|
After an action-packed first hour, a high-attrition race saw a Ferrari-dominated
result in Sunday's first round of the FIA GT Championship at Monza,
giving Fabrizio Gollin a second consecutive win as a 29th birthday
present. With his team-mate Cappellari, in the nr 2 BMS Scuderia Italia
Ferrari 550 , they were victorious ahead of Bobbi and Gardel, with
the two GPC Giesse Squadra Corse Ferrari 575 Ms finishing their first-ever
race in third and fourth. In N-GT, the only Ferrari entered was the
360 M of De Simone and Pescatori which took a good second place.
Reigning Champions BMS Scuderia Italia made the best possible start
to the 2004 season, starting from pole and leading throughout the
87-lap race. The nr 1 and nr 2 cars pulled away from the rest of
the field. Although Bobbi led early on, Gollin and Cappellari eventually
took the win, finishing 44.7 seconds ahead of their team mates who
had been delayed by two extra pit stops and a spin.
This result has given the team a healthy early lead, with 18 points,
while Gollin and Cappellari have taken the lead of the Driver's
Classification for the first-ever time. "It was almost a problem-free
day for us," Gollin explained. "We are now leading the
Championship for the first time, and I hope to stay there all season
!" The BMS Care Racing 550 Maranello had looked like making
it a one-two-three for the Ferraris until a spin into the gravel
due to oil on the track dropped the nr 3 car of Bryner, Calderari
and Livio down to fifth place.
GPC Giesse Squadra Corse team owner Gianpaolo Coppi was delighted
with the performance of his team, which is now lying in second place
in both the GT and N-GT categories of the 2004 Championship. Although
the Ferrari 575Ms started from 9th and 10th on the grid, steady
races and a high level of attrition brought them up to third and
fourth, while the Ferrari 360 Modena of De Simone and Pescatori
was a good second in N-GT. "We started the team on January
6th," Gian Paolo Coppi explained. "In three months we
have built up a good team; we are really happy, and I want to thank
all my staff, the mechanics, the drivers, for the confidence they
have had in my project, as well as Pirelli and all the technical
partners and the sponsors. It was a crazy project, but sometimes
crazy things work."
JMB Racing, also starting with new cars and new drivers this weekend,
fared less well. They saw one car go out at the start, with the
nr 17 "Austrian" 575M driven by Robert Lechner, former
March and Sauber GP driver Karl Wendlinger and Toto Wolff stopping
with engine problems and the nr 19 car of Gosse/Kutemann/Daoudi
retiring on lap 28. However, the nr 18 car of Bert Longin, Ian Khan
and Christophe Pillon made steady progress and took two points for
seventh place, making it one of eight Ferraris in the top ten.
The Scuderia Cavallinó 575 GTC of Rene Arnoux and Patrick
Tambay did not appear although, to be fair, it was not promised,
and neither was there any Maserati representation.
It is interesting that the well-sorted 550M is still quicker than
the 575 GTC, which will undoubtedly be rendered obsolete by the
Maserati MMC before it really gets into its stride. The only hint
of opposition to Ferrari Maserati Gruppo in the GT Class comes from
the fact that the nr 7 Ray Mallock Ltd. Saleen of Erdos and Newton
set the fastest time in the morning warm-up, ahead of the pole-setting
550. Not too significant in itself, but Ray Mallock has a habit
of winning in anything that he does...
The results from Sebring and now Monza suggest that the 360 M might
face a tough struggle against the Porsches this season, and the
highly evident skills of Porsche-pilot Ortelli really need to be
put into a Red car sooner rather than later............
|
