GT Open: Edil Cris and CRS take Spa wins

Raffaele  Giammaria and Enrico Toccacelo scored Edil Cris Racing’s first International GT Open victory since 2006 in the opening race at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend, while CRS won a second, incident-packed encounter.

Race 1:

Pierre Kaffer led the field away from pole position but was unable to shake off the chasing pack of Tim Mullen, Patrick Pilet, Giammaria, Philip Peter and Matt Griffin.
 

The order remained until lap seven when a Safety Car was called following Luca Moro’s gravel trap excursion. Having departed, Pilet was forced to follow it into the pits thanks to a damaged tyre that all-but ended the IMSA Performance Porsche’s afternoon.

The restart also saw Klaas Hummel’s CRS Ferrari collide with the Manthay Porsche of Mark Bullitt at La Source, putting both cars out of the race.

Up front, Kaffer was the first of the leaders to pit, handing over to Alvaro Barba. But once the stops had shaken out, the championship leaders found themselves down in fifth, with Enrico Toccacelo having vaulted to front.

The Edil Cris Ferrari was limping with a damaged splitter though and was soon caught by those behind. Chris Niarchos was right in the hunt for CRS but was relieved of second by Barba on the penultimate lap before the Spaniard caught and passed Toccacelo at the Bus Stop chicane in the dying seconds.

Unable to pass cleanly, he was forced to cut the corner and subsequently handed a five second penalty that promoted his Italian pursuer back to the top step.

Richard Lietz was more successful with his move on Niarchos’ Ferrari at the final corner to claim the final podium place.

In GTS, Kessel Racing’s Marco Frezza and Pedro Couceiro took a well-deserved first win of 2010 following three second places, ahead of championship leader Jean-Philippe Dayraut who was assisted by Frédéric Mackowiecki at Spa, while Stefano Livio and Lorenzo Bontempelli made it a Kessel 1-3.

Alex Mortimer took an emotional fourth in his Ford GT just days after father and RPM boss Robin passed away.
   
Race 2:

It was another dramatic affair in the second race marred by a huge accident between the two AF Corse Ferraris.
 

Lietz and Marc Lieb shared the front row but were both jumped by the fast starting Toccacelo and Andrew Kirkaldy.

Lietz was back up to second by lap four after overtaking Kirkaldy, whose spin on the following lap triggered the pursuing AF Corse contingent to collide at Blanchimont. Both Barba and Rui Aguas speared into the outside wall hard before being taken to hospital. Thankfully neither was seriously injured.

The resulting Safety Car period extended the pit window by ten minutes and once everyone had changed drivers, it was Lietz’s Autorlando co-driver Gianluca Roda who inherited the lead from Mullen, Pilet, Peter and Giammaria.

But it wasn’t long before Roda was usurped by the chasing CRS Ferrari and IMSA Performance Porsche who then spent the remaining laps battling hard. Try as he might though, Pilet could not find a way past Mullen who held on for victory.

Peter and Giammaria came home fourth and fifth ahead of the leading Porsche GTS car of Stefano Borghi.

Barba’s accident sees his and Kaffer’s championship lead reduced to 12 points from Roda and Lietz, while Dayraut is only two clear of Marco Frezza and Pedro Couceiro in GTS.

Catch live International GT Open coverage on Motors TV throughout 2010.

Tom Hornsby