Indian driver Aditya Patel and teammate Ceaser Campaniço finished second overall and first in class in race one of the International GT Open Round 3 at Jerez circuit.
The Portuguese driver had earlier taken a shock pole position in qualifying session behind the wheel of the Audi R8 LMS Ultra (in GTS class) he shares with Patel.
Starting on pole, Campanico lost the pole advantage to the Ferrari 458 of Daniel Zampieri (racing in the faster SGT class) at the start and settled in second position for the 70-minute race. He was hounded by the other 458 of Andrea Montermini who couldn’t pass despite multiple attempts.
The leading duo pulled away from the pack as the laps ticked past, and Campanico handed the R8 LMS to Patel with 30 minutes of the race to go.
Patel pushed hard, reeling in the leader for the remainder of the race but eventually fell short by just 1.8 seconds at the flag although the team still managed to win the GTS category comfortably .
Results
Round 3, International GT Open, Jerez
- Mavlanov/ Zampieri 1:11:34.079
- Campaniço/Patel +1.822
- Roda/Ruberti +11.056