Henrique Chaves, with Miguel Ramos, achieved a second and a fourth place in the first International GT Open round’s races and left Hungaroring, Hungary, in the championship lead.
The Portuguese pair showed a strong pace during the weekend and Miguel Ramos started the Saturday race from fifth in the grid. After a good pit-stop, Henrique Chaves was in second and gaining big chunks of time to the leader.
At that rate, the twenty-three year old driver would achieve the lead before the chequered flag, but a big shunt from other driver meant that the race would end with Safety-Car and Henrique Chaves had to finish in the second place.
In the Sunday race the Torres Vedras driver started from second and followed the leader in a high pace contest. A podium position looked like a safe bet for the Teo Martín Motorsport pair, even with a five second handicap, but a problem in the device that count the pit-in/pit-out time, lost them twelve seconds and in the end the fourth position was the best they could get.
However, Henrique Chaves points out the strong pace that the pair showed. “We were competitive during the weekend and we were in the podium fight. In the first race we were heading to the win, but the Safety-Car situation destroyed our plans. However, the second-place result is a good result. The Sunday contest we had bad luck with the handicap device failure that cost us twelve seconds and we ended fourth when a podium position was within our reach”, said the Portuguese youngster.
The McLaren 720S GT3 duo leaves Hungaroring in the lead of the Drivers Standing, which was one of their goal for the weekend. “We are in a good path and our strong pace showed that. It’s positive to be in the first position of the championship after the first round, but we have to keep working as the opposition is very strong. We have to keep this level for the Paul Ricard’s weekend. On the personal side, it was great to be back to racing after such a long off-season”, added Henrique Chaves.
The next International GT Open round will be held at Paul Ricard, at August 20th – 23rd.
