Less than two weeks after resuming activity, the International GT Open takes the track again for what is already the penultimate round of the season. It is the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosting the second event of the final triptych ahead of the Monza grand finale.
The technical 4.657-km Catalan track is certainly not the easiest one, but it is widely appreciated by drivers, and the traditional late summer visit to Montmeló is for sure one of the most pleasant ones for the GT Open community. The grid, with 33 cars entered and some interesting new entries, is again a very strong one. Great action can be expected, but the focus of attention will be on the fight for all the titles, which enters its crucial phase.
PRO: A QUATOR IN 14 POINTS
Things can’t be more open at the top of the Overall standings. Levente Révész arrived at the last round in Austria with a 7-point advantage, lost the lead after Race 1, and regained it at the end of a relatively frustrating weekend. The Hungarian of Team Motopark, who will again be associated with Max Götz in the Mercedes AMG of the German squad, will have to defend a gap (3 points) that leaves no margin for errors.
His closest rival continues to be the Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase, whose weekend on home soil was not as successful as it could have been. A podium finish on Saturday allowed the Austrian-German duo to briefly retake the lead, but no points on Sunday brought things back where they were.
The worrying news for both the top title bidders is that two chasers have now significantly reduced their gap, turning the fight for the crown into a four-way affair. Only 14 points now cover the first four in the standings. The two having joined the club are two pairs of young and hungry talents, both driving a Ferrari 296. AF Corse’s Tommaso Mosca and Carl Bennett took their second win of the season in Austria and are now only 13 points behind the top. A mere point behind them are Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon, the British duo of Elite Motorsport.
Outsiders, of course, also have a say in wins and podium finishes. McLaren is very well represented in the class. Optimum Motorsport fields a 720S for the very solid duo composed of Michael Porter and Zac Meakin, while Greystone GT is finishing the season with two cars. James Kell and Dean Macdonald were back to victory in Austria, and their new teammates, Jayden Kelly and Josh Rattican, made an impressive debut in the series, taking one podium finish.
Mercedes is well represented in the class with the two AMGs of GetSpeed: Anthony Bartone and Fabian Schiller were again on the podium in Austria, and Marcelo Ramírez-Ralf Aron are not far from it. The Red Bull Ring weekend also saw a comeback to the forefront for the Lamborghini Huracans of Oregon Team: in Spain, Artem Petrov and Robin Rogalski will be associated with new teammates, still to be announced.
At Barcelona, for the second time this year, a CorvetteZ06 R will be in action, this time fielded by well-known British team Steller Motorsport, who will be making its debut in the series, with a pair composed of two young and promising brothers from Canada, Daniel and Adam Ali.
PRO-AM: A CLOSE MERCEDES FAMILY BATTLE
With 15 cars entered, the Pro-Am class is again the best-attended. Here too, the battle at the top is extremely close, but is a duel involving two Mercedes: on one hand, the SPS automotive performance car of Steve Jans and Aaron Walker, and on the other, the GetSpeed of Valentin Pierburg and Dominik Baumann, who are split by only 2 points.
The third is twenty points away from the top, and is the ISR Racing Audi of the very consistent Filip Salaquarda-Libor Milota pair.
The Mercedes delegation is by far the most numerous in the class. SPS has another top pair in Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler, and GetSpeed can count on the Vimana-livered car of Ameerh Naran, again joined by Tom Jackson. On its side, Motopark fields two competitive pairs, such as Heiko Neumann-Lukas Dunner and Remon Vos-Yelmar Buurman. BDR Grupo Prom enters its usual AMG for Luis Michael Dörrbecker-Amaury Bonduel.
On its side, 2 Seas Motorsport is making its return to the series for a one-off with the pair composed of British GT star Charles Dawson and young gun McKenzy Cresswell. The British-Bahraini squad impressed in its GT Open previous outing in 2021, clinching two wins in the two rounds contested.
Ferrari has three cars in the class. The #55 of AF Corse is back with Laurent De Meeus and Jamie Stanley, while Olimp Racing’s Marcin Jedlinski and Karol Basz have now switched for good to the 296, and Into Africa Racing by Dragon continues to proudly represent the continent with Xolile Letlaka and Axcil Jefferies.
A second Audi R8 in the class is the Saintéloc Racing car of Michael Blanchemain and Marcus Paverud, while Porsche has a two-car representation: Car Collection still has to confirm its drivers for this round, while Tsunami RT fields its faithful pair of Johannes Zelger-Fabio Babini.
AM: IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
In the Am class too, only two points separate first from second, with the duel at the top involving a Ferrari and a McLaren. Gino Forgione and Michele Rugolo, in the 296 of AF Corse, have a record number of seven wins so far this season, but they are only two points clear from Garage59’s 720S of Mark Sansom, who has clinched four wins (including the double race at Spa) and whose teammate for Barcelona still needs to be confirmed.
Five different brands are represented in the series. Stalwart contenders Stanislaw Jedlinski and Krystian Korzeniowski are at the wheel of the other Ferrari, entered by Olimp Racing. On its side, BDR Grupo Prom enters the only Mercedes for México’s Alfredo Hernández. Racing Trevor will field here its BMW M4 for returnee Dennis Waszek alongside Atila Zsigo. Finally, Thor Racing is back for a third outing with its popular Porsche 911 R in Icelandic colours, in the hands of Audunn Gudmunsson and Thorvaldur Gissurarson.