MUNDIAL - GT OPEN EM SILVERSTONE

Segunda, 09 Setembro 2019 09:33 | Actualizado em Terça, 22 Abril 2025 00:47

Aston Martins join the field at Silverstone for the first appearance of the GT Cup Open Europe in the United Kingdom

Aston Martin becomes the sixth brand represented in the series (along Audi, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche) as Optimum Motorsport and Whitebridge Motorsport join as local heroes

Battles for all titles heat up as the second part of the season begins: Leutwiler (PZ Oberer Zürichsee Porsche) and Solieri (Antonelli Mercedes), two Am drivers, top the overall standings

In Pro-Am, only one point separates the Sports&You Mercedes of Basso and the Tsunami Porsche of the Curti brothers

Next weekend the GT Cup Open Europe, the GT series one step below GT3 launched this year by GT Sport, will live a key moment : its first event in Great Britain, one of the greatest cradles of racing. The GT Cup Open’s first visit to the UK will have a perfect scenery: Silverstone, one of the most legendary homes of British racing.

It will be the fourth round of the inaugural season, marking the end of the summer recess and leading into the final stretch of the 2019 campaign that includes also Barcelona and Monza. It will definitely be a special event, followed with interest by the British racing community and fans. It is not a surprise though that two outfits like Optimum Motorsport and Whitebridge Motorsport are joining the party with all-British entries and bringing to a debut in the series a brand such as Aston Martin. The Vantages will enrich a field already of great level, composed of Mercedes AMG R, Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, Porsche 911 Cup, McLaren 570S and Audi R8 LMS.

Silverstone will also mark the beginning of the decisive battle phase for the titles, which remain all completely open. Very interestingly and in perfect accordance with the essence of the competition, two drivers of the Am class are leading the overall standings, separated by only 6 points. Switzerland’s Niki Leutwiler, at the wheel of the Porsche entered by the PZ Oberer Zürichsee and prepared by French squad TFT, is in the lead, thanks to a very consistent campaign that has seen him scoring in all races and taking one win at Spa. His main rival is Italy’s Glauco Solieri, who has clinched two wins with the Antonelli Lambo.

In third, only 12 points behind the leader, are the two Huracans entered by Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, the Italian squad on top of the Teams’ standings, with on one side, Hans-Peter Koller, the winner of the inaugural race at Paul Ricard, associated with GT expert Edoardo Liberati, and the Brazilian Am pair formed by Rodolfo Toni and JP Mauro.

Aston Martins join the field at Silverstone for the first appearance of the GT Cup Open Europe in the United Kingdom 
 
Aston Martin becomes the sixth brand represented in the series (along Audi, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche) as Optimum Motorsport and Whitebridge Motorsport join as local heroes
 
Battles for all titles heat up as the second part of the season begins: Leutwiler (PZ Oberer Zürichsee Porsche) and Solieri (Antonelli Mercedes), two Am drivers, top the overall standings 
 
In Pro-Am, only one point separates the Sports&You Mercedes of Basso and the Tsunami Porsche of the Curti brothers
 
 

 
Next weekend the GT Cup Open Europe, the GT series one step below GT3 launched this year by GT Sport, will live a key moment : its first event in Great Britain, one of the greatest cradles of racing. The GT Cup Open’s first visit to the UK will have a perfect scenery: Silverstone, one of the most legendary homes of British racing. 
It will be the fourth round of the inaugural season, marking the end of the summer recess and leading into the final stretch of the 2019 campaign that includes also Barcelona and Monza. It will definitely be a special event, followed with interest by the British racing community and fans. It is not a surprise though that two outfits like Optimum Motorsport and Whitebridge Motorsport are joining the party with all-British entries and bringing to a debut in the series a brand such as Aston Martin. The Vantages will enrich a field already of great level, composed of Mercedes AMG R, Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, Porsche 911 Cup, McLaren 570S and Audi R8 LMS. 
Silverstone will also mark the beginning of the decisive battle phase for the titles, which remain all completely open. Very interestingly and in perfect accordance with the essence of the competition, two drivers of the Am class are leading the overall standings, separated by only 6 points. Switzerland’s Niki Leutwiler, at the wheel of the Porsche entered by the PZ Oberer Zürichsee and prepared by French squad TFT, is in the lead, thanks to a very consistent campaign that has seen him scoring in all races and taking one win at Spa. His main rival is Italy’s Glauco Solieri, who has clinched two wins with the Antonelli Lambo. 
 

 
In third, only 12 points behind the leader, are the two Huracans entered by Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, the Italian squad on top of the Teams’ standings, with on one side, Hans-Peter Koller, the winner of the inaugural race at Paul Ricard, associated with GT expert Edoardo Liberati, and the Brazilian Am pair formed by Rodolfo Toni and JP Mauro. 
PRO-AM: A MERCEDES-PORSCHE BATTLE AT THE TOP 
The Pro-Am class sees a terribly close battle at the top, with Márcio Basso leading by a single point on the Corti brothers. The Brazilian driver will share again the Sports&You Mercedes with his fast country-fellow Guilherme Salas, with whom he has taken two wins so far, while Lino and Carlo Curti will continue to rely on their consistency, at the wheel of the Porsche 911 Cup entered by Tsunami RT. 
Already mentioned Swiss driver Hans-Peter Koller is fourth in the class, only 6 points behind the leader, ahead of the Belgo-Dutch pair composed by Nicolas Vandierendonck and Bas Schouten, which took a double win at Spa and are back for a second appearance together at the wheel of the 911 of Belgian squad EMG Motorsport, who runs second in the Teams’ standings. 
Other stars of the Pro-Am class are the two McLaren 570S of Teo Martín Motorsport, entrusted to a quartet of young guns, Marc De Fulgencio-Thiago Vivacqua and Guillem Pujeu-Faust Salom, who will seek to give the Spanish team its first win of the year. 
Last but not least, as announced, Optimum Motorsport is entering for the first time an Aston Martin Vantage, which will be a candidate to success thanks to two young guns, British GT driver Connor O’Brien,and AMR junior driver Charlie Eastwood. 
AM:   ACTION-PACKED, AS ALWAYS
As said, it is Am drivers leading the overall standings and it is not a surprise then to see Leutwiler, Solieri and Mauro-Toni trusting the top-3 in the class standings, covered by only 4 points, and ready for another great battle in Britain. But they are not the only ones shining in the class reserved to Bronze drivers. 
Belgium’s john De Wilde, fourth in the class standing, has proven a very solid contender on the other Porsche entered by EGM Motorsport. So have been the two teams of Baporo Motorsport, the Spanish squad with a two-brand entry. Its Audi R8 LMS is entrusted to GT experts Manel Cerqueda and Daniel Díaz-Varela while the Porsche 911 Cup is in the hands of Jaume Font-Joan Vinyes. Another team based in Catalonia, Three Sixty Racing Team, enters a Mercedes AMG R for Brazilian drivers; in England it will be driven by Fernando Fortes and Guilherme Reischl. 
 

 
From France comes the Martinet by Alméras Porsche, prepared by the legendary Alméras brothers, who fields the evergreen duo formed by Pierre Martinet and Gérard Tremblay. 
Last but certainly not least, an Aston Martin Vantage will make its debut also in the Am class, thanks to Whitebridge Motorsport, who enters the reigning champions of the UK’s GT Cup, Chris Murphy-Adam Hatfield. 
At Silverstone, racing fans will enjoy much more GT excitement, as the International GT Open tops the race programme and the Alpine ELF Europe Cup brings to the show the iconic new A110 Berlinettes to the show, but there will also be top-level single-seater action thanks to the Euroformula Open.     
 
GT Cup Open Round 4: Silverstone, United Kingdom
 
Timetable (All times local, CET-1)
 
Friday 6th September 2019 09:50-10:40 Free Practice 1 15:25-16:15 Free Practice 2 Saturday 7th September 2019  09:35-09:55 Qualifying 1 (driver 1) 13:50-14:45 Race 1 (55’ - Rolling Start) Sunday 8th September 2019 09:00-09:20 Qualifying 2 (driver 2) 14:00-14:55 Race 2 (50’ - Rolling Start)