ALMS : Road Atlanta : Ferrari 2nd
Atlanta, 18.4.99
The second round of the American Le Mans Series took place at Road Atlanta with a strong prototype entry, which included five Ferrari 333SPs.
Interestingly, this was the race at which the 333 made its debut five years ago and yet, with minor modifications only, it is still a front-running sportscar design, both in the US and in Europe. However, newer and quicker designs are lurking all around …
Qualifying saw a stunning performance from the Rafanelli team's R & S-Judd driven by van de Poele/Schiattarella, but a small dimensional violation meant that instead of starting from pole they were put to the back of the prototype field. Second quickest qualifier was the new open Panoz LMP driven by Bernard/Brabham but this was also placed at the back of the grid following their decision to start the race with new tyres instead of ones which were used during qualifying as the rules stipulate.
This meant that the actual pole was held by the R & S-Ford of Weaver/Wallace, followed by three F333SPs, in the order Angelelli/deRadiges, Theys/Baldi and Taylor/Caffi. The other two Ferraris started from 8th and 14th positions.
At the start, the R & S-Judd driven by Eric van de Poele showed a clear speed advantage and was heading the field within the first hour. The quickest Ferrari, the Lista/Momo 333 of Theys/Baldi, gave brave chase but had to concede victory by a margin of 24 seconds at the end of the 2 hour 45 minute race. All the 333s finished in the top nine, with the Toshiba/Olive Garden 333 of Angelelli/deRadiges coming in fourth, the team's second 333, with Taylor/Caffi, finishing sixth, and the final two Ferraris finishing 7th and 9th.
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