RSV Motorsport had the pace but could not find the podium
RSV Motorsport didn’t have much good luck in the Spa-Francorchamps, where the third meeting of the International GT Open was held. Domingo Romero and Peter Sundberg finished their job in the mythical Belgian circuit with an eighth and an eleventh position, a result which don’t reflect their real pace on the track after run in fourth place on Sunday.
At least this time their didn’t have to abandon any race.During the official training sessions the RSV drivers showed their good rate on the track. This is an important point in that circuit because its length doesn’t allow to complete a lot of fast laps. Peter Sundberg - who was supposed to be classified in the first position – did it in 2’22’607, which was enough to put the Andalusian Ferrari 430 GT2 in the fourth position, only 975 thousandths away from the poleman. Domingo Romero took the wheel after him and obtained a wonderful eleventh position, the second among the national representatives. Both driver noticed a small problem in the engine that was cheked.
The first race of the programme was complicated from the beginning. A downpour just before the race started questioned what tyres should be used. RSV decided to maintain the slick ones even with the light rain of the moment, and they made the right decision. At the beginning the Andalusian Ferrari was kept in the first position when Sundberg was driving it. However, again an electronic problem which limited the engine top speed made them move down to the eighth position.
On Sunday, after the engine problem was fixed by Ferrari-Michelotto, the RSV drivers were not able to get a better result, although they had the opportunity to do it. Domingo Romero showed an excellent start of the race and he moved up several positions until he gave his teammate Sundberg the car, very near to the top 5. After that, Peter Sundberg moved to the fourth position – the best among the national representatives – with the chance of finishing on the podium, but a drive trough penalty because a Romero touch with another car, got rid of the chance of going to the podium of Spa and they finally remained in the eleventh position.
The next appointment for RSV Motorsport is next weekend in Jerez – the second Spanish GT Championship meeting. The fourth test of the International GT Open is going to be held in Estoril on the 12th and 13th of June.
Declarations
Domingo Romero: ''I leave Spa with an strange feeling. On one hand I enjoyed a lot in one of the best circuits of the world. On the other hand it was a shame the penalty they imposed to us in the second race. I assume that it was my fault to touch another car but if we take into account the big quantity of more serious incidents that happened in the race and even another car that overtook me during safety-car and they were not penalized...''.
Peter Sundberg: ''After we fix the engine problem the car was running great on Sunday. The final classification doesn’t reflect the good rate we kept during the weekend. I’m sure that the best results are still to come and this will happen soon. Now we can start to concentrate in next week and the race in Jerez".