Double podium joy for Optimum Motorsport at GT Open season opener

Big points and big overtakes made up the story of Nick Moss and Joe Osborne’s weekend in Estoril, as the Optimum Motorsport pair made it two podium finishes to ignite their championship challenge.

While Joe qualified second for race one of the weekend, he started fourth overall after the stewards discovered that track limits had been breached at turn 13, thus his fastest time was revoked.

The Briton had a spellbinding start, jumping up to second by turn two however, no sooner had the race got underway the action was red flagged as a four car pile-up at turn four saw debris spewed across the back straight. Two laps behind the safety car were completed before racing began again 30 minutes later.

As Joe retained second place, the pit window opened for the #72 duo to make their mandatory driver change, seeing Nick re-join the field in the lead. His Stellar pace saw him hold off Oregon Team’s #63 Lamborghini but unfortunately, had to surrender position after being forced wide by the fellow Pro driver seeing the McLaren 720S cross the line in second.

It was role reversal come Sunday morning as Nick was on qualifying duties. He dialled in some great laps to place the car on the fourth row in seventh for the second and final race of the weekend.

With just over 35 minutes of the race remaining, Nick came in to pit to cycle through the usual driver change, refuel and tyre change. Joe joined the field down in tenth although, on the fresh set of tyres catching the leading pack was an easy task for the McLaren Factory Driver.

As the clock ticked down, so did the number of people in front. Catching the #911 GetSpeed Performance Mercedes on the entry into turn 1 was just the start of it for Joe. Moving up to fourth with eight minutes remaining, he sat just six seconds behind the leader. Two laps later, he was up to second with the #63 Oregon Lamborghini out in-front on their final warning for track limits.

Despite a solid charge, the chequered flag fell too soon and once again for the second time in two days, Optimum Motorsport finished second.

Joe Osborne

“It was a really good first weekend, we came off the back of a really strong test day which is always great. Two second places are great, we think we know where we can improve to be able to go one step higher for the rest of the season which bodes well for a strong GT Open 2022 championship!”