The summer break is over, and the International GT Open is gearing up for a final stretch of the season, which looks highly promising. Not only because of the suspense around all title battles, but also because the field is expected to grow significantly for the three final rounds in Red Bull Ring, Barcelona, and Monza (which will host the second GT Open 500 endurance race).
First stop is thus at the Red Bull Ring, the beautiful and technical 4,318-km track nested in the bucolic scenery of the Styrian Alps. No fewer than 34 entries are entered for what is the fifth round of the season, with many interesting novelties.
The main focus, though, will be the fights for the overall and class titles, which start to heat up ahead of the final round.
PRO – TWO LEADERS AND MANY CHASERS
The battle for the overall title is still very open. The standings are again led by Levente Révesz, who will again share the wheel of the Team Motopark Mercedes AMG with Max Götz. The Hungarian, strong of three race wins, leads by seven points the reigning champions, Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase, who will of course want to shine in their Audi R8 LMS on the home soil of Eastalent Racing.
Completing the top five and also in the race for the title are three pairs of talented young drivers: Tom Lebbon-Tom Emson in the Elite Motorsport Ferrari 296 have 79 points, and are followed by Zach Meakin-Michael Porter in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren (76), and by Carl Bennett and Tommaso Mosca in the AF Corse Ferrari (72).
All cars in the 12-strong Pro class are clear candidates to victory. The Mercedes camp has in its ranks the GetSpeed cars of Anthony Bartone-Fabian Schiller and of Marcelo Ramírez-Ralf Aron.
The McLaren representation in the class will grow by one unit as Greystone GT is bringing a second car for the remainder of the season for British young guns Jayden Kelly and Josh Rattican, joining the other car of the team of race winners James Kell-Dean Macdonald.
In Austria, a BMW M4 will be on the starting blocks, as well-known Danish squad Poulsen Motorsport is making its debut in the series with Danish star Kristian Poulsen and BMW M factory driver Jens Klingmann.
Last but not least, Oregon Team aims at a great showing in Austria with its Lamborghini Huracans and renewed line-ups. The teammates of Robin Rogalski in car #19 and Artem Petrov in car #63 will be announced beginning of the week but it can be already anticipated that one of the names is a real ‘heavy-weight’ in GT racing…
PRO-AM – FAMILY DUEL IN THE MERCEDES CAMP
Things are tight in the Pro-Am class as well, where the Mercedes AMGs are leading. Currently first in the standings are Steve Jans and Aaron Walker in one of the GetSpeed cars, with 65 points and three wins, three points and one win more than Valentin-Pierburg and Dominik Baumann in one of the SPS automotive performance cars.
An excellent third is the Czech Audi R8 LMS of ISR Racing, with Filip Salaquarda-Libor Milota, ahead of two other Mercedes, the SPS car of Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler and the Motopark car of Heiko Neumann-Lukas Dunner, the latter being one of the local heroes in Austria.
Variety and quality characterises the rest of the Pro-Am field. Audi is well represented, with three other cars. The second ISR Racing machine is back for this round with the Slovak father-and-son pair of Jirko and Christian Malchárek, while Olimp Racing and Saintéloc Racing are fielding their regular pairs, Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz and Michael Blanchemain-Marcus Paverud.
The Porsche delegation includes championship regulars Johannes Zelger-Fabio Babini in the Tsunami RT car, and the 911 R entered by Car Collection, who will have a new line-up, still to be confirmed, in this round.
Last but certainly not least, Ferrari is present in the class with two cars fielded by local squad Baron Motorsport: local hero Ernst Kirchmayr and Giacomo Altoè will try to repeat last year’s win at home, while Massoud Jaberian-Edoardo Bacci are back for this round.
AM – A McLAREN CHALLENGES THE LEADING FERRARI
The battle also goes on at the top of the Am class, with a Ferrari and a McLaren as main contenders. Gino Forgione and Michele Rugolo have won six races in the AF Corse Ferrari 296, but their advantage in the standings is of only six points, and they remain challenged by the Garage 59 McLaren 720S of Mark Sansom, now paired with Alexander West, who has three wins under his belt.
The field also includes championship regulars Stanislaw Jedlinski-Krystian Korzeniowski (Olimp Racing), Alfredo Hernández and Ameerh Naran, both driving solo and Mercedes cars, under the colours of BDR Grupo Prom and Vimana by GetSpeed, respectively.
One more McLaren will be in the Am class at Red Bull Ring as British squad Track Focused is making its GT Open debut with a 720S entrusted to Darren Kell, who happens to be the father of James Kell.