Lusitanian duo wins fierce family duel with team mates Rueda-Bouveng
Costa-Frommenwiler (E.Frey Lexus) round excellent weekend with 3rd
Venturini (4th with Mapelli) keeps close lead in the standings
Maiden Pro-Am win for Witt-Meadows and the Jordan Racing Bentley
Moiseev-Rizzo (Kaspersky Ferrari) win in Am a relaunch class title bid
Lourenço Beirão and António Félix Da Costa took their maiden win of the season in a lively Race 2 at Silverstone, after a race-long duel with team mates Fran Rueda-Victor Bouveng, giving a 1-2 to the BMW Team Teo Martín. Saturday’s winners Albert Costa-Philipp Frommenwiler (Emil Frey Lexus) took third in the closing minutes, ahead of the Lambo Huracan of Giovanni Venturini-Marco Mapelli. Venturini keeps the lead in the standings with 4 points over Costa-Frommenwiler, 6 on Biagi and 8 on Rueda-Bouveng.
The Jordan Bentley of Jordan Witt-Michael Meadows took at home its maiden win in ProAm ahead of Hamaguchi-Liuzzi (FFF Lambo) and class leaders Balfe-Bell (Balfe McLaren), while Alex Moiseev-Davide Rizzo (Kaspersky Ferrari) won in Am.
THE RACE – Rueda and Costa start well from row 1, with Ledogar taking third after going wide at turn 1. Follow Venturini, Giammaria, Postiglione and Khodair, passed by Mac and Liuzzi. In lap 2, Mowlem spins after a contact while Costa attacks fiercely Rueda and takes
first. The track is slightly wet in some places, and Ledogar drops from 3rd to 8th after an off-track. The Frenchman will repeat himself in lap 4 but three laps later he takes 6th from Mac (he will later receive a 5-second penalty).
In lap 10, Da Costa leads by 2.5 seconds on Rueda, followed by the three Imperiale cars of Venturini, Giammaria and Postiglione, then Ledogar, Mac, Liuzzi, Khodair, D.Farnbacher, Frommenwiler and Ratcliffe. Konrad pits with a problem. In lap 12, Venturini passes Rueda, who opens the pit stop phase, followed by Frommenwiler, Calamia, Ratcliffe and Balfe.
In lap 17, after all changes, Beirão leads, with Bouveng 6 seconds behind, Fontana 9 and West 12; then, Hahn, Hamaguchi, M.Farnbacher, Biagi, Ramos and Mapelli. Hahn’s car loses oil, which provokes a couple of spins before the Brazilian stops in the pits.
By lap 21, Bouveng has reduced the disadvantage on Beirão to 3 seconds, while Fontana is third, followed by M.Farnbacher and Mapelli, who have passed West (whose car stops soon after, with a clutch problem), with Biagi, Costa and Keen also in the top-8. In Am, the Kaspersky Ferrari is a solid leader.
In the final phase, Mapelli takes fourth from Farnbacher, who spins shortly after dropping to 6th. Bouveng presses Beirão until the end but
without getting through.
The word of the winners:
Lourenço Beirão: “First at last! We were really waiting for this first win and I hope this is
only the first of many… It has been a tough race, the handling of the car wasn’t perfect at
the end, because of a broken splitter, but I could hold off Victor until the end. It was an
intense but fair fight.”
António Félix Da Costa: “It was a very good weekend for the entire team, who worked
really hard to achieve this result. We had no team orders and I was a little bit faster than
Fran at the very beginning, but obviously he was defending his advantage. It was a hot
few laps but in all fairness.”
PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 10 OF 14
Overall: 1. Venturini, 80 points; 2. Costa-Frommenwiler, 76; 3. Biagi, 74; 4. Rueda-Bouveng, 72; 5. Ramos-Mac,
62; 6. D.Farnbacher, 57; 7. M.Farnbacher, 49; etc…
Pro-Am: 1. Bell-Balfe, 56 points; 2. Cioci-Perazzini, 50; 3. Pierburg, 41; 4. Hahn, 36; 5. West-Ledogar, 34; 6.
Benham-Tappy, Witt-Meadows, 30; etc...
GT-Am: 1. Silva Sardinha-Coimbra Da Costa, 33 points; 2. Rizzo-Moiseev, 32; 3. Hrachowina-Konrad, 30; 4.
Basso, 27; 5. Figueiredo, 14; etc...
Teams: 1. Imperiale Racing, 72 points; 2. BMW Team Teo Martin, 58; 3. Emil Frey Racing, 44; 4. Spirit of Race, .
Farnbacher Racing, 33; 6. Garage59, 24; etc…
