24 Cars For The Red Bull Ring
The International GT Open gets back to racing after the summer break at the Red Bull Ring for the fifth round of the season.
The event sees a 24-car entry, the best so far this year with debuts and come-backs adding nicely to the battles for the titles in all classes.
Glenn Van Berlo and Kevin Gilardoni arrive in Austria as the new leaders of the standings. The Dutch-Swiss pair of Oregon Team took their first win at the Hungaroring and, with consistency elsewhere, have a 3 point advantage on Nick Moss-Joe Osborne, who have taken 2 wins in the Optimum Motorsport McLaren.
A further seven points back are their Oregon Lamborghini team mates Benji Hites-Leo Pulcini, who have 3 wins to their credit, including the endurance race at Spa, but suffered set-backs in the last round in Hungary.
These are the three main contenders for the title, but the Pro category also includes one Mercedes, by GetSpeed Performance, entrusted to Steve Jans and Sébastien Baud.
PRO-AM
In the Pro-Am class, the situation has turned in favour of the Olimp Racing Audi, with the Polish outfit leading the class by 20 points with Marcin Jedlinski and Karol Basz, who have two wins.
Their main contenders, Saudi history-breaking driver Reema Juffali and Adam Christodoulou, in the Theeba Motorsport Mercedes, will certainly be eager to correct the situation, after two zero-points events, and regain their form which has yielded them three class wins.
Close to them in the standings are the GetSpeed Mercedes of Janine Shoffner-Moritz Krantz, who have been on the podium in the last three events, the SPS automotive performance of Swiss duo Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler, the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Murat Cuhadaroglu-David Fumanelli, Alain Valente with the Team GT Mercedes (the overall winner of Race 1 in Hungary will be rejoined in this round by Bernhard Laber), and the other Kessel Racing car of Roman Ziemian- Axcil Jefferies.
In Austria, three new entries will boost the Pro-Am class. Greystone GT is making its international competitive debut with a McLaren 720S entrusted to Andrew Gilbert and GT Open double vice champion Fran Rueda.
AF Corse field a second Ferrari 488 for Willem Van der Vorm, a Ferrari Challenge specialist, paired with Michele Rugolo.
Equipe Vitesse make their first appearance of the year, with its Mercedes AMG for Mario Hirschi and Dominik Schraml, a Bavarian-Austrian who will basically race at home.
Last but not least, the Audi R8 LMS of Aust Motorsport is back for a third appearance this season, with Dino Steiner and local hero Max Hofer.
AM
The Am class welcomes local heroes and long-time GT Open Am racers Alex Hrachowina and Martin Konrad. They are leading the standings in the Mann Filter Team Landgraf Mercedes and will want to strengthen their journey to the title, already with five wins to their credit.
They have a 12-point advantage on Kiki Sak Nana-Adam Osieka, the Thai-German pair of GetSpeed, who won the endurance race at Spa, and the AF Corse Ferrari of Laurent De Meeus, who will pair this time with Johnny Mowlem.
Class regulars include the Olimp Racing Mercedes of Stanislaw Jedlinski-Krystian Korzeniowski, who made the podium twice in Hungary, the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Stephen Earle-Erwin Zanotti, and the Barone Rampante Lambo of Giuseppe Cipriani.
At Red Bull Ring, there will be three new entries as Antonelli Motorsport makes its first appearance of the season, with the Mercedes in the hands of Florian Scholze (on track with a third different team this season and overall winner in Race 1 in Hungary) and Marco Antonelli.
Motopark, the well-known single-seater squad which is a top force in the Euroformula Open, is entering a Mercedes AMG for Heiko Neumann and team boss Timo Rumpfkeil and an all-Austrian package, the Ferrari 488 of Baron Motorsport, with Ferrari Challenge stars Ernst Kirchmayr and Philipp Baron both make their Series debuts.
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