Scuderia Playteam SaraFree on the podium in race 1

Scuderia Playteam SaraFree finished second and fourth in the first race of the sixth round of the International GT Open season at Magny Cours. Ferrari F430 nr 3 finished second while car nr 4 finished fourth.

Both cars had an excellent start respectively from the first and second rows of the grid. It was a rolling start that allowed a determined Andrea Montermini to stick to pole man Marcel Fassler. Meanwhile Pedro Couceiro was in 4th place. There was a scary moment for the team when Montermini spun after a contact with the F430 nr 18.

But Montermini did not give up and immediately started to gain positions again to take back his initial advantage from the start. Nothing could stop him getting back in the

leading positions and he even overtook his team-mate Pedro Couceiro, in fifth place at the time. A great show from Scuderia Playteam Sarafree as Montermini gave the car to his team mate in third place while Couceiro changed with Giao in fifth.

20 minutes before the end, Giao was strongly installed in 5th place and Maceratesi had climbed to second position where he would finish. Giao meanwhile improved to fourth.

"I had a great start but I lost seven positions as Andrea Montermini started spinning and I slowed down to avoid him," said Pedro Couceiro. "What a race! I had two objectives: take points in the championship and fight for fourth position in order not to have any handicap. I achieved the two. It is good for tomorrow's race."

Andrea Montermini commented, "What a nice podium. What a great place to be on the second step. Already from the first turn of the race, I was hoping for such a strong result. I was pushed at the start of the race by another Ferrari from a competitor and this changed the course of my race and I could not work as hard as I wanted. It was not an easy race, but the car had a good setup and I managed to pass the car to my team-mate in a good position. Michele did a great job. To finish second is a fantastic result for the Championship. All we need to do is to finish with another good result tomorrow in race two."

Manuel Giao commented, "Today was really a good race even if I would have wanted to finish in a higher position. We had a 15s handicap and this was hard on our race. I have bad habits now, because I think I have to finish on the podium and this time I am upset because I am not on the podium. But at least, I am in the points and the positive way to side is that we won't have a handicap tomorrow for the race."

Michele Maceratesi commented, "After my second quick stint, I had the feeling of being alone in the race. I only saw Zonca's car and I passed him. Then I wanted to pass the leader of the race, but he was too far away. The car was great even if I had a small few problems. But I was able to keep everything under control. A good result today. Let's see how we can do tomorrow. "

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Photo: iiS ©    - Agnes Carlier