Drivex made its own mark in the International GT Open at Silverstone with the pairs of Marcelo Hahn / Allam Khodair and Ricardo Baptista / Cacá Bueno in their Mercedes AMG GT3 cars. The Madrid-based team fought for another race win and only bad luck prevented another victory in the series.
With Hahn / Khodair posting the 3rd-fastest lap time in qualifying, which was an excellent start to the weekend and a powerful morale booster, Marcelo and Baptista took the qualifying duties in Q1. Baptista clocked a time of 2:01.178 to take tenths in class with Hahn in 11th with his 2:01.326. The duo of Brazilian drivers moved through the field during the race before handing over the Mercedes cars to their teammates Bueno and Khodair. Bueno achieved the first top-five finish for them with Khodair seventh despite his time handicap after winning in Hungary.
On Sunday, Khodair secured a front row start for Sunday’s race 2 by setting a 1:58.657 in Q2. Bueno was 11th-fastest with his 1:59.514. Khodair retained second place at the start with Bueno losing a few places in the first laps. Khodair’s stint was faultless and after 35 minutes headed into the pit-lane for the mandatory driver change. Hahn rejoined second and kept Giovanni Venturini, Alessandro Pier Guidi or Damiano Fioravanti at bay. Besides, he was lapping quicker than race leader Valentin Pierburg. Unfortunately, with only a lap to go, a suspension failure forced Hahn to retire. Baptista finished eleventh in class following a clash with Daniel Serra.
The International GT Open will head to Monza on 22-23 September.
Source. DRivex/Photo. The Editor
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