GTO: Series Barcelona preview

Tradition Respected: Barcelona Stellar Event Holds Title Responses

Four contenders fight for overall crown, three for GTS' Highest Entry of the Year (42) and split Sunday races Loeb, Sordo, Parente, Piquet, Collard, Gene as stars on the track

The moment of truth has come! Next week end the International GT Open 2010 will come to a close and deliver its verdicts! The final round in the Circuit de Catalunya will keep up with the tradition of being a "grand" event (this year the Catalan autumn event has attracted 42 entries, with big names such as Loeb, Sordo, Piquet, Parente and Collard on top of GT Open regulars), but it will also be decisive for all titles, with an exciting battle foreseen in each category.

At overall level, there are no less than 4 contenders for the crown, with(AF Ferrari, 188 points) leading by short margins over Pilet-Narac (IMSA Porsche, 176 points), Giammaria-Toccacelo (EdilCris Ferrari, 173 points) and Lietz-Roda (Autorlando Porsche, 161 points), when a maximum of 44 points can still be awarded.

In GTS, Jean-Philippe Dayraut (Luxury Ferrari, 76 points) is faced with a similar challenge against the Kessel Ferraris of Livio-Bontempelli (68 points) and Marco Frezza (66 points).

And things are yet to be decided, as well, in the SuperGT Team standings: AF Corse is leading (89 points), but IMSA Performance Matmut (78) and EdilCris Racing Team (75) are still dangerous challengers. In GTS, Kessel Racing has already secured the crown, this being the only title already decided.

As customary, the Barcelona round will count with numerous additional entrants, coming from France, Germany, Italy and the UK as well as from the Iberian countries, while some regular GT Open participants will also attend with additional cars. All in all, the number of entries has reached 42 units, the highest number this season.

This will allow to split the Sunday race in separate races for the SuperGT and GTS categories, while it is important to remind that according to the sporting rules of the championship, new entries that make their first appearance in this last round do not score nor block points, in order to ensure a clean fight for the titles. The format of this special week-end also includes private testing on Thursday (2 hours).

With regard to the SuperGT entry list, two relevant additional cars are the JMB Ferrari (with Emmanuel Collard as one of the drivers), while Portuguese squad Aurora, recently crowned in the Spanish GT, is entering an F430 GT2 for a stellar pair: Alvaro Parente-Nelson Piquet jr. AF Corse is confirming five cars, while the new SunRed SRX is soing its second-ever race after the debut in Monza, and are back the Drivex Porsche and the RCA Ferrari. In the Villois Racing, Gabriele Lancieri is moving from the GT3 Aston to the GT2, alongside Max Wiser.

In GTS, all sights will be on the Almeras Porsche entrusted to the `rally boys', with 7- times World Champion Sebastian Loeb and Dani Sordo forming a quite unusual duo and leading the 3-car Almeras representation. Other teams joining the series for this final round are Attempto (2 Porsches) and Vulkan (1 Viper) from Germany, the Mtech Ferrari and Martin Short's Mosler from the UK, the Ruffier Lamborghini from France, the F430 from Spain's Zener team, and last but not least, the very competitive Audi R8 of Novadriver from Portugal, with Campanico-Figuereido at the wheel. Among GT Open regulars, it has to be noted that the second Luxury Ferrari will be entrusted to Frederic Makowiecki-Pedro Couceiro.

All the action from Montmelo can be followed by fans via the live broadcasts in Italy (Nuvolari), Spain (Sportmania, Canal + Deportes; Intereconomia TV), Portugal (Sport TV) and Poland (nSport) and in 50 countries throughout Europe by Motors TV. Additional delayed coverage is offered by OTV in Lebanon and the Middle East and by Fox Sports and ESPN in Central and South America.

-source: gtopen