Ayari and Marroc double up at Brands

Soheil Ayari and Nicolas Marroc gave JMB Racing their maiden International GT Open win in Saturday’s race one at Brands Hatch, then followed it up with another triumph in Sunday’s second run.

Race one saw Ayari drive a strong first stint to hand the car to Marroc with a 14 second advantage over their pursuers. From there 24-year-old was able to complete an unchallenged run to the flag.

Raffaele Giammaria and Miguel Ramos took second for Edil Cris with the Ferrari 458 of Villorba Corse finishing third.

Meanwhile the GTS class saw home glory for Daniel Brown and Glynn Geddie, who took the victory aboard their AF Corse 458 GT3, beating the Lorenzo Bontempelli and Stefano Gattuso-driven Kessel Racing entry to the flag.

Ayari and Marroc then made it a perfect weekend in race two, winning again with another dominant lights-to-flag display.

This time they were followed home by the AF Corse Ferrari of Luca Rangoni and Alessandro Garofano and the Kessel entry of Bontempelli and Gattuso, the latter pairing also taking GTS class honours.

The Andrea Montermini-Emanuele Moncini Villorba Ferrari crossed the line third but was subsequently hit with a 20-second penalty for not serving their entire race handicap, dropping them to fourth on the final results.

However that was still enough to give them the championship lead as erstwhile table toppers Marco Frezza and Juan Manuel López failed to finish either race at Brands. The Montermini- Moncini pairing lead by a single point heading to the series’ next event, which takes place at Austrian venue the Red Bull Ring (August 27/28)

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James Weeks