The fourth round of the 2004 FIA GT Championship proved to be a breath-taking action-packed race, taking place in bright sunshine around the Hockenheimring. The lead changed hands many times, with first the Konrad and then the Vitaphone Saleen S7 cars dominating the race. When both cars suffered mechanical problems, Ferraris took over the lead.

A short safety-car period bunched the cars up during the final stint, and GPC Giesse Squadra Corse Ferrari 575 GTC looked to be on course to take its first-ever win but, whilst being driven by Fabio Babini, it then suffered a puncture which elevated the BMS Scuderia Italia and BMS Care Racing Ferrari 550Ms onto the podium, after a near problem-free race for the 2003 Champions. It was a clean sweep with all three of their three cars on the podium, for the first time since Barcelona 2003.

Second until two laps before the end, Bobbi and Gardel took the win in the nr 1 550M. Bobbi said: “We were lucky when Babini had a problem with his tyre and we could win the race. I'm very happy for the team – they did an unbelievable job today, with three cars in the top three positions.” After taking second place on three occasions this year, the duo finally took their first win of the season which is also Swiss driver Gabriele Gardel’s first win in the Championship. “For me, this is a dream come true!” said Gardel.

Despite starting from the pit-lane, and carrying the maximum success ballast of 100 kg, the 550 Maranello of Gollin and Cappellari took second, having made steady progress throughout. Third place went to the Care Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello of Lilian Bryner, Enzo Calderari and Stefano Livio, their best result this season.

The race was a tribute to Ferrari reliability as only one of the nine cars entered failed to reach the finish; the "Austrian" 575 GTC of Wendlinger/Wolff/Lechner going out after 93 laps after two punctures. The the two Giesse cars of Naspetti/Hezemans and Peter/Babini were fifth and sixth. The N-GT Ferrari 360 GTC was 10th. Longin/Khan/Bleiner came home 12th in the JMB Racing 575 GTC, followed by team-mates Gosse/Kutemann/Daoudi.

Gollin and Cappellari have retained the lead of the Championship, three points ahead of Bobbi and Gardel, with the JMB drivers from the nr 17 car still third. In the Teams' Classification, BMS has a 44 point lead over GPC Giesse Squadra Corse, with JMB Racing third.

The N-GT win went to Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr in their Porsche 996 GT3-RS. However, this result looked far from certain for much of the race, as the undoubted star was the Giesse 360. With Fabrizio De Simone overtaking Lucas Luhr early on after a fascinating fight the car remained firmly in the lead until the second pit-stop when the Ferrari 360 had a problem starting. The resulting time loss put De Simone and Pescatori down in third, behind the eventual winner. Luhr said. “I honestly feel sorry for the GPC drivers. If they hadn't had the problem, we wouldn't have won the race.”

Pescatori and De Simone and GPC Giesse Squadra Corse are in third place in their respective Championships, but the good news for Ferrari fans is that both of the Porsches in front will be carrying the maximum 50 kg "success ballast" for the next round in Brno on 30th May.

Oh, yes - there was still no sign of the Arnoux/Tambay 575, nor any Maseratis.

Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.