Montermini/Moncini & Frezza/López snare Spa wins

Andrea Montermini and Emanuele Moncini won the first International GT Open race at Spa last weekend before Marco Frezza and Cochito López extended their championship lead with victory in the second.

Villorba Corse’s Montermini was able to convert his pole position into a comfortable lead at the start of race one while behind Philipp Peter came under attack from the Ferraris of Raffaele Giammaria and Soheil Ayari, the Austrian slipping from second to fourth in just a handful of corners on lap five.

The biggest mover in the opening stint though was Luca Rangoni who fought his way through the midfield and past Edil Cris’ Giammaria for second on lap nine just before the mandatory driver changes.

Montermini’s impressive opening stint gifted a sizeable lead to Moncini who would remain unchallenged to the chequered flag. He was undoubtedly helped by Alessandro Garofano who ruined Rangoni’s excellent work by spinning the Ferrari out of contention on lap 15.

That allowed JMB Racing’s Nicolas Marroc to take second place following Ayari’s solid first stint, ahead of Giammaria’s partner Miguel Ramos who was just able to keep Lopez at bay.

Fifth went to the GTS class winning Ferrari 458 GT3 of Stefano Gattuso and Lorenzo Bontempelli (Kessel Racing) with Stefano Bizzarri/Andrea Rizzoli and Thomas Gruber/Marco Seefried completing the top seven.

Race two meanwhile witnessed another Ferrari victory, although this time for the older F430 model. Having had little time to test the now de rigour 458, Vittoria Competizioni opted to race their tried and tested GT2 contender at Spa, and it worked.

It was a faultless performance from a Frezza/Lopez pairing that took their time in coming through to take victory. Race one winner Moncini led away from pole but was soon overhauled by Alvaro Barba who was comfortably the fastest man on track until his Ferrari’s right rear tyre blew exiting Blanchimont on lap five.

And it wasn’t long before the Safety Car was called for when Caccia suffered the same fate, bunching the lead group ahead of the driver changes. Their fourth place in race one ensured the Vittoria Competizioni Ferrari did not suffer from the same pit stop handicap as its rivals, gifting Frezza the lead when he returned to the track.

Once the stops had shaken out Peter, in for Michal Broniszewski, had moved up to second ahead of Rangoni who was powerless to resist the charging Montermini whose 20-second pit handicap had stifled the Villorba Corse car’s chances. Ultimately his hard work would go unrewarded after the Ferrari was excluded post-race for using non-marked tyres.

GTS spoils went to the Villois Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Gabriele Lancieri and Max Wiser which picked up its first victory of 2011 in front of championship leaders Fabio Babini/Gianluca Roda (Autorlando Porsche) Gruber/Seefried.

Catch live International GT Open coverage on Motors TV throughout 2011.

Tom Hornsby