05 June 2016
Le Castellet, 5 June 2016 – The third round of the 2016 International GT Open gave Ferrari customer teams two podium finishes as the championship moved to the Circuit Paul Ricard, the French track close to the Cote Azur sea.
Race-1. In the Saturday race Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini, debuting on the AF Corse 488 GT3, were on the second step of the podium after a sensational 5-car fight that will be remembered as one of the most exciting and spectacular moments in the series’ history. The breathless show ended with the win of the Teo Martin BMW of Roldan Rodriguez and Manuel Ramos by just a 0.8s advantage on Cioci-Perazzini.
Race-2. The Sunday race was won by Thomas Biagi and Fabrizio Crestani (Orange1 Lamborghini) while Cioci-Perazzini came home in fourth. The Ferrari podium came in the Am category where Stephane Lemeret and John Dhillon, on the AF Corse 458 Italia, finished in second place behind Filipe Barreiros and Max Braams (V8 Racing Renault).
Bad weekend. It was a difficult weekend for championship leaders Phil Keen and Shaun Balfe (458 Italia by Balfe Motorsport) that lost the championship leadership in favor of Biagi-Crestani with two seventh place finishes. Newt race will be at Silverstone on July 23-24.