performance Matmut - Porsche GT3 RSR
  6. #12 Villois Racing - Aston Martin Vantage
  7. #54 Autorlando Sport - Porsche GT3 R (Winner GTS)
  8. #5 AT Racing Team - Ferrari 458 GT
  9. #17 V8 Racing Bv - Chevrolet Corvette C6R
  10. #19 V8 Racing Bv - Chevrolet Corvette C6R