Henrique Chaves, with Miguel Ramos, achieved last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps his second win of the season and goes to the last round of this International GT Open season in the Drivers’ Standings lead.
The Portuguese duo started the weekend with a fourth-place finish in the first race of the Belgium event, which allowed him to reduce its time handicap and have high hopes for the second Ardennes contest.
Sunday would be a celebration day, but it started with a third place in the starting grid, after Henrique Chaves poletime was disallowed due to a supposed track limit infringement.
The Portuguese driver didn’t give up, and in the start of the sixty-minute race, he would jump to second just behind the leader. All he had to do was to keep him in sights, as the first position duo had a maximum handicap possible, and in the pit-stops, the Teo Martín Motorsport’s McLaren 720S GT3 would pass to lead.
The plan panned out as expected and, after the driver changes, Miguel Ramos was at the front of the field, taking the British car to flag to conquer the Portuguese duo second win of the season.
“It was a good weekend for us! In the first race we finished in a strategic fourth place, which allowed us to clean up our handicap. Our goal was to win in the second race and I started well from third, to reach the second place behind the leader. I just had to follow him and Miguel would come out on the top after the driver change. We were very competitive and we knew that we could win and it was a very important result for the championship”, said Henrique Chaves.
With this win the Portuguese duo left Spa-Francorchamps in the Drivers’ Standings lead with the same advantage that it had before the Belgium round, when there is just an event to be disputed. “The second race win was very important for us and allow us to go to Barcelona with a comfortable lead. All the team is confident and we will work hard to get this year’s title”, underlined Henrique Chaves.
The next International GT Open round will be held at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, on October 29th – November 1st.
