It was a fiery weekend at the Paul Ricard, which hosted round three of the International GT Open. The six Ferraris entered, took several podium places and were even in the mix for overall victory.
The Am class of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS continued to be a good hunting ground for Ferrari, with a one-two performance by Triarsi Competizione at New Orleans’ NOLA Motorsport Park in the second round of the season. This was the seventeenth consecutive class victory for the Maranello marque’s cars.
International GT Open. The first of the two races at the French circuit saw Kessel Racing’s number 133 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, crewed by Murat Ruhi Cuhadaroglu and David Fumanelli, take third place overall, having battled for victory for many laps. The final hard-fought laps decided the order of finish, with Fumanelli prevailing in the struggle for the podium’s final step, also worth second place in the Pro Am class. In the Am, second place went to Kessel Racing’s other car, number 77, with Omar Jackson and Charles Hollings ahead of AF Corse’s number 55 Ferrari with Laurent De Meeus and Jamie Stanley. After an excellent second time in qualifying, Kessel Racing’s number 73 with Roman Ziemian and Axcil Jefferies only managed a thirteenth place in the race and seventh in the Pro Am.
Race-2. Ziemian and Jefferies posted the fastest lap in the second race on Sunday. They finished fifth overall, third in the Pro Am, despite a three-second penalty added to their race time for not having surrendered a position. In the Am, Jackson and Hollings took second place. They now lie second in the class standings, just four points behind the leader. The number 55 Ferrari of AF Corse with De Meeus and Stanley came third.
Round three of the International GT Open will run on 19 June at Spa in Belgium
GT World Challenge America. After taking class pole and eighth place overall on the grid at the NOLA Motorsport Park, the number 23 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2022 of Triarsi Competizione with Onofrio Triarsi and Charlie Scardina won the race despite a spin. In so doing, they broke Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald’s fifteen-race winning streak in the AF Corse Ferrari. The second round yielded the same result, with Triarsi Competizione triumphing again.
The Florida-based team’s second Ferrari, competing in the Pro Am class with Justin Wetherill and Ryan Dalziel, finished the two races in sixth and seventh place.