| Budapest – Car Collection Motorsport showed strong form at the fourth race weekend of the International GT Open at the Hungaroring, but failed to achieve any points. In the Porsche 911 GT3 R, Alex Fontana and his American teammate proved competitive in the Pro-Am class – but incidents in both races led to retirements. After winning the 24 Hours of Spa last weekend, the Car Collection Motorsport team was back to the daily routine of GT Open racing at the Hungaroring. Unlike at Spa, however, their strong performance in Hungary was not crowned with points. The potential was already evident in the free practice sessions: third place in the first session and second place in the second session were a successful start. In the third practice session, the focus was on race set-up. The American driver completed the first qualifying session and qualified in 25th place overall and 12th in the Pro-Am class. In the race, he went off the track twice and fell far behind. Alex Fontana took over and worked his way back into striking distance of the points with consistently fast laps – until he was pushed off the track by a competitor on the last lap. Despite the retirement, the team secured the fastest race lap and the best average time in the field. On Sunday, Fontana made a statement: second place overall and the Pro-Am pole position underlined his strong form. In the race, he handed over the car in second place overall and in the lead in the Pro-Am class. But shortly after the driver change, the race ended prematurely due to an accident involving his teammate. Team manager Romina Schmidt: “All in all, it was unfortunately a weekend to forget, at least in terms of results. But the speed was definitely there and the team did a great job. I think coping with the heat was a problem – although that was the case for everyone, of course. Our American driver is also still struggling with the aftermath of his accident at Hockenheim, which is certainly not ideal. But I hope we’ll come back stronger at Paul Ricard.” The next round of the International GT Open will take place on 19-20 July at the Le Castellet circuit in southern France. |
