FFF Racing by ACM left Silverstone following the fifth round of the International GT Open championship at the weekend (2-3 September) in a positive frame of mind having secured a superb runner-up position in the second race of the weekend.
Vitantonio Liuzzi and Hiroshi Hamaguchi again paired up in the Pro-Am class with the #555 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 seeking a strong result to lift them from 11th in the championship standings.
The opening race of the weekend proved to a difficult one. Hamaguchi started fifth in class, 17th overall before first lap shuffle saw him drop a couple of positions before the race settled into a pattern. Liuzzi took over mid-distance on lap 15, bringing the car home in the same position, sixth in class. Still better was to come however.
The second race saw Liuzzi line up 17th overall, fifth in class in gloomy conditions. As the race got underway, light rain had started to fall and Liuzzi made a great getaway from the rolling start to vault 12th immediately. A number of cars subsequently ran wide at Stowe gifting the Italian a further four places to run second in class.
With the class leading #88 soon off the circuit in the tricky conditions, Liuzzi took seventh position and the class lead with the #88 re-joining directly behind. Try as a might, Liuzzi was unable to maintain the position with Côme Ledogar sliding past a few laps later.
The race settled, with Liuzzi running with the leading pack before pitting at the end of the 17th lap – at the end of the pitstop window – to hand over to Hamaguchi. The Japanese racer exited in sixth position, allowing some Pro drivers pass to run in 11th position, before taking the chequered flag at the one-hour mark just six seconds behind the class winning entry.
FFF Racing head to the Blancpain GT Series Asia next for the penultimate round of the championship in Shanghai 23-24 September. The next International GT Open takes place at Monza, Italy from 30 September.