- Ferrari F430 no. 3 - Michele Maceratesi Andrea Montermini - 30' handicap
- Ferrari F430 no. 4 - Manuel Giao Pedro Couceiro - 0' handicap
The sun surprised everyone on the occasion of the second race scheduled of the third round of the International GT Open at Spa. Scuderia Playteam Sarafree scored a third place and another podium with the Ferrari F430 no. 4 - Manuel Giao Pedro Couceiro and Michele Maceratesi Andrea Montermini finished in ninth position with the Ferrari F430 no. 3. Scuderia Playteam SaraFree is now leading the 2008 Team Championship with 60 points.
Maceratesi started from the front row and took the lead of the race with car no. 3. Meanwhile Manuel Giao started from 6th and immediately took fourth place. A number of cars spun and went off in the first part of the race. The safety car came in on the 6th lap following an incident that left oil on the track. Twelve minutes before the end of the race, Maceratesi's efforts to build a comfortable gap with the other cars were ruined by a new outing of the safety car as his driver change with team mate Montermini, included a 30 seconds handicap.
The Ferrari F430 no.4 pit stop went smoothly and Couceiro rejoined in 5th place. In the second part of the race, Montermini was in 12th place and had a hard time to get back to the top of the classification. As the chequered flag fell after 45 minutes, the Ferrari F430 no.4 was in third place and Montermini finished in 9th place.
Montermini explains: "The safety car changed the result of this race which is a real pity. With our 30 second handicap we had no chance of going any higher. At least, we scored one additional point today and are now leading the championship with 81 points. A good result! Every point in a championship counts and is important."
The Italian driver added: "Michele Maceratesi drove really well. He had a great start. I am sorry I could not improve on his efforts and make his work count. These things happen."
Michele Maceratesi commented: "I am very happy with the results. I passed Richard Lietz and took the lead at the start. But the safety car changed the outcome of the race. In any case, one point despite a 30 seconds handicap is a good result."
Pedro Couceiro adds: "I am glad that everything went well today. It was a very good race. The pace car was out seven laps till the end. This changed the race because there were lots of cars in front of us and we could not benefit from the fact that we had no handicap.
At the end, it worked well thanks to Manuel Giao who did a great job starting from sixth and immediately taking a strong fourth place. We are 21 points in front of the leaders of the championship.
Some good tracks are still to come ahead for us, namely Portugal, our home track, Valencia, Monza and Magny-Cours that we like so much. I really want to thank the team for their great work this weekend in Spa."
Manuel Giao commented, "We had a great race. I am very happy about this podium. The safety car altered the race outcome. We had a good start and gained some places. But I was careful and did not risk anything. The championship is difficult this year.
The team did a great job even if I feel that we should still change a few things on the car and improve the front to avoid under steering. We will solve this for our home race Estoril."
Additional information on www.scuderiaplayteam.com
-Agnes Carlier - Photos Scuderia Playteam Sarafree
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