INT GT OPEN: Griffin-Cameron (AF Corse) take brilliant win, Russian Bears first in GTS

Matt Griffin and Duncan Cameron won today Race 2 in the Algarve after a perfect show that saw the Irishman building a solid gap in the first sting and the Briton keeping everything under control in the second part to secure a flag-to-flag win. The pair were at the wheel of a Ferrari F458 of AF Corse, switching from Mtech machinery as from this round. Yesterday’s winners, Nicky Pastorelli and Miguel Ramos took second on the V8 Racing Corvette, ahead of a lone Andrea Montermini (Villorba Ferrari), who retains the championship lead.

It was an historic day in GTS, with the first win of a Russian team, SMP Racing Russian Bears, and a Russian driver, Roman Mavlanov, who shared the Ferrari F458 GT3 with Catalan Pol Rosell. They preceded Matteo Beretta-Michael Lyons (AF Ferrari) and Isaac Tutumlu-Dimitri Deverikos (Autorlando Porsche).

At the start, Griffin takes the lead from poleman Pastorelli, followed by Seyffarth, Gattuso, Tutumlu, Barba, Mavlanov and Lyons. Sijthoff, touché by Vieira,  spins a few corners later, provoking a contact between De Marco and Van der Drift, while shortly after Camp and Rugolo also make contact, with the Ferrari spinning.

After 5 laps, Griffin is a solid leader with 3 seconds over Pastorelli, then Seyffarth, Gatuso, Tutumlu, Mavlanov, Lyons, Basov, De Veiga, Camathias, Barba, Montermini and Schirò. The fastest man on track is Montermini, who charges up from the last row, where he had to start from as he is racing alone on Sunday (his team mate Luca Filippi being taken by his F1 commentator duties in Barcelona). The Villorba Ferrari is already in 7th by lap 8.

In lap 10, shortly after the opening of the window, Seyffart punctures the front left tire, while the damaged Audi of Vieira is losing body pieces, following contact in first lap. After the pit stops, Cameron leads with 25” over Ramos and 31” over rosell, first in GTS, then Zanuttini and Beretta, and a group formed by Deverikos, Hamilton, Razia, Zampieri, Montermini, Costantini, Bontempelli and Talakanitsa.

While Cameron, Ramos, Rosell stabilize in the top 3, and Montermini takes fourth from Beretta, there is a big battle in the group just behind between Deverikos, Hamilton, Razia, Costantini and Bontempelli, while Zampieri has to stop in the pits, but things won’t change much except for Montermini eventually taking third overall.