Red Bull Ring opens the final and decisive stretch of the season

After a seven-week holiday break, batteries are re-charged and the International GT Open teams and drivers are ready to take the track again and embark on the final and decisive stretch of the season. The sixth round of the season which opens the final triptych including also Barcelona and Monza will take place as customary at the Red Bull Ring. The round in the beautiful Styrian Alps in late summer is always a popular one, and the 4.318 km hilly track is always one providing exciting racing.

With 34 cars entered, it will be again a strong field, confirming the solid trend seen this year, and needless to say, things are starting to heat up in all the standings.

OVERALL – ESTALENT DEFENDS LEADERSHIP AT HOME

To add spice to the event, it is local heroes coming to their home track as leaders of the Overall standings: The Eastalent Racing Team Audi of Simon Richer and Christopher Haase will sport a new livery for the occasion and is clearly aiming at the title, having conquered three wins so far.

Still, their advantage on their most direct rival is only 3 points: in the position of the chaser is Alessio Deledda in the Oregon Team Lamborghini, pairing again with Jordan Pepper. Five points behind the leader are the SPS Mercedes of Mikaeel Pitamber and Dominik Baumann, very consistent and still going after their first win.

In a similar situation are Diego Menchaca and Marcos Siebert, the South American pair in the Motopark Mercedes, only 8 points from the top, while another AMG car, the GetSpeed one of Anthony Bartone-Fabian Schiller is 12 points off but has already one win to its credit.

The best-placed Ferrari 296 , the Spirit of Race of Nicola Marinangeli-Vincent Abril, is sixth, 16 points behind, after having opened its win account at the Ricard in July. The 11 car-strong Pro class also includes other victory candidates, starting from the Oregon Huracans of Marzio Morett-Artëm Petrov and Leonardo Pulcini-Rolf Ineichen, with the Swiss driver back to action after his big accident in Spa.

Also eager to reach their first win are Lukas Dunner-Lorenzo Fluxá in the Motopark Mercedes and Gustaf Bergström-Nico Menzel in the Car Collection Porsche.

There will be an interesting novelty in the top class in Austria: a McLaren 720S joins for the remainder of the season as the third entry of Greystone GT. It is entrusted to two young GT stars from the UK, James Kell and Dean Macdonald.

PRO-AM – THE FIGHT GOES ON

With 18 cars entered, the Pro-Am class confirms itself as the most well-attended, and with six different race winners, so far, one of the most closely fought. In the lead of the standings is reigning champion Marco Pulcini in the Spirit of Race Ferrari, now having the honour alone, as his co-driver Eddie Cheever had to miss the last round, but is on duty again in Austria.

Still hopeful to revert the situation are Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz, in the Olimp Racing Audi, with the Poles 22 points behind, while in third is the AF Corse Ferrari of Marcelo Hahn-Allam Khodair, the Brazilian pair still fresh from a sensational maiden success at Ricard.

Six car brands are represented in the class, with many other potential winners. The Mercedes camp includes the GetSpeed duo of Valentin Pierburg-Aaron Walker, with faithful Swiss pair Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler defending the colours of CBRX by SPS. As usual, Scuderia Villorba Corsa fields Michaël Blanchemain-Vlad Lomko, and Motopark the very consistent pair composed of Morten Strösted-Thomas Ikin. Last but not least, Polish outfit Good Speed, who joined mid-season, is present with Piotr Wira-Daan Arrow.

The Ferrari delegation includes the AF Corse cars of Alessandro-Cozzi-Giorgio Sernagiotto and Laurent de Meeus-Jamie Stanley, while another regular 296 is entered under the Spirit of Race banner for Gino Forgione-Michele Rugolo.

German outfit racing one will seek a second success with Ernst Kirchmayr, paired with new teammate, Giacomo Altoè. The young Italian will make a return to the series where he clinched the overall title in 2019.

The McLaren colours will be defended by Greystone GT, with their regular two entries, Andrey Borodin-Ollie Webb and Stewart and Lewis Proctor, while Audi is represented by Czech outfit ISR Racing with Filip Salaquarda-Libor Milota.

There will be three Porsches on track at Spielberg, as the two Car Collection cars of ‘Hash’- Alex Fontana and Bahar Mardini-Tijmen van der Helm are joined by a new entry from Tsunami RT. The Sanmarinese squad, a strong presence in the GT Cup Europe, is entering a 992 for the Italian pair composed of Johannes Zelger and GT star Fabio Babini.

AM: THE BARON FLIES HIGH

In the class for Bronze drivers, nothing is done but one man has managed in recent events to build a gap that is becoming interesting. Giuseppe Cipriani, in the Lambo of Il Barone Rampante, has now a 27-point advantage, thanks to his consistency and two wins, including the ‘double’ one at Spa.

Second at the moment are Kiki San Nana-Adam Osieka, in the GetSpeed Mercedes, strong with three wins, while in third is the Olimp Racing Ferrari of Stanislaw Jedlinski-Krystian Korzeniowski. Now in the position of having to catch up are reigning champions Heiko Neumann-Timo Rumpfkeil, who suffered a setback in Hungary and couldn’t race in France following heavy damage sustained in their Motopark Mercedes during a private test session.

A new contender will debut in Austria and conclude the season: US racer Ziad Ghandar, who joins with an AF Corse Ferrari 296.

At the Red Bull Ring, the International GT Open will share the race programme with its sister series, the Euroformula Open, with two top single-seater series such as the FRECA and the Euro 4 Championship, and a top mono-brand series such as the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux.