Youngest GT Open pair take maiden victory for Roger Racing
A special round of the International GT Open like this one in the new Valencia Street Circuit needed a special, emotional touch. José Luis Pampló and Miquel Julià contributed it, by taking a deserved victory that was saluted with warmth by everybody. Not only this was the maiden victory for the pair driving Escudería's Roger Ferrari F430, but Miquel and José Luis are the youngest driver pair in the series (their added ages barely pass 40 years) and they are true local heroes, as Pampló is from Valencia and Julià from neighboring Mallorca.
The two young drivers beat two GP2 stars, Venezuela's Pastor Maldonado and Belgian Jérôme D'Ambrosio, who did a wonderful race starting from last row and finishing 2nd, and Riccardo Romagnoli - Giorgio Pantano in two of the La Torre Vipers. The Twentytwo Corvette of Cioci-Pellizzato retains its leadership in the GTS standings.
At the start, poleman Cioci takes the lead with authority, building an advantage of 3" already in lap 2, in front of Conway, Filippi, Romagnoli, Julià, Ronnie Kessel, rosina and Villa, while the Aston Villois of Petrini runs wide in turn 1. Attention focuses on the battle between youngsters, Julià and Kessel, for fifth, with the Spaniard managing to stay in front, and on the charge of Belgian GP2 driver Jérôme D'Ambrosio, who started last but is already sixth after few laps.
The race is relatively uneventful until the driver change, which sees the leading Corvette losing its first position, because of a high handicap (45") but also because it refused to restart. Eventually, it will take the track again, only to stop in lap 20 with mechanical problems.
The pit stop had been beneficial to the Ferrari F430 by Roger Marketing, with José Luis Pampló taking the lead with a 5" advantage on the Aston of Wiser. The Italian would be slowed down by technical problems, leaving Pampló with one only task, trying to defend the 15" gap he had on the very fast Viper of Maldonado. The Venezuelan would reduce the difference to 4"7 but would never be in a position to worry the young leader, who controlled with great maturity the situation to take a victory that was much of a delight for the 30.000 local fans.