GT Open - Rain and glory for Marinangeli-Abril (Spirit of Race Ferrari) in Race 2 at Ricard

Nicola Marinangeli and Vincent Abril took a long-awaited and well-deserved win in a Race 2 at Paul Ricard with a totally different physiognomy, as cooler temperatures and storms soaked the French track. The race, which started behind the safety car, had to be red-flagged for about 20 minutes ahead of the pit stop window because of the weather conditions.

The Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 imposed itself in the last lap after an intense duel with the Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase, who couldn’t repeat yesterday’s success but make a great move in the championship standings, where they now lead by 3 points on Alessio Deledda, who together with Jordan Pepper today took third in the Oregon Team Lambo.

Marinangeli and Abril (who is back to victory after a while) were almost emotional after the success, which the Frenchman explained with an agreeable statement: “In these conditions, anything can happen and we made it happen.”

The fight was intense up to the last corner in Pro-Am too, with Marcelo Hahn-Allam Khodair taking a resounding success, while Roberto Lacorte (AF Ferrari) doubled yesterday’s win in Am, making the most out of his first GT Open experience.

THE RACE – It’s a completely different day on Sunday at Paul Ricard, with cooler temperatures and a drizzle at the moment of the start. The race is declared wet and everybody is on rain tyres. The start takes place behind safety-car, with Riccardo Agostini, who took the pole on his return to the series, ahead of the pack. When cars are released, Agostini keeps the lead ahead of Haase, Fumanelli, Fontana, Basz, Baumann and Ikin. The ISR Audi, following a crash in qualifying, is not starting.

In the difficult conditions, there are off-tracks and spins (Bergström, Cipriani) and in lap 5, Haase steals the lead from Agostini but shortly after, with rain becoming stronger and the wind rising, the race is red-flagged for about 20 minutes, with 33 still in the clock. Restart is given behind safety-car, with Haase, Agostini, Basz, Fumanelli, Baumann, Menzel, L. Proctor and Webb in that order, and Osieka leading in as the driver change window opens in la 12.

After all changes, Reicher leads by a mere 0.7 on Abril, then Kirchayr, Stromsted, Pepper and M.Jedlinski. Soon Reichmann and Abril pull away while Pepper and Schiller are third and fourth ahead of a Kirchmayr, leader in Pro-Am, Fluxá, Pitamber and Bonduel, while Lacorte takes the lead in Am.

In the closing laps, Abril becomes more and more threatening for Reicher, managing to pass him with an impeccable move at the chicane at the end of Mistral in the last lap. Pepper is third but the last dramas are for the Pro-Am win, where after Kirchmayr spins two laps from the end, the lead goes to Marco Pulcini, although the Italian can’t resist the formidable charge of Allam Khodair, who passes him for victory in the last corner.

Results are HERE