FIA GT : Silverstone : 360 Wins Class Again
13.5.01

The third round of the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone was eagerly anticipated by Ferrari fans as it was to be the first appearance of the new Prodrive 550 Maranello. At scrutineering, however, things went drastically wrong and the car was wheeled away and took no further part. Apparently the authorities objected to some transverse gearbox components which appeared to conflict with the regulations which stated that transmissions had to be in line with the engine configuration.

This still left the two Rafanelli 550s in the big class but great hopes lay on a repeat win in the N-GT class for the JMB 360 Modena.

The body damage on the lead 550 was from a big tyre blow-out

In qualifying the quickest 550, driven by Naspetti/ Schiattarella, was in sixth position but immediately behind was the 360 of Terrien/ Pescatori who once again led the smaller N-GT category ahead of a whole raft of Porsche GT3Rs. At the front it was the usual battle between the Chrysler Vipers and the Lister Storms.

In the race the two Rafanelli 550s ran at a reasonable pace but were not able to keep up with the quicker of the Vipers and the Listers. A huge tyre blow-out on the Naspetti/Schiattarella Ferrarri put it two laps down in 20th place from where it fought its way back up to fifth by the end.

The second of the Rafanelli cars, excellently driven by Marc Duez, began to trouble the Vipers running in third and fourth place and forced its way passed both of them to reach third overall but then it began to smoke and was eventually retired into its garage with an over-heating engine.

JMB again beat all the Porsches with their 360 Modena

In the N-GT class the story was very simple; Pescatori/ Terrien took their 360 Modena out into the lead and, with only one pit stop necessary during the entire three hour race, easily out-paced the Porsches, who all had to stop twice. A most impressive performance to bring this car to such a level in a relatively short space of time. They eventually finished seventh overall and nearly half a minute ahead of their nearest Porsche rival.