International GTOpen 2020 ROUND 5 BELGIUM - Spa Race 1

you [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] welcome everybody to round five of the international gt open we are here at spa franchise the longest circuit on the calendar perhaps the most challenging as well a driver's favorite and we've got 70 minutes of racing coming up for you this afternoon pitch stops will be from 28 minutes to 42 minutes in the race but as you can see on the picture there it's a pretty big circuit and the drivers are just making their way around it at the moment to head to the grid where they will get ready to go racing for the first of two races here this weekend my name is chris mccarthy thank you very much for joining us you join us on a fairly cold afternoon here at spa it's been temperatures have been pretty cold all weekend so track temperature has been a little bit of an issue but qualifying this morning went very well for that car there we're going to talk a lot about these guys on the build up to the race the unmanned by racing etf sport team who have qualified on the front row on their very first race in the championship brilliant job by 18 year old tom canning the tf sport car one of the three contenders for the championship is there the number 34 not the best session for them earlier got a little bit held up with traffic unfortunately in tf sport it's a difficult circuit if you catch just a little bit of traffic whether that be someone on a on a different class say pro am am or duty cub open then you could find a two minutes ten lap or whatever uh ruined and you have to go around again so uh there is a little bit of right place right time when it comes to spa sometimes but uh you can't you gotta hook the whole lap up and it is a a long lap indeed so let's talk a little bit about the championship you can see the championship leaders uh in your picture the number 59 of enrique chavez and miguel ramos it's the latter who's going to start the race for them this afternoon they've had one win so far this season five podiums in total they are on 85 points eight points ahead of louis pratt and vincent abreal and then the red aston martin that you saw that sally eulek and charlie eastwood they are 15 points back in third place none of those are going to be starting on pole position because for the second round in a row saturday's first race will see that car at the head of the field the bentley continental gt3 the number 26 for british crestani put the car on pole position for the team earlier just like he did at monza fantastic stuff from team lazarus to get two poles in a row they took their very first win their very first podium of the season at monza last time out the very first win ever for the bentley in this championship and they've proved that was no fluke by going once again quickest in qualifying fantastic stuff from them so uh look forward to seeing how they get on i did speak to fabricio managed to have a a quick chat with him after qualifying and seemed very relaxed i have to say you know it seems kind of business as usual they were very happy uh with the pace they almost expected to be hitting form at this stage you know he's said to me that they've done no testing at all when they went into hungarian so they treated hungaria and paul ricardo away as three practice test sessions they missed red bull ring then when they came to monza after having those two rounds under their belts those two weekends of uh track time they went one thing so brilliant performance from lazarus who really are hitting form they are champions uh in the series fabrizio himself won the championship in 2016 with lazarus so these guys know what they're doing in gt give them a little bit of time with a new car and eventually they'll get it figured out now this is the number 60 of uh louis silva and antonio conra lewis is going to be the one starting the race for them today but great to see one of the kind of non-championship contenders on the front row on pole position both drivers on the front row not in contention for the championship tom canning the 18 year old who has just decided they're going to come into this race so officially it was only on thursday that they decided that they were gonna gonna do this and uh tom canning alongside ahmed al-harthi they are gonna be racing in that this weekend and they're gonna go off the front row ahmed is a 24-hour spa champion won the 24-hour spa last year so knows his way around this circuit knows how to win in that car as well but this their first race of the year after their british tt plans were put to bed with the coronavirus pandemic so unfortunately they had to pull out to that event for a number of reasons uh best qualifying of the year as well for stefan ortelli it's two pro-am cars on the front two rows stefan with a brilliant time right at the end of the session as well he's going to be starting this one from third place but the grid is being set it's a short run down to term one actually went out on the grid uh earlier ahead of the porsche france race it's a short run down there and uh if you get a bad start then it might not be the worst thing here but of course it's a very tight corner uh last source it is incident prone hopefully we're gonna get everyone through there safely if it is a rolling start it's not gonna be a grid start so you've got to get a good run out of here it's going to be a race to the line a race to the first corner between crostani and tom canning and i can tell you know in tom cunning if he gets a chance he will he will go for it he will take the race lead if he sees the opportunity but the cars are just making their way onto the grid i can see looking out the window that most cars are almost in position this is patrick kaprinsky and christian klein they are now second in the pram standings lost the lead to marcelo hahn last time out but the car that will be starting directly ahead of them is marcelo han that's another good championship battle to watch the one for pro am six points between the pair now sadly the am championship battle was going to be affected uh we'll talk a little bit about that in just a second because one of uh two cars are missing after practice yesterday so this is your pulsator then fabricio crestani their second pole this season either 2016 champion looking to get two wins in a row for that bentley starting alongside him 18 year old tom canning his first ever time racing a gt3 car his first time in this championship and tom canning starts on the front row he won here in the british gt championship last year in a gt4 can he do the same in a gt3 best qualifying performance of the season for stefan ortelli their best prior to that was a fifth place an absolutely fantastic result for them stefan has showed great skill and overtaken so far this season so he could be one to watch as could these guys hear because they're in the championship fight louis pratt is going to be starting alongside on the second row eight points to chase to championship leaders miguel ramos and enrique chavez next along though it is optimum motorsports olly milroy these guys looking for their first class win of the year brenda and i are doing a great job at monza alongside olly let's see if ollie miller can get themselves onto the top step but here is our championship leaders miguel ramos and enrique chavez miguel ramos is going to start the race for them today has prett ahead so has to try and keep louis pratt as close as possible if not get past him disappointing qualifying due to uh traffic but sally ulick nevertheless from seventh place will be one to watch here he's got a few cars ahead of him to get past they're going to be taking an aggressive strategy into this i'll tell you that marcelo hahn starts in eighth place pro-am leader just want to try and extend that lead with patrick rapinski starting in tenth place marcelo haan eighth between them though is the am championship leader jensa lieberhauser uh all he has to do this weekend is finish and then he could have one hand on the title jens lieberhauser very happy in this one and he starts in ninth well let's have a look at what happened last time as we will have today it was a bentley that was leading us away going into wards turn at number one the a of course a car alongside as they made their way through the first quarter up to the votes for the green and black macaron there had a very good weekend and it started with a great start there we had the red carp charlie eastwood making his way back through the field he was a hard charger in the second half of the race making three places on one lap then he made another when a mistake was made him by enrique chavez coming in towards the final corner but out front lazarus would take the win embrace number one and make history and a win on home soil for fabrizio crestani and team lazarus then we went again on race number two this time it was terra martin motorsports miguel ramos who would lead the way up front a little bit of bumping and boring through the first corner some happened to take avoiding action more will to will action here with uh alexi nezov alexander mosey were the stars of the show in the early stages that was when sally ulick was turned round into a spin by barbaric that's why they are 15 points back now in the championship but out front it was a head-to-head between tayo martin motorsport and af corsa and that was the moment they of course asserted their place in the lead to win on home soil [Music] right here we go for race number one of the international gt open here round number five at spa crestani and canning are your front row starters great to see crestani and kenning up the front there stephan ortelli with his best qualifying performance of the season is stirred louis pratt in the fight for the championship starts in fourth place row number three is ollie milroy for optima motorsport then we have our championship leaders miguel ramos with prep just ahead he starts in sixth place sally eulek will start from seventh marcelo hahn in eighth place leading the 12-hour class rounding out your top ten then is jens lieberhauser and patrick koprinsky for jp motorsport [Music] outside of the top 10 valentin pierre but wait to have him back this weekend he's won the last two years we've come here let's see if he can make it a hat-trick nick boss alongside him nikki lutweiler will then be in 13th place and then the first of our gt cup open europe cars out over stante looking to make it four wins in a row looking to stop him though will be the likes of manuel circada and raphael villanueva who's back after paul ricard and then we have louis silva and rodriguez who pulled over in qualifying so uh issues unfortunately for gilean let's hope they have all been resolved for this race we're on the formation map it's one of the formation lap around here as you can imagine the whole time earlier [Music] there's a long lap around here 17 minutes is going to be less lapse in what we are used to but formation lap now well underway and uh we are just in the cars down towards 10 13 and 14. so it's going to be crosstalk and canning your front row what a front row that is we've got a former champion looking for his second win in that bentley this season alongside 18 year old tom canning who this his first ever race in a gt3 car and his first race of 2020. only done about two test days i think this year did one at uh bahrain actually with the aston martin that's the martin team for the at the world endurance championship he's an academy driver there and then did i think one is snetterton they did a test there that was their last timeout in march but this is first race now from the year and he starts alongside fabrizio crestani and he's got behind him one of the championship contenders louis pratt stefan ortelli now numb stefan ortelli he's been great to watch this year when he gets the chance he gets his elbows out he's been great at making moves was particularly good at monza let's see if he can pull up put on the show for us here rambos and milroy are on row three milroy to the inside ramos to the outside you look at hahn wrote four libra house at caprinsky row five then it's pierreberg moss look wider for stante cicada villanueva silva and gillian 20 minutes 28 minutes into the race is when we will have the pit lane open for driver changes and that will last for 14 minutes but for now it is all lies on the screens all eyes on the circuit we are getting ready to go for race one of round number five here at spa as they make their way up towards the final chicane it is going to be when they come onto the start finish line to the left of screen will be crestani and to the right of screen there will be tom canning bentley versus aston martin down towards term one who's your money on let's find out who our first winners of round five are going to be as they come around the final corner here at spa crestani and canning on the front row we wait for the lights to go green as the cars now make their way down towards the start finish line red lights are on and now they go out and we are down towards turn number one on the way in racing here at spotted a brilliant start there from fabrizio crestani who can afford to take the racing line in towards turn number one stephan ortelli has already gone down the inside of tom canning so a change for a second there as they now go down to rouge out of estante without running wide as the cars make their way down towards o'rouge for the first time we're side by side in the background there i think that was uh pretz going past tom canning so uh tom cannon dropping down to fifth place not a good start for them but a longer race ahead as we now charge down towards lake on for the first time already a big cap here for british el castane brilliant start from him second place then is ortelli milroy is up to third place louis pratt is fourth hannigan cliff so a great start for molly milroy looking to get on the front foot just behind top cannon we have miguel ramos and sally eulek side by side we can see yenta lieberhauser in the bright yellow green mercedes there just battling away with a little bit further down the field but this got battle for second and q is forming already isn't it as they make their way out of no name there that is in the red aston martin trying to make as many positions as possible in the early stages here miguel ramos is the car ahead of him as they turn their way now into pu1 that is the number 72 nick moss starting the race in the number 72 optima motorsport car as sally ulick runs out a little bit wide he's trying to get past miguel ram austin this is the battle just behind being led by marcelo hahn jens lieberhauser in ninth patrick kaprinsky in tenth place as they now come through stavalo for the first time busy part of the circuit this now as we make the run now down towards blanchimon we're on board with patrick koprinsky on the opening lap of the race but out front and already building a lead is uh well is uh our race either yes there he is crosstalk he got a little bit worried there the timing screens were showing him a little bit further down for a second there but christine is indeed our leader from uh louis pratt the from stefan ortelli sorry as they come through the final chicane to complete the first lap of the race they're not going to be alone during this race eddie wood is going to be alongside me and i'll bring him in now only a brilliant start there for fabrizio crestani already with a huge lead at the end of the first lap yeah the launch of the rolling start was absolutely incredible for the bentley you can really see the power of the engine just pulling the car away from all the other cars that are squabbling behind and the key to kind of having a leader that's par from shop is you break away from second and third place because they will always be battling [Music] up a rouge we go and crosstalk's lead is three seconds so he's broken the toe already and he's left ortelli and milroy to kind of fight between themselves here that number seven optimum motorsport car yet to win in the pro am so far this season then ollie milroy has just given that team a very good chance of doing that he's got stefan ortelli ahead of him he's got louis prep behind him this is top gun in the oman racing by tf sport car guesting at this round fifth place for them so far not where they would have wanted to be given their front row start but uh i think uh the 18 year old now will settle into this race he's not done a huge amount of laps around here in this car we've got a good battle going on in gt cup open europe now circadia has taken the lead from out of astante who is very keen to get it back as soon as possible as they come down towards brook cells now out of astante looking for his fourth consecutive win here manuel sarcada in the blue and white colours there in the porsche behind that is aldo vestante as they come into the downhill left-hander now they still have battled away with each other on a couple occasions so far this season so are we going to be treated to another out of astante thinks he has the rum here down towards puan he's going to show his nose but he's going to have the doors slammed in his face there by manuel circada who holds on to the lead brilliant stuff this both running just a little bit wide there outside of puanza cade up versus vestante it is in the early stages astante has got to be got to be careful as much as he wants to get back past is doesn't want to do anything silly and make any contact he's in the lead of the championship and if the flower to go out now he'd still be there even if he did finish in second place he leads by eight points over that uh circada three points difference between first and second so uh you can afford to finish second in both races at this round and still be leading going into the final round as we see marcelo haha here this is uh valentin pierberg in the number 20. he said last few years pierre berg has won here a former champion as well uh so jens lieberhauser they're quite keen to get past marcelo hahn unfortunately alexey nezov and alexander mosey won't be racing after an incident that they had in free practice at o'rouge corner we're coming up to and stefano coletti and nicolas verone as well and the other lazarus car sadly watching from the sidelines after uh blanche both drivers in both incidents okay as we see the other lazarus is leading and it's seizing quite comfortably as well 3.4 seconds clear ahead of stefan ortelli we've got the start under investigation if we hear any more of that we will tell you that we'll wait to see what's the uh result is of that investigation that's uh cristani's lead now 3.3 seconds ollie milroy is in third place this is jens lieberhauser battling away with marcelo hahn and this is our battle for the lead in gt cup open europe manuel circada versus out over stante [Music] none of istante unable to find a way through he could just settle in behind for now wait for the pit stops and then try and make his move but uh i don't think uh telling a driver to do that after they've won three races on the bounce really i think they'd tell you i think i know what i'm doing when it comes to race wins because out of atlanta has four of them so far this season as uh we charge now down towards puan last time here out of a stante fancy to look doesn't this time so he's going to stay in behind mano circada there's the battle for the lead in gt cup open europe eight points between these two going into these final two rounds so not a lot separating them so far this season and as demonstrated they are pretty closely matched together on the circuit as well but uh no one can match this man here in the early stages crestani is pulling away his lead is now over three seconds stefano telly is second and has just under a second on milroy let's see that gaps look like it might have extended on this lap as they come across the line and yes it has a mistake somewhere for milroy and he now has 1.5 seconds so elliot he might be able to focus here stephan ortelli on closing the gap rather than defending from from ollie yeah and obviously stefan has so much experience at the circuit and in the car he's racing so he'll have well placed to know what the race strategy is right now i think crestani's 3.1 second lead after three laps it was 3.5 kind of halfway through the second lap is incredible stuff that bentley we we did see this at monza uh very similar kind of pulling away at the start from pole but at the same time we literally haven't seen this bentley do anything like it as it gets very wobbly on the entry to le coons we haven't seen this bentley do a performance like this prior to the most recent round so they must have unlocked something in that car to to make it suddenly perform at this level yeah well you know fabricio is saying to me that the first two rounds were were almost test days for them just to try and get the car working and get it up to speed and once they got it working which they definitely did a monster then they were away and clear i mean they did get fourth place at uh so they they were showing good pace you know they got fourth of the first round as well they were leading there as well until an incident so they always did have good pace it was more just making it to the line in one piece that was a little bit of a problem for them now they seem to have got those troubles sorted they're leading by three seconds however the gap looks like it's coming down slightly stefan will tell you who's going quicker than christani on this lap this is top canning uh in the background this is ollie milroy in third place who is falling away from stefan ortelli and he's got to be careful he's not going to get caught by louis pratt here the gap between them 1.4 seconds but pretty's going quicker on this lap he's second personal best so we'll keep an eye on the gaps i think the main ones is for the lead but then also for third place as well yeah and maybe we would have suggested that a 1.4 second cat would be enough like a slipstream battle but going off the pace that crostani has pulled away from everyone i don't think the slipstream is that powerful this weekend maybe not we'll uh find out throughout the race down across the start finish line they go this is still our battle for lead in gt cup open europe yeah and the lead gap for the gt open cars has come down in further 2.5 a whole 0.6 seconds at the lead there so and ortelli is the well actually other drivers are laughing in the two minutes 17s now previously it was just cristani orteli uh and then we have around six cars in the two 21s so a full four seconds between our lead group of cars and the pace of the the chasing duty open pack our lead 2 and gt cup hope in europe are fighting right now they're laughing two minute 29 2 minute 30 so they're around 11 seconds down so potentially by lap eight or nine they could be under being lapped at this rate yeah it's gonna happen at some stage and uh they're gonna want to continue fighting so we'll uh cross that bridge when we come to it i think but uh the top five all matching all lapping in the 217s however ortelli significantly faster than the rest the rest are doing eights or nines he's doing a 217 five so he's at least three tenths quicker two three ten quicker than all the others in the top five this is uh jens lieberhauser who just can't seem to find a way past marcelo hahn at the moment kaprinsky is staying there in play as well they are leading these are kind of their leaders in the pro-am class here the one first and third in the queue are the two leaders at the front points but as we can see we've got a pro-am car up in second and a pro-am car up in third and one in fifth so particularly for olly milroy this is a really good chance for them uh points wise to to close the gap they're on 33 points currently kaprinsky and klein are on 47. they've got a really good chance here to chip some points away out of those guys and it will really be hard to overtake with these three cars because they're all mercedes amg gt3 so they've all pretty much got the same characteristics so there's no speed difference between those three cars it's all gonna be down to the drivers and you have a terry martin mclaren ahead and we've seen this in previous rounds in a straight line especially out the corners it pulls away by the end of the straight the mercedes gets close to it but not quite close enough to overtake here we go this would probably be their best their best opportunity going down to the chicane and already marcelo han is starting to defend here as we head up towards blanchima this could be a chance here for jens lieberhauser to go for a move as they make their way down towards the chicane he's not going to be close enough though and marcelo harney goes in the middle of the road just to be safe he's going to cover off as they now come out of the chicane there could be all again sleep hazards he was turning in there kaprinsky was showing his nose there was almost a little bit of contact there might have been as we now make our way down towards turn number one to the right of pictures against lieberhauser in the middle is marcelo hamburgski is coming up the inside in the left he's going to go all the way around the outside as jens lieberhauser or he's going to try and they're going to be almost three wide coming out the corner now we're going down to rouge who's going to bite first here we're on board with cabrinsky on the right of picture there that is jens lieberhauser trying to get the down the inside out of rouge and he's done it brilliant move from jens lima houser and on the exit there that is patrick cabrinsky going past marcelo that might be considered a legal move but great racing from pretty much the final corner all the way through to the start of the camel straight there i think he could have a run-in on lieberhauser going on to le combe he's going to look no he's going to keep him inside liber house actually did look on the entrance of blanchard to go around the outside of han and then fought better of it lots of momentum but somehow was already alongside coming out the final corner as well i do agree with you though kaprinsky because he was all four wheels off when he made that move so uh we've had a warning come up drivers must respect track limits in term four and that was term four basically uh so maybe he's got away with that one but uh i wouldn't be surprised if he was told to give the place back but yeah the houser has now got through let's have another look at it then on board oh look at that jensen lieberhauser down the inside at o'rouge and then patrick kaprinsky tries to find a way through here's another look at it on the right of picture there goes against lieberhauser now the gold and black mercedes side by side contact and i think caprinsky would argue that's the reason he had to avoid track limits because of the side-by-side contact definitely i think if they had even if they'd gone very close but not touched he would have no you know understanding that he could go along those track boundaries also it's quite dangerous kind of just going over the crest there because the track curves around the crest so you actually don't uh kind of beat yourself on the ground uh as you go over the compressions well marcelo han is really really struggling here he's you should see the gap already that the two drivers ahead have uh built and this is our pro-am championship leader i wonder if there's a problem with that car valentin pierberg is now next to have a go at him but uh he seems to be really struggling here for pace earlier and ortelli has taken out another half second for the last three laps in icho's laps now 1.5 seconds between our top two cars we're not following that battle on screen at the moment but that's certainly going to get closer through the next laps as well because orteli orteli's actually gone through the second split ahead of crestani so potentially ortelli is right on crestani's towel now that might have been a lag maybe but uh uh stefano telly is as we see it 1.5 seconds back but uh of course anything can change as quickly as happened this is the pierre burke battle that we are following teams keeping a close eye on things as they make their way now down the camel straight so in the back of shot then the uh predominantly blue colored car that is marcelo harm behind him he's a two-time winner here pierre berg yeah bo looking to make it three in a row so we now head through there's a number 20 you can see valentin pyeoba great to have him here at this round stefanotelli has just gone fastest of anyone 217.3 and mano circada is still ahead of aldo vestante by the way but they're still as clo just as close as they were before in the background that is nick moss drove very well at the uh last round did nick moss one thing i will say is when joe osborne took over that car in the second race i think it was he absolutely flew through the field he was uh pretty good really good to watch actually so i'd say watch this space for the number 72 car uh for when we get into the pit stop so now nick moss is doing his best to just stay with those more experienced drivers ahead of him here's for british crestani still in the race lead stephan ortelli just in the background there as they come out of the final chicane and the gap looks less than 1.5 to me now and it's eight tenths of a second so here we go stefan ortelli now should be getting a toe from that bentley as they're going towards that source and in the background olly milroy has been caught by louis pratt so we've got two battles going on at the head of the field one for first and one for third yeah we definitely do have a timing error on our top three cars because it's showing they've spent almost 10 minutes in the final section of the lap as well so we're just going to trust our eyes now rather than uh technology to follow this yeah we'll uh just go with what we see here is crestani and ortelli make their way down the camel straight in the background there you can see milroy and prett canning is still in fifth place he's got eight and a half seconds ahead of uh miguel ramos sally eunick seven through lake hoon we go now uh well tully has been able to close this gap down but getting past is going to be another question isn't it getting past fabrizio crestani is that bentley we saw at monza how quick that thing goes in a straight line and we we saw it at the start of the race in comparison to the aston martin how quickly it got down towards turn number one so this is going to be a challenge for the uh af corsa car the ferrari the air force team haven't won here now for a few years so it's 2017 they uh they lost one here did uh the af corsa team what may help the bentley here is it does have most of its weight over the front wheels so going uphill i imagine that should be an advantage because you've got more traction going through the front of the car especially when you go over the crest of oh rouge as well often you do lose traction because of that the bentley should stay planted to the ground but the ferrari as we know is a better developed car a more agile car uh and it's you know it's almost invisible behind the bed because it's got such a smaller profile so it should be gaining time on these runs back up the hill but whether it can actually kind of out power the bentley to get past is another matter entirely and it may take some time to see that it may go way straight to the co-driver battles as well because obviously we've got two drivers of different qualities coming in next as well it's going to be a fascinating battle this is the best thing about international gt open seeing these different manufacturers go head to head and now stefan ortelli feels he's close enough just to start showing himself in the mirrors and i said it monza i think he sometimes does that to see where he's going because you cannot see a thing when you're behind that bendy how is it how is he going to see where he's going through rouge now look at that he's not going to be able to see a thing only a bentley ahead of him he's just going to have to follow crosstalk as we go left right and back up left again and it's absolutely fascinating watching the cars there managed to get right side as they turn into the left-hander there and it was just a brilliant experience and here you go there's how you make an a of course a car go invisible you get behind evently and the gap three tenths now as they hit the brakes for leica and the ferrari does look more comfortable going through those corners see how much a close end of the first corner in particular is back on the tail of the bentley because bentley did kind of pull away down the camel straight probably the next overtaking opportunity would be stavalo possibly although it's already getting very close to the rear of the leading car maybe crosstalk is being a little more cautious now maybe he's bitting through his tires a bit more because if you see him under braking it's like he's taking two bites of the pedal here comes the ferrari yeah well he's just just showing himself in the mirrors there once again who's the car ahead who's the there must be a cheating cup open europe car that is uh gillian um who is ahead now so this is the first bit of traffic they're going to come up to gilean is seven seconds back from silva so i think he'll just move out the way with no problems it's not like he's in a in a battle here we are getting track limit warnings people do have to be careful that is for ortelia oh rouge uh he's got warning turn four on the previous lap so i don't think he did it on entry is i'm gonna try and we got awesome there we go they go past uh gilly on there and that might have affected crestani and here we go stefan ortelli now has got the run for the lead he's right in the slipstream there oh but fabrizio crestani as they come through blochymon in the left we go and you can see the pat the power there after bentley extends it enough of the gap and now crosstalk doesn't even need to defend as he comes into the final chicane so uh crestani as long as he gets a good run out of stavalo he is safe going in to that final corner blue flags wave in the background ollie milroy goes into uh going past gilead behind him that is pretty going past gillian as well and with his lights on in the back of picture that is tom cannick doing his best to stay with these four as we now head down to our rouge on lap number 10 of the race crestani and orteli in picture now this your battle for the lead lazarus versus af corsa bentley versus ferrari as we charge up hill now and make our way down the camel straight ortelly is uh i think going to find this one pretty difficult that's uh lewis silva ahead in the mercedes crestani is he going to be able to get through in time or telly flashing the headlights and he does get through under braking so that's good for crestani i think this is going to be a problem though for stephan ortelli oh dear stephan don't tell he has to go around the outside at the final right-hander and he's definitely lost a bit of time there hasn't he so stefano tell me a little bit delayed in getting past her louis silva sakoda still leads to duty cup open europe for stante second verstante is now one second back as prett goes past silver there to put a lap on him so that's uh the second of uh the uh that markers out the way for crosstalk and the rest of the league quartet [Music] this is going to be a battle that goes all the way to the pit stops definitely stefano telly if you're him now i mean they'll want to keep him in the car for as long as possible and uh i guess if you're crestani you just keep staying out if he can't get past you then there's no point in coming in instead of coming to the pizza you almost had an opportunity for for them to get their jump during the pit stop phase but uh up towards watching on we go the gap between uh ortega and milroy is 1.7 seconds this is something we're gonna have to monitor particularly if uh if crestani just feels they need to start defending louis pretz has lost quite a bit of time on this lap now trying to get past luis silva he's dropped back from bill roy he was once only about half a second behind bill right now 1.2 seconds back as uh we make our way up to the start finish line that is uh stefan o'telly's teammate i believe just having a watch getting himself ready to go could be jumping in a car but uh it's gonna be in the race lead how about that that would be just a little bit of pressure for uh angelo negro upper rouge once more i can stand and watch that corner all day it never gets old watching these guys fly up there at the speed they do is terrifying actually if you're track side but at the same time it is uh just brilliant to watch as we go in towards leicester crestani a little bit wobbly underbreaking stefano telly definitely looks a lot more comfortable but uh maybe that's just the setup they've got they got for a loose car on that's at bentley as uh here we can see vestante trying to close down menos arcade was right with him last time we checked in on this battle but uh now has dropped back as this is where he seems to really have the legs over fabricio crestani as you can see just doesn't have enough of a run down towards poo on if that was a a heavy braking zone would at least be able to have a look up the inside or set himself up for a switchback in the background by the way milroy is being caught now by louis pretz once again gap is coming down on this 11th flat but it's our two leaders out front we are focusing on the battle for the lead of the race crestani versus orteli we have a car that has one podium and then a car that has a win result they had a red bull ringer brilliant result for stefan ortelli they now sit in second place here with crestani leading the way and we've got a similar sized gap between our gt cup open europe lead battle manual cicada leads aldo festante after 10 laps 1.035 seconds between those two vestante was faster last time round they've been lapping pretty much within three temps of each other for this whole race and i think uh cicada does hand over his car but festante remains in his so vestante will continue this battle throughout the race and obviously the crestanyo telly cars and gt open you have to have two drivers so they will be swapping around through the source now on lap number 12. oh and there we go that was oh that was almost uh every moment there that was louis pratt and uh i think then if he was going past the traffic or if he just got in a little bit wrong or if that was an attempt but uh nearly going straight into the back of olly milroy upper rouge we go and you can see off in the distance that we've got uh fabrizio crestani and ortelli battling a bat marker ahead gets well out of the way for them as they now go in towards leicester ortelli using the curve on the outside just to open up the corner as much as possible to hook them around the left that pulls them to the left-hand side of the track to open up this corner here turn number nine and now we have the run downhill right on the back there stefano he can get very close he can almost touch the back of the bentley but he can't get close enough yet to make a move and it's the heavy braking turns just have too much of a straight with stefano telly they're on the real faster sections of the circuit [Music] [Applause] unsurprisingly stefan i'll tell you what you do now if you're in the the car if you're stephan ortelly's team here elliot do you pay early did you wait wait late wait for maybe crosstalk to come in and maybe you get one or two you know laps to try and get the jump i would let or telly stay in the car it depends where they are in lane as well because obviously your position along the pit lane when you're making those driver swaps can have an impact on potentially how long you do spend in the pits in case you have to let other cars pass i haven't really investigated that order this morning but i would i would leave these two drivers to battle i think it's more beneficial to try and make a move on track than try and force it through the pits instead they're both down that end up lazarus are further up so lazarus on my head the af quarter guys are kind of in the middle i spent the second free practice session in the pit lane yesterday wow what a what an experience that was just uh seeing the cars come in and out seeing the teams go to work really fantastic experience and that pit lane is going to get busy uh any second now because in 10 seconds uh that pit lane will be open for driver swaps and out from we could see a swap and that would be for the race lead as ortelli right on the back of crest darling this is a boredom this is the view on board with louis pratt here we go down towards oh rouge we're going to go left now up the right and over the crest and uh that is the rouge thing next time we'll have a listen down the camel straight we go and uh christani here ortelli behind driver swaps are now open and the pit lane is getting very busy uh indeed we've got charlie eastwood has jumped in he's going to be jumping in the tf sport car that has come straight into the pit cabrinski's come in to hand over to christian climb marcelo hahn uh has come into the pit lane to hand over to fran raider great to have ram with us this weekend did very well he won an uh red bull ring race winner here as well is frauredo over the last few years nick foster great to have him with us as well that's uh uh pierre berg just helping nick foster getting belted up and uh nick foster gonna be in the car for them and uh well he is no stranger to the world of gt racing third in the asian le mans series this year he's been racing he did a race in the gt world challenge as well at southport he's raced if i won endurance podium finisher at bathurst as well he's he's done just about everything and he's only 28 years old nick foster so let's see what he can do as he now jumps in the number 20. that is the 72 joe was born in for them last time joe osborne was given the challenge of coming through the field he did very well at it so let's see what he can do he is going to be going out in 12th place but our two leaders stay out so the top seven yet to pitch but eighth ninth 10th 11th 12th all have been in antonio combra has jumped in in place of louis silver as well and crosstalk is in so fabricio crostani has come into the pits to hand over to yannick mettler now that has opened the door for otelli the only problem for telly might be traffic because a lot of drivers have been in pit lane but the gt cup open leaders have also come to the bench so they should be the slower the very slowest car should be kind of out of his way now besides the ones that he has already lapsed and vincent that's the race leaders doing their driver's swap yannick mettler jumps in not a big handicap no real handicap for them either which is going to help them in this race stefan will tell you that likewise they won't really have one as well so they've got a chance here now to uh stefan ortelli has a chance to push on and potentially get that car into the lead of the race he's got uh 11 minutes and 10 seconds before the pit lane closes holly miller is in second here we can see our championship leaders miguel ramos and rico chavez chavez in the car now not a bad race for them so far but uh [Music] chavez will want to get that car a little bit higher up their championship rivals vince and april and louis pratt ahead of them on track so far [Music] this is our base leader stefan ortelli gap to olly milroy 1.2 seconds ollie miller has been it's been catching stefan ortelli over the last couple laps but uh stefano telly going particularly quick on this lap now he's got the the door opened up for him he's set a personal best first sector i wonder if he was eventually saving the tires for this potential opportunity [Music] now he's going to make this run all the way to blanchamon very good second sector as well actually it's not a personal best but a really solid sector so this is uh having had their pit stops the former race leaders now janik mettler has gone into the car for them his task hold on to the race lead to take its second win of the season and his second win in as many rounds not an easy task is it but uh to go and take a win around spa yannick knows that car is capable of winning he's been giving it in the lead of the race now he just has to try and set better times than this car here to hold on to that race lead right now circada in the background there [Music] [Music] uh he has not got any teammates so he will essentially get out the car and run around it jump back in and wait in the pit lane until uh the time is up and then he'll be released again now we've been uh team 48 the team manager has been ordered to raise control and that is our uh race leaders stefan ortelli i'm not too sure that would be over exactly seen them doing uh anything wrong but stewards want to have a chat with their team manager faster slap for stefan ortelli 217.135 and that's crucial just as crostani came into the pits to hand over to mettler ortelli was given a clear track and he's going to set the fastest lap of the race so that's the experience of stefan o'telly for you knew that he was going to potentially be released at some stage now that's happened no mistakes whatsoever for stefan ortelli and he goes and sets the fastest lap of the race now his gap to milroy has extended it's uh over three seconds now canning trying to close in on uh on ollie milroy he's five seconds back he's at canning that is uh robert gillian in the pet lane fran morada trying to make his way up the order he's just gone he's gone into uh 11th place let's see what fran can do from in that number 16 cup 35 minutes remaining in the race we've got seven and a half minutes of this pit stop window left and a little bit wide that time i'll tell you just going a little bit wide on the brakes it's gonna cost him on the exit as he now makes his way down towards last source this is the point in the race where we we kind of wait and see what's happened now it's uh once the pit stops start being made they'll never all come in together they've all got different strategies but once they've all been in and out again that is when we we know what the score is and nick foster has just gone and set as fast as that 216.885 well no surprise to see that kind of pace from him nick foster experienced driver has took victories at the highest level and nick foster has now got himself the fastest lap and he is behind charlie east would be some nine and a half seconds back from eastwood eastwood himself trying to close down their likes over chavez and april the championship fight is between april chavez and eastwood and they all together in terms of positions not on terms of track literally but they all are right there and that was a big mistake wasn't it for mortelli i think his tyres have given up on him now and i think we're gonna see him into the pits at the end of this lap we have six minutes left in terms of the pit window and uh stefan ortelli you can you can just see his ties now are gone aren't they they are shot he's gonna have to come into the pits i think maybe it's just one or two errors but uh to me looks start to look a little bit uncomfortable on those now angelo negro will be ready to go when required and then we will see exactly where they are in comparison to uh janet medler [Music] stefano making his way up towards uh blanchima now are we gonna see him come into the pits this time or is he gonna go for another one he'll have a chance for about two more laps if he wants to stay out there and he's going to stay out for at least one more yeah i think the gap he needs to look at now is the one two teammate vincent abrerell uh one minute 28 seconds behind he's the only driver who's actually lapping kind of at the same pace as ortelli and then it's the other cars that have pitters such as enrico travis who are now lapping him two minute 16s so we kind of know he's going to come out behind chavez as whether he's going to come out ahead of the likes of abril um because they are kind of laughing at roughly the same pace but obviously with far newer tyres [Music] this is the number seven of ollie milroy making his way up hill he's gonna stay out for as long as possible he's the pro driver in a pram team so he will stay out there for as long as he can enrique chavez has gone quickest so good news for him in the championship fight he's 14.7 back from april and stefan ortelli who is the leading car has just been handed a three second time penalty uh for a track limit abuse that has mostly been at term four o'rouge kind of jumping over the curbs over the crest of the corner so i imagine that is probably going to put him not only behind travis but at least behind one other car because chavez only has i know travis does have a 12 second advantage to eastwood and there's five seconds between ortega and milwaukee so maybe he won't lose another spot but his question is where vincent abreal fits into this because he is ahead of travers at the moment all we know is stefan will tell he's going to win he has to at least do it by 3.1 seconds when he has the car to uh to angelo negro and uh when we saw that uh team managers being called up to the uh up to race control for car 48 i think it was uh you know if he doesn't stop that we're gonna give him a penalty and uh he hasn't so the penalty has been awarded and uh it won't take action until the race is finished as soon as he crosses the line his car will effectively stop for three seconds in terms of timing and uh [Music] and we've had the lap times come in from the cars that have already pitted who are almost a whole circuit behind i'll tell you the moment and they've closed in by two seconds on as that ortelli stays out for another lap his gats ollie milroy is actually going up provisionally but it's the gap to the cars that have already pitted as the ones we really need to be looking at 35 seconds i don't think he's bitter it's vision abroad he's currently one lap down contour timing but he was one minute 25 down just as ortelli comes along to the bentley and is that all telly is that where's chavez actually just got passed so this is a battle for position because these two uh were a few seconds apart before the pit stops but uh vincent abraham since jumping in that car has been going very quickly as uh elliott was saying he's been doing very quick lap times tom cannon comes in his first time racing in the gt3 car and i think he's done himself very proud there now he will hand over to teammate ahmed o'hare the driver from oman who will jump in and do his first race of 2020. but here we go this is april versus mettler april one of the championship contenders will want to get past mettler as quickly as possible looked like he had the run going down towards the chica oh there we go just take that out the car and launch it if there's no one there to hold on to it throw it into the garage april comes into the finals again a bit of curb to hook him round looked a lot smoother around that uh final chicane [Music] did as they come up to the line they are completely side by side we go on board with vincennes there april to the right of picture trying to go around the outside of yannick mettler turns into lassos oh almost a little bit of contact there but around the outside vincent april has taken the position from here just out in front he's just come out of the pits and i think both of them whenever tim is being given a blue flag so he actually has to give back that position and that's put a card between the bentley and the ferrari bentley got very close through the compression they're very rouge they're about to lap another car i think the bentley's gonna make move down here unless cannon cuts across he's giving him the room which is very sensible of him there's a lot of change position now and for all of this or telly's actually extended his lead not only over the car behind him but over these cars as well well yeah it would have been all right oh harley of course is now in the old man racing car and uh they don't have a handicap so they will just be going straight they'll be going in and out for the minimum time required hence that would have pulled them a little bit closer to the like so carrying handicaps uh no handicap for negro and ortelli so 75 seconds the uh minimum required pit stop for them and they will now to their time now we get to see exactly where they are brendan uh is about to jump in the number seven ollie milroy has done very well there he's gonna get the american brendan into the car brendan not a lot of racing experience and uh has been doing very well so far uh this season is the driver just getting better and better at each round so that is the end of the driver changes now once i rib and negro come back out daniel diaz likewise who has jumped in for manuel circada we will kind of know where we are i think this is going to be what opened up the door for a bro you can see just running a little bit wide there was uh was met taking the curve was april here's a look on board so missing the cub there's mettler april jumps over it sets himself up nicely for the exit of the corner and already he was drawing alongside there and that would have given him the chance to do this he's going to go around the outside of la source here we go pulls over to the racing line i'm coming around whether you like it or not and through he goes and good driving from yannick meadow i have to say gave him the room could have easily been contact there but uh avoided it so negro and iris are currently coming out of the pit lane where does this leave in respect to victor neighbor we're about to find out coming up the hill now this is the optimal motorsport car of brendan i rip negro i assume is already out there and ahead seven seconds up the road as they make their way now down the camel straight so negro is through irib is here in the picture uh in the background there is april who is now in third uh fourth place is ahmed al harthy and fifth place is yannick mettler so that is the order as they come down towards the breakings in fact that's negro isn't it to the right of picture april comes down the inside so negroes dropped a third so brendan irene takes over the optimal motorsport car in the lead of the race with an 8.7 second advantage how about that what happened in that pit stop then because the irid car was six seconds behind uh as they went into the pit but they don't have a handicap and the ferrari which has only finished in the points twice this year has come out six seconds behind that is maybe a problem in the pit stop because you are right they should they they would not have had one so well there we go that's changed things massively one thing that hasn't changed is the uh battle going on for the lead of gt cup open europe and that is making its way now down towards the right-hander so uh the um handicap for brendan irip let's just uh have a look as we continue to watch because they lost 16 seconds in total in the first sector of this lap to the negro car to brenda and irene so eight seconds ahead to eight seconds behind well stefano telly and negro did not have one uh pretz and april had a 92nd uh 85 for new look and eastwood 85 for ramess ramos and chavez uh marcelo hanan from raider had a 95 second one is this is out of vestante going down the outside here trying to get the lead of the gt cup open euro race of their daniel diaz farrell as they make their way out to the final corner now and down the start finish straight out of estante can he get through he's been battling away with nano circada now he's battling away with daniel diaz morale as they go in towards the breaking zone make their way in towards turn number one by the way no handicap for them either so they did the 17 five seconds as they make their way down towards our rouge so we've got the battle for the lead of gt cup open europe we've got our overall leader in the background as well brendan and i rip leading a race for what i think is the first time this season and he's being caught very quickly by vincent april there is yannick butler who sits third overall and then this is the battle for fourth place we've got uh kenny uh we've got uh sorry having just gone past angelo negro and he is in fourth place negro trying to fight back there to get that position back but aldo vestante running wide at the end of the camel straight there i think iris has got past both of them but he had an 8.7 second advantage here now when he has a 3.2 second advantage there's a replay of the two ferraris battling into le coomb and overtaking in within a lap he's dropped 20 seconds to brendan irene uh has the angelo negra cut and most of that was lost as they came out the pits but it says all handicaps are okay so we know no one's gone under that pit stop time so potentially maybe they had trouble getting off the jacks or still the engine or something like that it easily happens this is florian's schultz the uh the amp leader and he's going to extend his advantage in the app class uh as well but this is our leader brendan irib going to be very nervous in that car bit just a little bit out of shape there coming out of the left-hander this is uh the number 48 of angelo negro who's uh their race has gone from being in the race lead to now being in uh being in six because enrique chavez the championship leader has just gone past afterload negro and something just doesn't seem right there does it and he's laughing very slowly i wonder if there's a a problem with that car they are laughing at slow speed so i think they're about to come back into the pits yeah it's it's not been a good a few laps well two laps since they've taken note of the car and the battle for gt cup open europe lead is going into the final chicane again second time round will festante make the move around the outside he's staying late on the brakes he's actually got the momentum he's got his nose ahead and he cuts across and he's going to hopefully give the position back so he can avoid a penalty there he's lost a lot of time yeah and they've got blue flags so both i'm going to have to give a position to the cars behind as we go back to the lead battle brendan irene i think mr gear on the exit the corner there because it was very slow on kind of the second phase of the exit vincent abreu was right behind him going on the run to o'rouge he wouldn't dare make a move here although he did have a little look at the steering wheel that's distraction tactics isn't it on brendan irie but he's worked because he's got the run on the exit and vincent abraham's gonna pull to the left ferrari versus mclaren down the camel straight to the right of picture that is vincent april is he about to take the lead from friend and ira but don't think brendan would fight this one too hard or did i speak too soon going into the breaking zone brendan iran backing out there and that is a change of lead vincent avril takes the lead however brendan is still has the lead in the am class so this is still good news for that number seven of brendan i rip they are still in the lead they have not had a class win so far this season so that is their goal now is to beat ahmed al-harthi to the line who is about seven seconds back here's a a look at that for stante move so tried to go around the outside and at the end had to bail out it was a a little squeeze there from daniel diaz for raila to say if you're gonna do this you're gonna cause an instant so i'd back out and uh vistante yeah just uh was never going to make that that was going to cause an incident if he did it and this was a replay much better for april and the move was done by this point already wasn't it as he would then make his way past down the camel straight and we returned to the gt cup open europe battle and we've got a stewards investigation notice cars involving 16 and 40. we're away florian with these two lead cards i do wonder if cicadas told diaz right that this is where festanto is going to try attacking as long as you've got your nose ahead going into the final corner you can't do anything for the rest of the next lap yeah that's that's probably all but if you do that you give him an opportunity daniel and i think out of astante could get the run here as they make their way now down towards blanchimon out of astante in the toe here of daniel diaz-varela up towards blanche when they go and just using track limits there to open up that corner even more daniel diaz varela and it's going to be like a replay of the last two laps let's see if this one goes a bit better though out of astante he's tried going around the outside he's tried getting the switch back he's gonna go for the switchback again this time and i think he might have done this because diaz won very wide there verstante will be side by side on the exit it's the battle for the lead in gt cup open europe down towards la source they go is verstante going to be able to get through it's going to be daniel diaz varela holding on on the inside and vistante not quite able to get through as they come out and down towards rouge yeah and i think he would have got past them but because uh daniel diaz ray kind of went off track and came across vestante had to turn a little to the left to avoid an instant and that just sat to acceleration as soon as you're having to use the steering wheel but he's got a good run going out rouge they do have the ferrari behind them i wonder if he's gonna make an overtake very mick hacking in 2000 if we make this happen uh festante's gone for the inside diaz right in the middle we actually that's what the tf sport has to martin yeah that's trying to get up the he's done this before going trying to get past three cars in about one corner he's done two of them and now he's got to try and get past negro is the car ahead of him clearly there's no problems with that car but eastwood looks like he's got that move done it looked like as they disappeared out of shot there he had that move done now and this is about the second iris versus yannick bettner yeah half is closed in behind them as well he's only 2.3 seconds behind that would be the battle for the pram lead between irib and al harfi and behind them as henrico chavez who is the quickest person on track which probably isn't the surprise of henrique travers uh especially you know he does enjoy going on these charges in the second half of races uh but the bentley is currently all over the mclaren does the bentley what's the gap between irene and abril three point six nine nine seconds and iribe's team manager has actually been asked to report to race control already that's gonna be track limits it's gonna be yeah uh track limits abusing track limits constantly and the bentley's going down the inside of blanchard that's a bit risky two wheels on the grass on the entry hits the brakes on the entrance to the cor entry corner as well that is i mean it's a well-performed move but very very risky and it's put irune under pressure from hamedo harfi who makes a very clean move takes third place or yeah we'll take third place and henrique chavez is already on the tail of all free now travis could be ahead of these cars by the end of the next lap yep chavez in the background where mettler al-harthi rip and in the background enrique chavez trying to get down the inside there of our room fantastic racing in international gt open hope you're enjoying it as much as we are as they now make their way down towards our rouge april leading this lock by about nine seconds up the road so uh all he has to do is keep it on the track unless there's a safety car i think he'll be okay but anything can happen in racing as we have found out on several occasions already this season and it looks like chavez is about to get past brendan i rip as they make their way down the camel straight ahead of them that is mettler trying to defend bremelharthy but going put past irib looks to be enrique and he's now into fourth yeah and we just got joe's notice getting part number 15 slow on track that is alberto de martin one of the duty cup open europe cars now he would be stopped he stopped at 10 11. he's now stopped is this going to be a safety car that looks very stopped if he look the car didn't move a little bit there uh oh and yeah we almost saw it move just as the camera cut i think he's gonna be all right but where is turn 11 that's just after the cool isn't it yeah bruce corner that's uh that's no name corner where he's out he's at turn 10 [Music] well these cars have got past fine so i think he may have got moving again where he must he must have done a yellow flag now it probably would have been double yellows if there was a so he looked like there was a big runoff i think he might have been up because he was on a big run-off but uh maybe he's just enjoying the scenery i mean there is lots to enjoy that's very true some really nice shots around here so i think it's at the top of the photographer's favorites uh this track you can see why soon to get here and now harvey i believe has just made a move on yannick no he hasn't the timing beam just changed on the screen he caught me out earlier yeah yeah so what this is this is old old like kind of old school al harpy 2013-14 british gt when he was with was with alexander sims the bmw that was a question i cannot answer he had a great race at alton park i think in very similar kind of cloudy conditions to this where he came from like seventh grade and finished third i think and that was kind of what kept them in title contention well he won the 24 hour here last year as well he's uh he's had great success over the years as ahmad al-hard he had a good chat with him actually yes he wanted to spend some time with the tf sport guys yesterday and had a good chat with ahmed you know it's just been the restrictions it's he hasn't really been able to travel out of the country um too much and that stopped him from from racing but they have announced ahmed o'hara will race together as this is going to be chavez going joe osborne's having a problem it looks like his second sector time hasn't come through he's dropped two places already uh he's in one of mclaren's he has now completed that reinstalled in tenth place another timing glitch as we see aldo festante trying to take the inside line he hasn't he's just taken the gt cup hoping europe lead that mclaren kind of helped them out there it took him a long time but out of vestante looks like he is into the lead of the race in terms of gt cup open europe now daniel diaz will no doubt want to fight back as soon as they come up oh rouge here they come in upper rouge and it looks like vestante's got the run and i think now vistante has been released he might be okay let's have a look at how it happened to the far right of picture is out of vistante uh to the left here this is the optimum motorsport car joe osborne comes at the inside of both cars verstante sees what's going on good opportunistic driving and follows joe on joe hawks through to take the position very good driving there from aldo vestante uh we pick up the old man racing by tf sport car again and one thing i was going to say is ahmed al hardy and tom canning they are going to be teammates in the asian le mans series uh at the beginning of next year that was announced not too long ago that they are going to race in the uh series so uh good news for them and this a chance for them to start preparing for that because it's going to be a challenging series there's stefan ortelli and i think his reaction says it all he's very disappointed that's how the race has turned out because they were in the leader for a long time and unfortunately it's just not worked out for them at all during pit stop phase but there is an af quarter card in the lead of the race it's nine seconds ahead of this battle here which is the battle for second between janet metler and enrique chavez and we have a train of four cars now coming through to our rouge looking back at that battle between the ferraris i guess the one good thing is if you do have a bad result you don't have a handicap for the next race so next race and then obviously next round of the series as well like hopefully gonna have a stronger time it looks like schultz has also made an overtake we've got number of the gt cup open europe cars being lapped by our front runners now this is mettler and travis nine seconds between them and vincent abreal going is slightly quicker than our leader but with only 12 minutes left of the race i don't think it'll be able to make pass henrique chavez is all over the rear of butler though both of them go over the curves that is another track limits offense although if we think trot limits is about to say over the red bull ring they had a race with three drive-through penalties this morning because of uh consistent track limits abuse now that's the corner they're being strict at is turn nine i'll speak to some of the uh euro formula drivers about that we'll talk about that in a second though because this is a battle for second yannick mettler having the championship leader all over and the fight for the title is between chavez april and eastwood those sets of drivers it's between those now chavez has a eight point advantage over a real if the race were to finish now that would be reduced to just three points so vince and abril will be hoping that that bentley that we see in our picture yannick metler can keep chavez at bay if he can't and chavez finishes second it will close by three points obviously going down to five but this would almost make things dead level and al harthi could do these guys a favor as well if he's able to catch up and get past enrique chavez so ahmed al-harthi could come into play here as well as they make their way down towards nisha kang april nine seconds clear of this as they go in towards the final chicane out of the chicane and now down the star finish straight mettler trying to keep chavez at bay chavez king to get past as quickly as possible and in the background ahmed hall hearthy oh and you can see there a little bit of distraction tactic from chavez as he started moving up the breaking behind yannick mettler janet mettler had to take a little bit of avoiding action and turn in a little bit early but it's going to be mettler who leads chavez as they go up rouge on lap 26 and behind them we do have the pro-am lead battle amino harvey now nine seconds ahead of brendan irene coming under pressure from the second tf sport car driven by charlie eastwood only 0.946 seconds between them mettlers kind of swerving across the straight keeping temperature in the tires there but also probably looking in his mirrors because of how small the mclaren is in comparison to their profiles uh you know as soon as he's behind you can't actually see where he is so going into the final 10 minutes of the race the situation is this vincent april second in the championship there's a move that's eastward going past brendan iris that is for fifth place whether eastwood can make any more positions i think you need to be a little bit lucky or just incredibly quick because he needs to make up 10 seconds so april leads by over nine seconds ahead of yannick mettler who's trying to get the second podium of the season in as many rounds for that team lazarus bentley continental third place is your championship leader enrique chavez if he finishes third and april finishes first the gap between them goes down to just three points ahmed o'hara the first time we've seen the old man racing by tf sport car here this season and ahmad along with tom canning doing very well they're in fourth place with a chance of an overall podium especially if this battle kicks off irib is in fifth place led the race for a while a little bit earlier charlie eastwood then sits in sixth place not been the best of races for that tf sport car but uh they could be very quick tomorrow with no handicaps as we have nick foster then in six great to have with us he's on for a pro podium christian klein in chase though in x place angelo negro not been the best of races for him was handed the car in the lead he now sits in ninth place joe osborne is intense trying to chase him down fran morado on his second appearance this season is 11 warrior schultz our out leader is 12th then we have gt cup open europe but we're almost pushing each other now down the start finish straight yannick metler in the black bentley trying to defend from enrique chavez enrique chavez dives to the inside now back to the outside trying to get the switch back that's antonio combra in the silver mercedes allowing both drivers through and i think they're side by side as we go down towards our rouge they are to the left is chavez to the right is mettler who's going to give up first as they turn into rouge and chavez round the outside takes second place from the annik mettler but it's not over yet we have the run now down towards lake home and no doubt mettler is gonna fight back here you can see chavez defending he's even signaling i'm staying over here mate and mettler is going to go to the outside and metla takes the place back brilliant stuff there by both drivers very very close but obviously track limits are overused again i think on entry the bentley went wide and then on exit was the mclaren we do have a three second penalty for our am-class leader but as the only am-class driver in the race at the moment that's not really going to impact their race result at all as chavez sticks around amino half he's been brought right onto the rear of this [Music] he's 13 seconds ahead of brendan i reap now so he's pretty much got pro-am victory uh rounded up as well in his first gt open start of the year brilliant battling going on uh to come over in europe by the way being led by vistante uh he's a few he's about four seconds ahead of diaz raila then his comrade gillian and alberto de martin uh we have a penalty for car 44 three seconds to be added to the end of their time at the end of the race which is florian schultz but this is the battle for second place overall and it now involves that oh man racing by tf sport car with ahmed o'harthy in the car this is a view of your leader we haven't seen him a lot over the last few minutes since uh he jumped in the car this is uh vincent since taking the leaders gaff is now 8.6 seconds and he's starting to take his foot off the gas a little bit just take it easy now the gaps coming down there's the af corsa team their last win here was 2017. they won three years in a row 15 16 17. they haven't won here since but uh this would not be the first time april and uh his teammate louis pratt would uh get a of course back to where they know they can be at the top in international gt open but this is going to be a fascinating battle to the flag elliot we've got a a wild card in this as well with ahmed or harthy who will do anything he can to get that second place janik metler just wants a podium but chavez is trying to reduce the gap between himself and april by just getting past gets past it goes to three points between uh april behind chavez so this is real damage limitation work as well as a battle for second for enrique chavez there is under three seconds covering these three cards and we know that three seconds tends to be the penalty awarded for track limits i don't think they're on their final warnings yet but they've definitely been given several warning flags each of those three cars uh so that could come into play in these final five minutes if they you know they don't keep it clean well they don't keep it between those white lines specifically at that corner then you know if it could potentially cost some positions yes i mean yannick mender has been given two hasn't he's been good one for term four and for turn nine he has got to be careful now turn four was a rouge and he was kind of side by side with someone for half of that kiwani nine though that's coming out of lake home we've got to be careful there that's the corner they are the most strictest now chavez will want to make this move get this move done though because obviously vincent abril is his closest title rival and he's winning this race and because all three of these front three cars are pro class cars those will be the points they're losing to each other rather than you know if there was a program in between them so i think abra would close up to eight points behind it will be three um if he makes it over to he is eight behind uh if if the flag went out now it would go to three points if if chavez gets passed it comes down to just it comes down to five points and there's a chance tomorrow with how the handicaps would work that chavez could kind of extend that gap back out again this is amadeus uh doing a doing a great job i mean you know coming in no experience so far this year uh you know 18 year old tom ganning qualifies second starts the race gives the car to armadillo harpy and how happy is now closing the gap up his last time in the car was snetsun in march now all of a sudden he finds himself in his first race of the year battling for a second with you know race winners in yannick mettler and enrique chavez this season absolutely fantastic job by them and these guys here vincent abreal leads the way so far so good brilliant stuff and we're three minutes 28 to go we're gonna have this next lap then potentially one more depending when they cross our leader crosses the line i think vincent abreal would kind of want to slow down at this point so he can you know do one less lap because he's got 10 seconds in hand you know the more tire life you save the more fuel you save generally just easier for the team and looks like florian shoals has overtaken joe osborne i think that's the timing glitch again so well joe osborne mclaren actually regardless it's such a 54 second so such a gap between him and his teammates in ninth place at the moment uh eight seconds behind christian clean the number 88 mercedes i can see valentin pierre per casing that's on the uh pit wall he's just wore back now but i think he's keeping an eye on the gap between brenda and i between his teammate nick foster and bretton and ivy ahead because foster is lapping at least a second faster the gap is four seconds now that would be a battle for second in pro-am class not quite going to be the hat-trick uh of wins for them today as elliot will leave us uh he will be back once again for international gt tomorrow he's off to do podiums uh and uh we will hear from him again tomorrow and i think the person who will be calling up as our winner is potentially going to be this man anything can happen in racing though you've got to make it to the flag but uh we're going to keep an eye on this gap between irish and foster because pierberg was pacing there you know he's he's definitely on the i think he sees this gap he's coming down we will certainly be keeping an eye on it less than two minutes remain now as abril makes his way up towards the last corner they're gonna see the final lap ball very shortly now might even be this time round in fact as he makes his way now through the chicane i think this will be to start the final lap of the race as april makes his way across the start finish line and makes that run down towards turn number one and this will be the start of the final lap so this battle for second race is going to be very interesting this is our race leader clear out front i see yannick nettler go by and there's been a change for third place amid o'harthy has gone through into third he's gone past enrique chavez this is vince and april let's have a listen upper rouge he goes on the final lap of the race but there's been a change for third place how harthi has got by enrique chavez will enrique chavez be out of right back there's al harfi and uh chavez just behind as they now make their way down the camel straight can they get a podium i think we're going to see how it happened and that is chavez pulling over and allowing them through interesting interesting there so uh i mean i wouldn't think uh chavez would fight back now [Music] pulling over and uh allowing al hardy through of course points wise uh it won't really change anything but uh i made a whole hearthy it looks like he's gonna drive that car to a podium take a podium on his first race over 2020 enrique [Music] is the one leading the way in this he's second place so far and that old man racing by tf sport car looks on track to take a podium and that would be a fantastic performance driving the day in my opinion as we now see the af courser star start to make his way down i was talking about valentin pierberg nick foster was only one second behind brendan irig when they went on to that lap so uh nick foster can he get past brendan i rip on this final lap to take second in the pro-am class but uh let's switch back to our overall leader vincent april makes his way through blochymon for the final time of the race the last time af corsa were on the top step here was back in 2017 and they've done it a few times this season they're going to do it again april and prett are going to put a of course back on the top step of the podium and they're gonna do it here at spa franco charms up to the line vincent april takes race one victory and closes the gap to the championship leader fantastic stuff from vicks enable the gap comes down now to just three points as yannick metler goes across the line to get the second podium of the season for team lazarus and taking an overall podium ahmed o'harthy for the oman racing by tf sports team on their first race of 2020 ahmed o'harthi and tom canning will stand on the overall podium here a small franchise a fantastic achievement enrique is four he's now gonna be leading by just three points oh dear what's happened at the final corner that's nick foster and brendan irene nick foster has a puncture as he comes across the line brendan ivory crawling up to the line and we'll just make it home ahead of christian klein i think we're about to find out what happened to the right of picture is nick foster it's under-breaking brendan irene on the inside and brendan irene gets late on the breaks runs it wide oh dear nick foster trying to rejoin the track there and uh nick foster there was no room to come back onto the track there i think he would have had to just cut the corner brendan irip was turning in and nick foster goes straight into the side of him that might be looked at that one nick foster would be six brendan irie seventh but here is your race winners vincent abra on louis pratt speaking of race winners we're about to see another one coming across the line as our vestante makes his way to the start finish time but vincent april and louis pratt take the race win their fourth win of the season absolutely fantastic stuff the only track they haven't won at this season is red bull ring other than that they have won at every single track fantastic stuff celebrations begin at af corsa second yannick mettler ahmed al-harfi will be third and i think we're about to see our vistante come up to the line so it's going to be four wins in a row for the italian as he turns his way into the chicane it wasn't straight forward was it he really had to fight for this one and now the last corner four in a row for our vestante in gt cup open europe who further extends his lead in the championship brilliant driving from vestante daniel diaz varela manos circada they'll have a good go tomorrow no doubt and antonio combo and louis silva on the podium once again as uh rodriguez will be fourth in that class alberto de martin fifth here's confirmation the results your race winners for the fourth time this season pret and april crestani and mettler will be very pleased with that second place two podiums in as many races for that team our hearthy and cunning overall podium on their first race of 2020 brilliant driving from both of them ramos and chavez fourth place damage limitation likewise for euler and eastwood pierre berg and foster provisionally second in pro out irid milroy will be third then klein and koprinsky moss and osborne han and ruaida the gap between championship leaders in prague closing in ortelia negro what a shame for them having led the race in the earlier stages shockton lieberhauser will be your winners in now verstante takes the win and gt cup open europe so what does that do to the championship well look there you can see it actually closes in by even more doesn't it one point now between chavez and ramos prett and april 92 points so uh well it couldn't be any closer than that could it absolutely nothing between them and they are pretty much dead level going into tomorrow well their first race of 2020 tom canning and aberdell hardy who drove it to the line oh man racing by tf sport finished third sinis in second the number 26 of yannick mettler and fabricio crestani haven't taken their second pole position of the season a brilliant race from lazarus but even brilliant race from vincent abreu and louis prep for the fourth time this season hey of course are your winners let's go down and hear from them now we are with uh louis brett and vince brill winners again and uh here at spa it's the fourth uh win of the season very nice race risk first state was a little bit more difficult yeah i mean the cold temperatures are not helping obviously uh the story was quite tough uh the first three laps mainly once uh the taurus got up to pressure i managed to close down the gap to uh mirror and then we're catching back the bentley and stefan which also made a great job but i mean uh first race uh in spa this weekend and first win it's uh it's quite cool and it's such an amazing track and obviously vince finished it in the right way so nothing more to say and we'll see tomorrow where we end up and it's all good for the championship vince yeah it's time to put some pressure now i think uh we're in a great position we've got a fantastic team uh i really enjoyed myself that's what i told the team on the radio i had we had a really good car today um i pushed like hell in the outlaps because i knew we were going to make a difference louis was really fast in the race but was a bit stuck behind the mclaren so he told us that you know there was a bit more pace there and i used everything i could he did such a good job this morning and overall in the weekend i think we've got a strong pairing so tomorrow's going to be tough we have a lot of time in the pits so we can uh we can take a coffee but we will uh push like hell like always and keep the pressure on well done guys [Music] well let's look back at when it all started for the second time this season we had the bentley leading us down towards term one bit of a difficult start for oman racing by tf sport to the right of picture there they were passed by stefan ortelli straight away at the start as olly milroy got on the front foot got himself up into third place in the early stages of the race this was a real nick louis pretzel making his way through into fourth place at the start as they made their way up rouge for the first time and on to the camel straight brilliant racing in gt cup open europe vestante versus manuel circada and we had lots of battling going on for eighth place as well jensen lieberhauser going through past marcelo haan eventually as chris as patrick caprinsky also got through this was the moment he did it up a rouge there you can see jens lieberhaus are going past marcelo on and also going through a little bit of side-by-side contact but krapinski would also go through it into ninth place 28 minutes in the pit stops would happen and after them vince april has someone got to move forward this was when he went past yannick mettler got the run out of the chicane and eventually completing that move at las source brendan ivory did lead after the pit stops but started to drop down the order enrique chavez going through to take position this was the moment vestante took the lead on daniel diaz varela joe osborne going through and then we had out of istante go through and into the lead and he would never be seen again but uh vincent abreu would drive the car to the win with enrique chavez back in fourth that closes the gap to just one point going in to tomorrow [Music] so now we're going here from gt cup open europe winner aldo vestante who is down in pit lane aldo vestante i think we owe you some thanks because it was really a great show very entertaining you had to sweat a little bit that one huh they made me sweat for real i knew it was crucial for the reason for the championship to be to win and to be ahead of him more to be ahead of him rather than to win and i was just putting unended pressure whoever i had ahead of me trying to gain from the lapping just doing anything because i knew i had much less on the straights and much more in the corners but you need to you need to be quick and take a toll here to overtake so i needed to invent something i was at the point i was like what am i supposed to do now and i just went for it and i took a big break and i had to have a big reward now and i hope to do it again tomorrow good that was nice to watch and nice for the championship well done thank you i mean normally in that podiums now coming up very shortly as elliott actually going off with the microphone he's gonna announce the podiums here for us so enrique showers with uh allowing our hearthy through uh to just one point but uh we're going to get oman racing by tf sport onto the podium first third place tom canning and uh ahmed now half the when they decide to uh show their faces i'm sure they're still celebrating at the moment but they're gonna get to do it in style and they come out onto the podium a second place though it was uh there is to the right picture tom canning and now hartley to the left a picture yannick mettler and for brito crestani but taking the overall win a of course so for the first time since 2017 he responded vince abril and louis pratt come on to the podium and we'll have a representative from af courser out onto the podium as well and then we will pause for the national anthem after that [Music] so [Music] so there you have it the podium for race number one here of the international gto open been a great first reaction spot i hope you've enjoyed it as much as i have brilliant racing side by side oppo rouge all the different manufacturers fighting against each other three different ones on the podium ferrari bentley and aston martin and now our championship just one point between the drivers on the top step of the podium and enrique chavez and miguel ramos thank you very much for tuning in we're going to be back tomorrow for qualifying at 9 40 local time race will be 50 minutes past one we'll see you then you

Channel: International GT Open series

Views: 29,365

Keywords: GT, gtopen, GT Open, open gt, grand touring cars, ferrari, porsche, aston martin, corvette, lamborghini, bmw, sportcar, sport, motorsport, racing, motor racing

Id: 2TVFzxbTO_E

Length: 97min 34sec (5854 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020