GTE: Calado and Ferrari fight back
FERRARI DRIVERS ALESSANDRO PIER Guidi and James Calado claimed a second GTE Pro victory of the season in circumstances not dissimilar to their first win at the Nurburgring back in July. This time, though, they left it late, Calado sealing the victory with a dozen laps to go.
The best of the factory Ferrari 488 GTES run by AF Corse had the speed, but it very nearly didn’t have the luck. Another poor qualifying for Pier Guidi and Calado didn’t help – they ended up only seventh – and nor did the bad timing of the third safety car. That forced both of the AF Ferraris to make so-called emergency pitstops to take on five seconds worth of fuel when the pits were closed, and then return almost immediately for a proper service.
Calado took over at this point and found himself down in fourth, but he was able to battle past team-mate Davide Rigon and then move up to second when Porsche driver Kevin
Estre lost time in an incident with Andy Priaulx’s lapped Ganassi Ford GT and, finally, overtake Frederic Makowiecki in the Porsche 911 RSR that had been started by Richard Lietz.
“We were quick today; the only point that the Porsche was quicker was when the rain was really torrential,” said new father Calado. “After it dried out a bit, the conditions were perfect for us.”
Porsche was confident that Estre and team-mate Michael Christensen would have been able to win but for the controversial clash with Priaulx at Turn 10. The car’s aerodynamics were damaged in the incident and there was no way back from third.
The second Ferrari missed out on a podium because it had to make an additional pitstop near the end so that Sam Bird could take over from Rigon in order to achieve the minimum driving time. But fifth position was still enough for them to move ahead of Priaulx and team-mate Harry Tincknell in the points table along with the drivers of the first two cars home.
It was a disastrous weekend for the long-time championship leaders. Tincknell had run second through the first portion of the race, but Priaulx missed a red light at the end of the pitlane when he rejoined as the race went green. A one-minute stop-go dropped the car to the back of the field, though Priaulx was up seventh at the time of the incident with Estre.
The clash damaged a rear tyre, which then let go as the Ford driver hit the brakes for Turn 1. The car backed into the barriers and was then briefly beached in the gravel before Priaulx could get back to the pits for repairs.
The Ford ended up finishing behind all the GTE Am cars, which put it outside the top 10 and meant Priaulx and Tincknell collected only half a point for a race finish.
The Af-run Spirit of Race Ferrari shared by Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Miguel Molina took GTE Am honours. The Clearwater Ferrari had led for much of the way in the hands of Keita Sawa and Mok Weng Sun, but a slow stop left Matt Griffin behind Molina when it mattered.