GT NEWS IMOLA PREVIEW MAY 20th 2005 ROUND 4 : IMOLA (RSM) MAY 27th - 29th 2005 May is definitely a busy month for the FIA GT Championship; after the Imola round, over one third of the season will already have been completed. And what a season it has been so far ! With cars from three different manufacturers winning the three first races, and six drivers tied on the top of the Championship classification, it looks like being a very interesting year. Autodromo Dino e Enzo Ferrari The Aston Martin DBR9, victorious in Silverstone, will not be back for the Imola race, (Imola, Italy) but one of the winning drivers, Pedro Lamy, should be back in his regular cars : the Circuit opened in 1952; rebuilt in 1979 Monza-winning Larbre Competition Ferrari 550 Maranello. The Maserati MC 12 cars Web site : www.autodromoimola.com entered by JMB Racing and Teams classfication leaders Vitaphone will be aiming to repeat their Magny-Cours Maserati domination, while the GLPK Carsport Corvette, Circuit length : 4930 m a frontrunner in all sessions this season so far, will be aiming for its first, and already overdue, podium finish. FIA GT statistics : In GT2, the GruppeM Racing Porsches have won all three race this season, and the First visited : 2004 nr 66 car of Lieb and Rockenfeller will already be on the maximum penalty weight of 50 kg. Monza podium finishers Ebimotors will be back, while ARC Bratislava Slovakia Pole position in 2004: 1:45.593 (Ferrari and Dutch team Lammertink will make their debut. 550 Maranello) In the G2 class, Balfe Motorsport put in a fine performance on home soil in Silver- Race length in 2004 : 97 laps in 3:01:26 stone. In Imola they will face new opposition in the form of Belgian Racing, with the Gillet Vertigo in the capable hands of Bas Leinders and Renaud Kuppens. WHAT THE DRIVERS THINK ... “Imola is a difficult circuit for cars and drivers alike. It is often very hot, and the wind- ing and extremely technical circuit makes it extremely wearing on both the mechanical parts of the car and on the people. It’s a circuit that I like, but you really have to find the right set-up, or the race will be infernal...” Christophe Bouchut, Russian Age Racing “Imola is a nice track; I like it as it is flowing and suits my driving style. We ran well there in 2004 with the Graham Nash Saleen, so I am expecting good things. The sur- rounding area is also very nice... ” Paolo Ruberti, Graham Nash Motorsport “Imola is still one of the best tracks in the world. It is not fast any more, but it is full of big braking moments. You have no time to relax because a corner is already near… It is hard on the car and also on the driver.. “ Gabriele Gardel, Larbre Competition “A strong engine is required to climb up to Aqua Minerale, and strong brakes for Rivazza. The drivers are continuously under pressure and it is difficult to find the right set-up.” Michael Bartels, Vitaphone Racing Team For more information on the teams, Next Race drivers and everything about the Round 4 IMOLA FIA GT Championship, please visit : (REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO) www.fiagt.com May 27th - 29th 2005 SIX DRIVERS SHARE GT1 CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD ! POINTS AND POSITIONS With the two Vitaphone Maserati MC 12 cars finishing third and fifth in Silverstone, sepa- GT1 DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP rated by the nr 15 JMB Racing Maserati, Bartels/Scheider / Bertolini six drivers are now sharing the lead of the Wendlinger / Babini / Biagi 22 Championship : Bartels, Scheider, Babini, Gardel 19 Biagi, Bertolini and Wendlinger. They are Lamy 14 all just three points ahead of leading Ferrari Peter / Buncombe / Rusinov 10 driver Gabriele Gardel. As well as having all Bryner / Calderari / Zacchia 6 its drivers sharing the lead, Vitaphone has Kumpen/Hezemans/Longin 5 a healthy lead in the Teams classification, being 12 points ahead of JMB Racing, with Gollin 5 Larbre Competition third, only seven points behind JMB. Piccini / Deletraz 4 ““It is my first time racing at Imola,” Timo Scheider said. “I only know the circuit from TV and from the stories of my race engineer Luigi Urbinelli. I am very happy to race on GT1 TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP a track which is brand new for me. From what I have seen on TV, the track is typically Vitaphone Racing Team 44 Italian. I think there are a lot of possiblities for overtaking and slipstreaming will work JMB Racing 32 there very well. I am looking forward to driving in Imola, with nice Italian weather and Larbre Competition 25 a lot of spectators.”“ GLPK Carsport 5 HEAVY TIMES FOR GRUPPE M GPC Sport 4 British team GruppeM has won three rac- Graham Nash Motorsport 3 es in a row in the GT2 category, with two Lister Racing 2 wins for Lieb and Rockenfeller, and one Russian Age Racing 2 for Sugden and Collard. The nr 66 car will therefore be on the max- GT2 DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP imum penalty weight of 50 kg for the next Lieb / Rockenfeller 28 round in Imola. Should they win again, the Sugden / Collard 21 car would then go up to the ‘supermaxi- Tomlinson / Kane 9 mum’ of 75 kg. Collins / Cunningham 8 As for the nr 88 car, a broken water pipe lost the car time in the pits in Silverstone, and Ried / Ried 7 therefore finished 6th. This place, along with three points, brought a reduction of 20 kg Busnelli / Moccia /Kinch / Kirkaldy 6 in the handicap weights, putting the car back down to just 15 kg. Rasz / Venc /Mullen /Niarchos /Rosa / This will be GruppeM’s first time in Imola. Drudi 5 GT2 TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP Gruppe M Racing 49 LAMMERTINK : NEW TEAM IN GT2 Scuderia Ecosse 11 Dutch team Lammertink will be entering a LNT 11 2004-model Porsche 996 GT3-RSR in the Embassy Racing 8 Imola round of the FIA GT Championship. Proton Motorsport 7 The car will be driven by FIA GT regular Ebimotors 6 Wolfgang Kaufmann of Germany and his Machanek Racing /GPC / Eurotech 5 Italian protégé Luca Moro. Renauer Motorsport 4 “I have been helping Luca with his career Sebah Automotive 2 over the past two years, since he moved Cirtek Motorsport from bikes to car racing,” Wolfgang said. “I am trying to teach and help him as much as possible. He is currently doing the Dutch Porsche Carrera Cup.” GT1 MANUFACTURERS CUP This will be Wolfgang’s first FIA GT race in a 2004-model Porsche, with the sequential Maserati 76 gearbox and a number of other improvements. Ferrari 31 “I am really looking forward to it,” Wolfgang said. “We recently did a Belcar race Corvette 5 together at Spa, in the car prepared by Lammertink, which went well. The team has Saleen 3 plenty of experience and it is a good car.” Lister 2 This will be Moro’s first international race, and also his first time at Imola. As for Wolfgang, he knows the circuit, but has not raced there since Formula Three back in GT2 MANUFACTURERS CUP the late 1980’s. “I can remember some things, but the track has obviously changed a Porsche 77 lot since then. But we will try to do our best and to get a good result for the team and Ferrari 17 for Dunlop.” For Brno, Wolfgang will be back with the Austrian team Renauer. “Brno TVR 11 is almost their home race, and the team is working hard for the best possible result.” PROVISIONAL HANDICAP WEIGHTS REITER TESTS IN ADRIA A LOOK BACK AT 2004 : Round 8 : Imola - May 2nd ROUND 4 : IMOLA GT1 nr 9 Maserati 80 kg nr 10 Maserati 80 kg nr 15 Maserati 70 kg nr 11 Ferrari 10 kg Reiter Engineering has just completed a GT2 successful three-day test at the Adria cir- Weather : hot and sunny weather throug- nr 66 Porsche 50 kg cuit in Italy, running the Lamborghini Mur- out the weekend. nr 88 Porsche 15 kg ciélago. The team had changed a number of components on the car. “We did some Pole Position : All new entrants and non-consecutive long-distance testing and we are pleased GT1 : Fabrizio Gollin (BMS Scuderia entrants will carry 40 kg / GT1 or 20 with the performance gain. Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello) kg / GT2, plus any weight from previ- It is definitely faster than before,” team 1:45.593 ous rounds contested. principal Hans Reiter explained. “Howev- er, we need some more running in order GT2 : Christian Pescatori to be totally confident with the car.” The (GPC Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 team will continue to work on the car in GT3-RS) order to be back as soon as possible. 1:50.544 KONRAD MOTORSPORT : ENGINE PROBLEM IDENTIFIED Race Results Konrad Motorsport was forced to miss GT1 the Silverstone event, after the German 1: Bartels/Alzen (Saleen S7) team’s two Saleen S7 cars suffered en- 2: Bartolini / Salo (Maserati MC 12) * gine problems in both Monza and Magny- 3: Herbert / Simone (Maserati MC 12)* Cours. 4 : Cappellari / Gollin (Ferrari 550 ) “After error diagnosis, we have finally 5 : Livio/Calderari/Brnyer (Ferrari 550) traced the cause of the problem,” Franz Konrad said. “The defective parts must be GT2 changed. We have to order the parts from 1: Maassen/Luhr (Porsche 996 GT3 RS) the USA and unfortunately we have long delivery times.” 2: Ortelli/Collard (Porsche 996 GT3 RS) The team should therefore be back on the grid with the two yellow and black Saleen S7 3: Vasiliev/Bergmeister (Porsche 996 cars for the Imola round.