The two testing days, held in glorious weather at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, marked the come back of some popular faces in the GT Open. Marcelo Hahn is returning this year, after a brief hiatus. The Brazilian debuted in 2017, taking the Pro-Am title in 2020 and a total of 10 Pro-Am and 1 overall wins.
This time, Marcelo will be at the wheel of a Ferrari 296 by AF Corse, in the emblematic Blau livery, and will race in the Am class, which entails a different teammate from the faithful Allam Khodair. Diego Nunes, seen in the GT Cup Europe last year, and Galid Osman, shared testing duties with him at Barcelona, with the latter being most probably his season teammate. “I am really happy to be back to the International GT Open, probably the series I enjoy the most, despite the travel constraints it entails for me. And the Ferrari feels just great…”
No less happy were the boys of Goodspeed, the Polish outfit which returns in upgrade gear and with a new car, an Aston Martin Vantage. Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz are at the wheel and enthusiastic: “I am very happy to be back”, said Wira, “together with my friend Tomasz, a revamped team and a new car such as the Aston, very responsive and very challenging. I can now devote myself entirely to racing and I will be enjoting the season tremendously.”
For Alfredo Hernández, the hiatus has been short, as he is back from last season, but in a new environment, as his Grupo Prom has been revamped over the winter. “It’s helpful to have this opportunity to do mileage”, said the Mexican, “and we have improved the car a lot over the winter. I am very happy with the new Michelin tyres, which are a little bit harder, but have excellent behaviour and longer durability.”
In Day 2 at Barcelona, the Porsches confirmed themselves as the fastest cars, with Fach-Schwager (Fach Auto Tech) posting the best time (1.39.645) ahead of Fontana Armanni (ZRS Motorsport, +0s172) and the AF Corse Ferrari of Hahn-nunes-Osman (+0s417). This was also the top-3 of the two days test.