The 2018 season has just ended! As per tradition, it was the circuit of Barcelona-Catalonia that hosts the final and decisive round.
No less customary was indeed the fact that the title was decided in Montmeló.
The overall crown was not the only one still at stake.
the battle was tight and fierce in the Pro-Am and Am categories as well as in the team standings.
No derogation either to another feature of Barcelona’s grand finale, the round attracts a fair number of additional entries and big names, bringing the entry list to 30 cars.
Q1
The Q1 allowed two crews evolving in category PROAM to achieve the two best times of this session.
With a time of 1:43.404 Tom Onslow-Cole (SPS Automotive Performance #20 - Mercedes AMG GT3) was 0.092 seconds ahead of Fabrizio Crestani (Daiko Lazarus Racing #27 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3).
In 1:43.671 Fabrizio Crestani (Ombra Racing #12 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) was ahead of Rik Breukers (Imperiale Racing #25 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) on the second row.
Mikkel Mac (Luzich Racing #51 - Ferrari 488 GT3), leader of the championship, could not do better than fifth time.
The top 12 cars, in qualifying, were separated by less than one second.
Q2
The Q2 saw Fran Rueda (RACE / BMW Team Teo Martín #47 - BMW M6 GT3) take the best on Giovanni Venturini (Imperiale Racing #63 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) to clinch the pole.
The second line consisted of an AM Guilherme Salas crew (RACE / BMW Team Teo Martín #7 - BMW M6 GT3) having signed the third time ahead of Alessandro Pier Guidi (Luzich Racing #51 - Ferrari 488 GT3).
Race 1
The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 clearly dominated Race 1.
After 70 minutes of racing, and after two periods of neutralization, the win came back to Andrea Rizzoli and Damiano Fioravanti (Ombra Racing #12 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) with 0.832s ahead of Jeroen Mul and Giovanni Venturini (Imperiale Racing #63 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3).
Valentin Pierburg and Tom Onslow-Cole (SPS Automotive Performance #20 - Mercedes AMG GT3) finish third and first in PROAM.
Riccardo Agostini and Rik Breukers (Imperiale Racing #25 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) although crossed the first under the checkered flag received 5 seconds time penalty for breaking position, they finaly finished just one place off the podium.
Stefano Costantini (Target Racing #91 - Lamborghini Huracan GT) won the AM class.
Race 2
Before this final round of the 2018 season, Mikkel Mac was leading the championship with 112 points ahead of Andrés Saravia / Fran Rueda 104 and Alessandro Pier Guidi 96.
Fabrizio Crestani / Miguel Ramos lead the Pro-Am class 6 points ahead of Tom Onslow-Cole / Valentin Pierburg.
At the start, poleman Fran Rueda keept the advantage over Giovanni Venturini, Alessandro Pier Guidi while Ward spun at first corner.
In lap 2, also Márcio Basso (RACE / BMW Team Teo Martín #7 - BMW M6 GT3) was in the gravel and against the barriers, pushed by Rinat Salikhov (Rinaldi Racing #333 - Ferrari 488 GT3) who later received a drive-through.
The safety-car was out to allow retrieving the BMW.
Shortly after restart, in lap 5, Venturini took the lead with a daring move.
Fran Rueda was the very first to stop for driver change as the window opens in lap 14. Alessandro Pier Guidi stoped one lap later.
After all changes, Mikkel Mac led with 4 seconds over Rik Breukers.
Battle for the lead became hot between Mikkel Mac and Rik Breukers, with the Dutch attacking a couple of times and eventually passing in lap 25.
No changes in the final laps, except for a puncture for Alexander West (Luzich Racing #71 - Ferrari 488 GT3), which didn’t change the outcome in Pro-Am.
As precedant day, Stefano Costantini had won in AM class.
Mikkel Mac is titled with 124 points, against 114 to Andrés Saravia / Fran Rueda.
In Pro-Am, Valentin Pierburg and Tom Onslow-Cole clinched the title last-minute with the points of P2 in the race, won by Chrisitan Hahn / Lucas Auer (Drivex School #36 - Mercedes AMG GT3), which scored no points in this one-off participation.
The SPS Mercedes pair finishes tied in points with Miguel Ramos-Fabrizio Crestani (Daiko Lazarus Racing #27 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) but takes the title thanks to their 5 wins.
Andrzej Lewandowski-Giulio Borlenghi (Vincenzo Sospiri Racing #66 - Lamborghini Huracan GT3) was the already-crowned.
Imperiale Racing with 110 points is crowed ahead of Luzich Racing 100 points.
See you next year
Open GT 2019 Calendar
Winter Test
Paul Ricard 22-23 February 2019
Barcelona 08-09 March 2019
Championship
Paul Ricard 27-28 April 2019
Hockenheim 25-26 may 2019
Spa 22-23 June 2019
Hungaroring 06-07 July 2019
Silverstone 07-08 September 2019
Barcelona 21-22 September 2019
Monza 12-13 October 2019
(Based on International Open GT Press release)