Drivex kicked off the 2017 International GT Open season at Autódromo do Estoril last weekend and the Spanish-based team showed competitive form with their new Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Marcelo Hahn and Allam Khodair. The Drivex-entered Mercedes faced probably one of the most competitive fields in the recent years but Hahn and Khodair still shone on their own merit despite adverse BoP for Mercedes-built cars.
Hahan and Khodair completed their first laps at Estoril on Thursday during private testing practice. There, they both finished in the top four overall in each and every session posting a best lap of 1:39.199 and continued along the same path on Friday. After two free practice sessions, Khodair took fourth on the time sheets with 1:38.044, improving one tenth of a second his previous record. Hahn also turned in laps of 1:39 during free practice session devoted to Bronze-categorized drivers.
Khodair took qualifying duties on Saturday and posted a lap of 1:37.186 to secure row three start for Drivex. The 70-minute long race saw Khodair moving up to fourth during his stint keeping Ferrari factory driver Marco Cioci at bay. When he pitted and handed over to Hahn, Marcelo rejoined still running in fourth place. But few minutes later, he was hit by Piergiuseppe Perazzini and sent him spinning. Hahn was able to continue but he dropped several places and ended up in seventh place in Pro-Am class.
On Sunday, in changeable weather conditions, Hahn qualified seventh in class with a best lap time of 1:43.225. In race 2, Hahn passed two cars at the beginning and moved up to fifth. As the pit window opened, Hahn headed into the pit for mandatory driver change. Khodair put in a sensational recovery drive to pass drivers such as Tom Onslow-Cole, a former BTCC star. At the end, Khodair came fifth in Pro-Am class.
Round two will take place at Spa-Francorchamps on 27-28 May.
Miguel Ángel de Castro: “We are pleased with our overall performance as Marcelo showed huge potential and his room for improvement is still good. Allam is an extraordinary racing driver with huge talent. We were also the first Mercedes-car classified but I have to recognize that the BoP is a huge mountain to climb at the moment. Our speed deficit on straights is quite important and, despite our competitive lap times, we get stuck behind other cars and we aren’t able to pass them even taking advantage of the slipstream. Obviously, taking into account Mercedes cars results on the international scene, it’s the most competitive GT3 car, but the current BoP went too far on this regard.”
