Race 2 Scuderia Playteam Sarafree - Four points in race 2

Qualification session for race 2
2nd - car no. 3 GTA Michele MACERATESI (ITA) Ferrari 430 GT2 1:40.751 (10 laps)
10th - car no. 4 GTA Pedro COUCEIRO (POR) Ferrari 430 GT2 1:41.965 (11 laps)

Race 2 results
Giao-Couceiro dnf (stop lap 18)
Montermini-Maceratesi 6th place 4 points

After yesterdays's sensational one-three finish in the first race of the fourth International GT Open event of the season as Montermini-Maceratesi and Giao-Couceiro brought their two Ferrari 430s home in first and third places respectively taking 34 points total, Scuderia Playteam Sarafree was ready for second 45-minute race of the weekend.

The drivers in each car received a handicap of 30' for yesterday's winner, car nr 3 and 10' for car nr 4. Montermini-Maceratesi finished in sixth place and scored four points while Giao-Couceiro had to retire after a competitor hit from behind Giao.

Maceratesi started the race from the front-row in car number 3, and lost three positions while Manuel Giao dashed to fifth place, passing five cars ahead of him. Both drivers established their pace in the short race.

Maceratesi took third place while on lap 2, Andrea Belicchi had contact with Giao causing the Portuguese driver to spin into the gravel trap. He was later pulled from the gravel and rejoined the race. On lap 6, Maceratesi improved again and passed Sundberg for second.

As the pit stop window opened, the team got ready for the driver change at the end of lap 7, and everything was checked on car nr 4 that restarted. Car nr 3 came in and rejoined the race having served its 30' handicap. Montermini rejoined in 14th place. On lap 13, the adventures were not over and went through some oil on track, and took a trip through the gravel.

Meanwhile Couceiro came back to the pits a second time to change tyres. Finally putting an end to big hopes after yesterday's podium, Couceiro came back to the pits to retire on lap 18.

Michele Maceratesi commented, "The second race was short and required fast action. I was second at the start and then I lost a bit. I was not fast enough. I was trying to make no mistakes and everything went well.

The car was perfect. On lap 12, the team called me in early and decided that they should be amongst the first teams to change drivers."

Andrea Montermini commented: "The driver change went very well but we lost a lot of time with our heavy 30' penalty. I started to push as soon as I rejoined. I lost a bit with the oil on the track. I had a battle for ninth place. I kept pushing.

 I am a bit frustrated because we could have been fourth and if I look at the times, we are less than 30' from the winner, so it means that without a handicap we would have done a real good job. So at the end of the race, I am happy to score 4 points and a sixth place.

Nevertheless a great weekend with yesterday's podium. The boys in the team did an outstanding job this weekend. Let's see what Valencia brings us."

Manuel Giao commented, "I am very disappointed of course to have to retire from my home race. There was not much I could do really. I had a great start. I was just going strong and passed five competitors, but on lap 2 Belicchi ran into my car.

Even if he came after the race to say he is sorry, it does not help my race. We would have surely scored another with a podium. We will look forward to better luck in Valencia."

Pedro Couceiro: "We made a good stop despite a wheel being damaged in Manuel Giao's incident. I immediately noticed that the car was difficult to drive. After a while the team called me in.

They thought the tyre could have been damaged and it was dangerous in the high-speed corners. A difficult and disappointing weekend in front of our home crowd. Valencia will be better."

Scuderia Playteam Sarafree finished the warm-up with a lap of 1.53.014 for car nr 4, and a time of 1.46.462 for Andrea Montermini in car nr 3. The drivers completed a routine of a few laps each to check the systems, the brakes in the car and practice with the team changing drivers.

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- Agnes Carlier -  photos Scuderia Playteam