The trinomial Drivex Mercedes AMG GT3 and Brazilian drivers Marcelo Hahn and Allam Khodair are making a strong start to preseason by dominating International GT Open’s Winter Series. The Pro-Am class pairing is also topping timesheets overall and the event at Paul Ricard was not an exception despite an experienced entry.
Despite truck arrival was delayed due to snow storm and low temperatures in southern France, Hahn, Khodair and Drivex started on the right foot the two-day test. On Friday, the Spain-based team ranked 2nd with a best of 2:02.376 after 56 laps.
But the best performance was to come yet on Saturday as added other 78 laps. In the final test session, when track provided better conditions, Khodair posted a lap of 2:01:709, which left with no options to be improved by rivals. His closest rivals were Alessandro Pier Guidi – defending FIA WEC champion in GTE Pro class- with a Ferrari 488 GT3 and Fernando Rees – former Aston Martin factory driver- with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Their best laps times were nine tenths of a second slower than Drivex’s time. Besides, Drivex smashed previous GT Open’s pole position record of 2:03.572 and clocked a new GT3 record in Le Castellet.
With Winter Series coming to an end, Hahn and Khodair are already looking forward to starting 2018 season at Estoril circuit next 14-15 April.
Miguel Ángel de Castro: “Perfect. I think our performance is best described as perfect. We expected to prove our results in Barcelona came not by accident and met that goal. We set a time some two seconds quicker than the previous record and our rivals were at least nine tenths of a second slower. Marcelo and Allam are constantly improving their feedback with our Mercedes and Drivex and the results also prove that. I would like to highlight Marcelo’s improvement. He now knows much better the car and the circuits and he is just like a different driver right now. His long runs pace is awesome considering he is a gentleman driver. We have to focus on qualifying pace right now as he still has room for improvements there. We feel quite optimistic for the season start and we are looking forward to starting in dominant fashion in Estoril.”
Source. Drivex/Photo : Foto Speedy
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