Henrique Chaves ended the second race of the International GT Open’s Spa-Francorchamps round in the second position, which allows him to lead the Drivers Championship after three events.
The day started with a hard-fought qualifying, ending with the top-11 in less than a second. The Portuguese youngster was in the mix for a top position, signing tenth fastest time.
With the will to fight again for the podium positions, although he had a five second handicap in the drivers change pit-stop, Henrique Chaves made a good start and in the end of the first lap was seventh.
The Portuguese youngster start to put pressure in the sixth placed car immediately, but a Safety-Car situation, after an exit from another car, put on hold his attacks. Moments later, the driver change window opened and Teo Martín Motorsport called in the McLaren 720S GT3 #59.
Even with the five second handicap, the Spanish team did a good pit-stop and, when the driver change ended, Martin Kodric was fourth. The Henrique Chaves’ teammate made more positions and, when he crossed the finish line, was second, which was the third podium position for the duo. “We had a tough qualifying and we weren’t in the grid position we wanted to. We had to recover, and, in the first lap, I gained three positions. From then on, we were in the mix for a good result. The team called me in the right moment, and we gained some more positions. Martin did the rest – a good stint, climbing to second and we were on podium again. It was a great result”, said the Portuguese driver.
After three rounds of the 2019 International GT Open GT season, Henrique Chaves has three podiums to his name – two second places and one third – and leads the Drivers’ Championship with his teammate, with a one-point advantage to the second placed drivers. “We have been in the fight for the podium positions consistently, which shows the good work that we have been doing since the beginning of the season. We are in the Drivers’ Championship lead, but our opponents are very strong, and we must keep evolving the car so we can fight por the top positions”, underlined the Portuguese driver.
The next International GT Open round will be held at Red Bull Ring at July 13th – 14th.
