18 Apr 2010
Second chapter of an weekend of success
The ART team repeated the result of saturday’s race reaching another victory and a second place at the Circuit Comunitat Valenciana, now with the protagonists inversion, with double Manuel Gião/Juan Manuel Lopez in the highest place of the podium and Francisco Cruz Martins/Álvaro Parente in second.
This time with only the Open GT and Spanish GT on the track, the pair of car number 31, Manuel Gião/Juan Manuel Lopez left with great expectations since the 7th on the grid for general and pole position for the championship Spanish GT. With a good start Manuel Gião fought with the most advanced cars in the GT Open, holding first place in the Spanish league and 6th on the Open till the change of drivers.
Juan Manuel Lopez then took the controls of the Ferrari 430 GT2 and continued in a very fast rhythm gaining seats in the general. Benefiting from "handicaps" of some of his opponents, the pair eventually finished in an excellent 3rd place in Open GT.
But the Aurora Racing Team car number 30 — piloted by Francisco Cruz Martins and Álvaro Parente — made another great race with the Italian GT champion making a good recovery after having lost a few places in the start because of a wet spot of the track, but eventually made a spectacular climb up to 10th place overall.
Álvaro Parente returned to make a race like yesterday, always being one of the fastest on track, recovering up to 2nd place overall and finishing just 0.5 seconds behind the Spanish Alvaro Barba. However, the result of a failure in timed handicap that would have to meet in the pits because of the victory of yesterday, turned out to be penalized by 20 seconds, still finishing in 5th overall, 2nd in Spanish league.
For Manuel Gião this was the best way to end the weekend, getting a win and a 3rd to the general "It was amazing having achieved this result with so little preparation time. ART did a great job because, even with a weaker engine than the Open, we’ve discuss the podium with teams candidates for the title. It was a very positive weekend and we’ll continue to work on improving our performances but we’ve also concluded with certainty that we have a solid base and very high expectations for Jarama."
Juan Manuel Lopez, visibly pleased with the test performed "I feel great because we’ve got better positions than yesterday. We won the Spanish league and could have been 2nd in the Open if we hadn’t lost to much time in overtaking a Porsche. We ended up benefiting from penalty imposed on Álvaro, who was the fastest rider all weekend, but these things happen in these championships. I’m very motivated for the next race where we can develop more of our car. Congratulations to ART for the excellent work. "
The rookie Francisco Cruz Martins, feels mixed emotions because of the penalty which they were subjected, after an excellent evidence indicated that "it’s in the first race that these things happen. We’ve showed that we are fast and have a good base to get good positions in this championship and even on the Open, if we want to be present. It was a difficult race to recover but the car was excellent. I did not feel major problems in adapting to the Ferrari because it’s very stable during the whole race , the opposite of a Porsche."
Álvaro Parente annoyed with the penalty after doing one more race where they were always the fastest "Kt was a pity we had bad luck. The car was pretty good and the whole team of ART is to be congratulated because they did a great job. I enjoyed myself a lot and it was a shame we did not win the Open GT, it would have been very interesting. Anyway we leave here - Valencia — leading the Spanish league which is always good. "
For the ART team manager, Fernando Moreira "It was a spectacular weekend where we were always very competitive even with a 2008 car. We were the team of the weekend and the expectations for the rest of championship are big. I will try to gather the financial resources to be present in more Open GT races. With these pilots and technical team, we would certainly embarrass some teams."
This time with only the Open GT and Spanish GT on the track, the pair of car number 31, Manuel Gião/Juan Manuel Lopez left with great expectations since the 7th on the grid for general and pole position for the championship Spanish GT. With a good start Manuel Gião fought with the most advanced cars in the GT Open, holding first place in the Spanish league and 6th on the Open till the change of drivers.
Juan Manuel Lopez then took the controls of the Ferrari 430 GT2 and continued in a very fast rhythm gaining seats in the general. Benefiting from "handicaps" of some of his opponents, the pair eventually finished in an excellent 3rd place in Open GT.
But the Aurora Racing Team car number 30 — piloted by Francisco Cruz Martins and Álvaro Parente — made another great race with the Italian GT champion making a good recovery after having lost a few places in the start because of a wet spot of the track, but eventually made a spectacular climb up to 10th place overall.
Álvaro Parente returned to make a race like yesterday, always being one of the fastest on track, recovering up to 2nd place overall and finishing just 0.5 seconds behind the Spanish Alvaro Barba. However, the result of a failure in timed handicap that would have to meet in the pits because of the victory of yesterday, turned out to be penalized by 20 seconds, still finishing in 5th overall, 2nd in Spanish league.
For Manuel Gião this was the best way to end the weekend, getting a win and a 3rd to the general "It was amazing having achieved this result with so little preparation time. ART did a great job because, even with a weaker engine than the Open, we’ve discuss the podium with teams candidates for the title. It was a very positive weekend and we’ll continue to work on improving our performances but we’ve also concluded with certainty that we have a solid base and very high expectations for Jarama."
Juan Manuel Lopez, visibly pleased with the test performed "I feel great because we’ve got better positions than yesterday. We won the Spanish league and could have been 2nd in the Open if we hadn’t lost to much time in overtaking a Porsche. We ended up benefiting from penalty imposed on Álvaro, who was the fastest rider all weekend, but these things happen in these championships. I’m very motivated for the next race where we can develop more of our car. Congratulations to ART for the excellent work. "
The rookie Francisco Cruz Martins, feels mixed emotions because of the penalty which they were subjected, after an excellent evidence indicated that "it’s in the first race that these things happen. We’ve showed that we are fast and have a good base to get good positions in this championship and even on the Open, if we want to be present. It was a difficult race to recover but the car was excellent. I did not feel major problems in adapting to the Ferrari because it’s very stable during the whole race , the opposite of a Porsche."
Álvaro Parente annoyed with the penalty after doing one more race where they were always the fastest "Kt was a pity we had bad luck. The car was pretty good and the whole team of ART is to be congratulated because they did a great job. I enjoyed myself a lot and it was a shame we did not win the Open GT, it would have been very interesting. Anyway we leave here - Valencia — leading the Spanish league which is always good. "
For the ART team manager, Fernando Moreira "It was a spectacular weekend where we were always very competitive even with a 2008 car. We were the team of the weekend and the expectations for the rest of championship are big. I will try to gather the financial resources to be present in more Open GT races. With these pilots and technical team, we would certainly embarrass some teams."
