04 May 2017
Maranello, 4 May 2017 - The first round of the 2017 season of the International GT Open championship was held at Estoril over the weekend. Ferrari customer teams won two podiums and were prominent in both races.
Race-1. The first race, which took place on Saturday afternoon, was full of drama and eventually saw two of the three Ferraris very close to get a podium finish in their respective categories. In the Pro class, the 488 GT3 of Spirit of Race driven by Miguel Ramos and Mikkel Mac Jansen came fifth in a race won by the Lexus of Emil Frey crewed by Albert Costa and Philipp Frommenwiler. In the Pro-Am class the 488 GT3 of AF Corse finished fourth with Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini, while the category win went to the McLaren of Balfe Motorsport, driven by Shaun Balfe and Rob Bell.
Race-2. In Race-2 on Sunday, both 488 GT3s improved their position with a podium finish. Ramos and Mac Jansen took third in the race won by the Lexus of Farnbacher Racing crewed by Dominik and Mario Farnbacher while Cioci and Perazzini took the lowest step on podium in the class won by the McLaren of Garage 59 team entrusted to Michael Benham and Duncan Tappy.
Next round. The International GT Open Championship will be back at the end of May at Spa-Francorchamps with four Ferraris on track, with SF Racing fielding its own 488 GT3 for Fu Songyang and Andrea Caldarelli.