GT Open - GetSpeed and Mercedes win again, with Al Zubair-Grenier

Get Speed won again today at Portimão, sweeping the season-opener of the International GT Open. Today, it was the Mercedes AMG sporting the colours of Al Manar Racing to impose itself, with Al Faisal Al Zubair, who already won here last year, and Mikaël Grenier, in his first win in the series since 2019.

The duo beat the other AMGs of Mikaeel Pitamber-Dominik Baumann (SPS) and Diego Menchaca-Marcos Sibert (Motopark), in a race that finished behind the safety car because of a couple of incidents.

After those and several penalties, the Pro-Am class saw a Ferrari one-two with Alessandro Cozzi-Giorgio Sernagiotto (AF Corse) and Marco Pulcini-Eddie Cheever (Spirit of Race), with the Villorba Mercedes of Mikaël Blanchemain-Jim Pla in third. In Am, success for Giuseppe Cipriani with the Barone Rampante Lambo ahead of Stanislaw Jedlinski-Krystian Korzeniowski (Olimp Mercedes) and of the GetSpeed Mercedes of Kiki San Nana-Adam Osieka.

THE RACE - Dominik Baumann had put his Get speed Mercedes in pole,  only 0s065 seconds ahead of the Car Collection Porsche of Menzel, with the first 12 in the grid covered by one second and 5 different brands in the top 10.

At the start, it was all smooth for Baumann, with Grenier, Haase and Siebert passing Menzel. Things ran smoothly in lap one and during the initial phases and positions did not change in the top quintet, with L.Proctor an excellent sixth ahead of L.Pulcini, Abril, Grunewald and Ludwig.

Gaps remain close and the first four are covered by a half-second, starting to battle. In lap 10, with a brave move at the top of the hill, Grenier takes the lead from Baumann, while Haase also starts to threaten the Austrian. Further back in the group, there is contact between Deledda and Bartone.

The pit window opens in lap 15 and after all stops, in lap 20, Al Zubair leads by 5 seconds on Pitamber and 7 on Reicher and Menchaca. Bergström is 12 seconds behind ahead S.Proctor, first in Pro-Am, and Ineichen.

In lap 23, though, the safety car is out as Marinangeli remains blocked in a gravel trap after contact with one of the Lambos. The restart is short-lived as there will be drama in turn 10 when Stanley, Rumpfkeil and Walker, blocking the track. The safety car is out again and the race finishes under that regime.