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Barcelona, 3 November 2006 – The Circuit de Catalunya is revving up to welcome
the grand finale of the first season of the International GT Open. With an entry of 63
cars, the paddock of the Catalan circuit will definitely be a crowded place, and the
same is expected in the grandstands, as GT fans will have a unique opportunity to
see great cars and great drivers in action!
“We are absolutely delighted by the terrific response from GT racers to our last
event, says GT Open promoter Jesús Pareja. “The Barcelona race, which usually
concludes the Spanish GT Championship, has become over the years a traditional
rendez-vous for many GT competitors from all over Europe, who used to come here
to do the last outing of the year. But with the creation of the GT Open, the
phenomenon has taken a wider proportion. This success is a recognition to the very
encouraging start of the GT Open in the international scene. The maximum number
of vehicles allowed by the FIA homologation in the Barcelona track is 63 and I hope
we will not have to refuse entries, which is always something unpleasant to do for an
organiser. We had to discard around 20 requests”.
The Barcelona race is a special one also because of its duration, as it is run in an
endurance format (2 hours, 70 laps) instead of the traditional GT Open two races of
one hour each. Points awarded are, of course, also doubled.
The attention in the track will certainly be focusing on the battle for the
championship, as four drivers arrive in Catalonia for the last stop with options to the
title. Young Spaniards Lucas Guerrero and José Manuel Pérez-Aicart, the pair driving
the fast and reliable Mosler MT900R of GTA Motor, are in best position, with a 18-
points lead (146 to 128) over Italian Michele Bartyan, the leading driver of the
Ferrari 430 of Playteam SaraFree. But with 44 points still to be awarded, everything
can happen and also the driver of the Edil Cris Racing’s Ferrari 430 Paolo Ruberti
(119 points) has not said his last word. The three teams are ready to play all their
cards in this decisive race, which sees the Mosler with 25 extra kg of weight as a
consequence of performance balancing adjustments introduced to the technical
regulations.
The situation is pretty similar with regard to class titles. The battle is still open in
GTA among the same players as for the overall standings, while the two pairs of
Racing Box’s Vipers (Belicchi-Zonca and Perazzini-Cioci) carry a family fight in GTS
and Fabrizio Gini seems to have secured the GTB crown, as the runner-up in the
category is his team-mate Beppe Arlotti, which whom he shares the Giudici Ferrari
360 Challenge.
A number of new teams are joining the International GT Open for this last race and
the names are impressive. One of the most titled GT teams, France’s Larbre
Compétition, will be entering a Porsche 997 Cup for Sébastien Dumez and Roland
Berville. Barcelona will mark the debut in the series of the Ascari GT3, entered by
British team Damax, for Lang-Rich. Also a new-comer is the Maserati Light GT 3: no
less than three of them will be competing. They belong to renown Italian team AF
Corse, which also enters a Ferrari 430 GT2. New to the series is also German team
Chrzanowski, which will be present with three Porsches, and so is the Viper of Italian
squad La Torre. Finally, Spanish team Icer Brakes enters its Ferrari 430 for GT
regulars Fabrizio De Simone and Jesús Díez Villaroel.
Among those who will be making their come-back to the series for this special race,
there is the evergreen Marcos of Cor Euser – Miguel Cristovão (after a serious crash
in the UK during the summer), the Lamborghinis Gallardo of Mik Corse and the
Vipers of French team Ruffier.
Last but not least, a third former Formula 1 driver (in addition of Pérez-Sala and
Montermini) is coming to the party. Alessandro Nannini...
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