Some interesting facts and figures about 2023
13.11.2023
As always when the season is over, it is interesting to look at some facts & figures it yielded, which prove how interesting and exciting the 2023 harvest of the series has been.
*No less than 91 drivers competed in the International GT Open this year. They were of 30 different nationalities, covering all continents. By country, Italy had the most numerous contingent (14), closely followed by Germany (13) and the United Kingdom (11). In a second ladder were Switzerland, Austria and Poland with 6 each, and France (5).
°21 different teams contested the series, of which 8 made their debut in the GT Open. They represented 7 car brands (Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche). Ferrari (14) and Mercedes (12) were the brands with most entries.
*The average number of entries per event this year was 33, with the highest number (35) reached at Spa-Francorchamps for the Endurance race.
*There were seven different overall winners in this year’s 13 races, with Max Paul – Pierre-Louis Chovet, in the Oregon Team Lamborghini Huracan Evo II, taking the most successes (4). An honour and a score shared also by Eddie Cheever – Marco Pulcini (AF Corse Ferrari) and Giuseppe Cipriani (Barone Rampante Lamborghini) in their respective classes, Pro-Am and Am.
*Paul-Chovet also come on top of the rankings, all classes combined, by number of pole positions (7 between the two drivers), laps led (141), and race kilometers covered (2272.2). They are also the only pair having scored points in all 13 races, all classes taken into account.
*Mikaeel Pitamber, the South African driver of SPS Automotive Performance, was the youngest driver to compete this year, having celebrated his 17th birthday on 3rd October, few days after his maiden win in Monza. In terms of age, he beat Aaron Walker by some months. On the other side of the spectrum, the selected club of evergreen racers over 60, or turned so during the season, includes Murat Cuhadaroglu, Gino Forgione, Stanislaw Jedlinski, Jean-Claude Saada and Jay Schreibman.
*Three former GT Open champions appeared this year. Andrea Montermini (2008 & 2013) contested the entire season with AF Corse, while Richard Lietz (2007) did a half-campaign with Lionspeed GP and Albert Costa (2019) made a one-off at the last round with Motopark. Montermini is the driver with most race wins in the GT Open, 20, together with Miguel Ramos, and is second behind the Portuguese (134 vs 146) in race starts.
