Prette-Abril’s win reopens championship battle

Louis Prette and Vincent Abril closed to within one point of the leaders of the International GT Open with a fantastic victory in Race-1 on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps. The AF Corse-APM Monaco crew won the seventy-minute race, while Stephane Ortelli and Angelo Negro finished sixth in the Pro-Am class despite the Monegasque driver's excellent opening stint.

Unstoppable. Ortelli started superbly, seizing second position behind Fabrizio Crestani, while Prette followed in fourth, second in the Pro class. The two Ferraris showed an excellent race pace, enabling Ortelli to pressure the Bentley driver, while Prette duelled with Millroy. On lap 13, Crestani and Prette stopped at the same time, handing over to Mettler and Abril respectively. However, Ortelli stayed in the driver’s seat, trying to gain precious time before passing the wheel to his crewmate Angelo Negro, even setting the fastest lap of the race thus far. However, in his attempts to pull away, Ortelli repeatedly veered off track and received a three-second penalty when he did finally stop right at the end of the window, twenty-eight minutes from the chequered flag.

Leader. It was then that Abril pulled off a sensational passing move against Mettler, slipping into first place in class and second overall which, however, soon became first when he overtook Iribe on lap 20. While Negro was struggling to find the right pace, Abril stretched his lead over his opponents and was now nearly ten seconds clear of Mettler, who was busy fending off Chavez's attacks.

Abril ended the race with his fourth win of the season, slashing the gap to Ramos-Chavez to one point, while Negro crossed the finish line in seventh place in the Pro-Am class.