Circuito Internacional Los Parisi is located in the Southern outskirts of Maracaibo, in Northern Venezuela, close to the border with Colombia. This was the third round of the Marlboro GT de las Américas. John teamed up again with Roberto Tinoco.

Translation:

The Costa Rican pair, made up of American John Morton and Tico Roberto Tinoco, endured the intense Maracaibo sun—the race was held at a temperature of 42 degrees—and the pressure from Dominicans Adriano and Bienvenido Abreu, to win the third round of the Firestone Cup GT of the Americas, which was held yesterday before more than five thousand people at the “Los Parisi” international racetrack in Maracaibo. Morton and Tinoco—racing that way—started in second place, after posting a time of 1:14:708 in the qualifying rounds, behind the Abreu brothers (1:14:667), and maintained that position, thanks to an excellent strategy, until the 65th ring road, when the Abreus entered the pits, to take the lead and hold on until they saw the checkered flag.

Second place went to the Dominicans, Abreu, who thus took the lead in the championship, with 56 points, leaving behind Puerto Ricans Wally Castro and Raly Falguera, who occupied fourth place, after 82 laps on the shortened “Los Parisi” circuit. It is worth noting that Biagio Parisi, from Zulia, the strongest candidate of the Venezuelans, had to retire for the third time in a row from the GT of the Americas due to problems with his vehicle.

On lap eleven, he was already in third place when he overtook “Mandy” Gonzalez at the entrance to the main straight, his car began to smoke and subsequently ignites a fire, forcing him to retire from the competition.

Parisi said goodbye with a hint of bitterness, promising his fans that in the fourth round, to be held in Bogota, he would once again be the driver he had been. The winners completed 82 laps at an average speed of 190 kilometers per hour.

The race was quite eventful. Carlos Rodriguez of Costa Rica and “Mandy” Gonzalez had problems at the start, crashing their vehicles, with no regrettable consequences. Also worth mentioning were the performances of Venezuelans Carlos Parisi (who drove his cousin Biagio’s second car), German Oliveira and Antonio Pastore, and the brothers Fabrizio and Maurizio Scala, who finished in third and fifth place. Carlos Parisi also retired with 10 minutes remaining due to tire problems.

“I’m very happy to be back.” In Maracaibo, last year we triumphed here and now we’re repeating the victory. The warmth of the fans and the city is favorable to us, even though in Costa Rica the climate is less severe,

“We love this city so much,” said Tinoco, while being hugged by Morton at the end of the race. “Of course, the track layout worked in our favor. Our car fits perfectly with the “Los Parisi” layout.”

In the pre-race for the GT of the Americas, the third national Formula 2000 event, the winner was Aragón-born Bruno Orioli, who clocked a time of 21 minutes, 41 seconds, and 883 hundredths of a second for the 16 laps.

Juan Jose Font—who is traveling to Scotland to race on European tracks—came second, followed by Jesús Jiménez from Zulia, fourth by Christian Lofredo, and fifth by Leonardo Fontanesi, who is thus the leader in this event.

In Formula 1600, the winner was Nelson Canache, followed by Nestor Caceres, Eduardo Ledezma, and Gabriel lemma.