For the first time though, the Gran Turismo World Series employed variable weather conditions and as the race approached halfway the rain began to fall. That prompted Serrano to dive into the pits on lap six to take a set of intermediate rain tyres while the rest – aside from Carrazza at the back – continued on the soft slicks. By the time the field made it round to the Bus Stop again, the rain was coming down hard but surprisingly Inostroza opted to continue on the slicks. Most of the grid pitted, leaving Inostroza, Gallo, Ryota Kokubun, and Tomoaki Yamanaka to carry on for another lap.
The intermediate-shod cars were still slower at this point, so when the front four pitted they came back out still leading the race – except for Yamanaka who made the unusual decision to swap for new soft tyres and fell down the field.
With pace to spare, Inostroza maintained the gap for the remaining four laps to take his first Nations Cup victory – adding to two Manufacturers Cup wins in previous seasons, and his two class wins in the GT World Challenge America this year, all in Porsche 911s – and three World Series points. Gallo also picked up his first points of the season in second, while Kokubun completed the podium and grabbed the final point to add to his tally. Yamanaka came within touching distance after a scorching final lap in much drier conditions saw him gain three spots on the slicks.
That means Fraga still leads the way on seven points, with Drumont in second place on six, and Kokubun now third on his own in five. There’s one final online event on 30th October, with the same field of 12 drivers, before the World Final in November.