Oschersleben in Germany was the sixth round of the FIA GT Championship and things were looking good for the Ferrari 550 Maranello of the BMS Scuderia Italia team, which had won the last two rounds. In qualifying the Ferrari, driven by Andrea Piccini and Jean-Denis Deletraz qualified second, just behind the Lister Storm of Jamie Campbell-Walter. Inevitably a whole phalanx of Chrysler Vipers followed. At the start Piccini dropped down to fifth place but soon moved up to second by the time of the first pit stops. Deletraz then took over and moved into the lead when he passed the Lister Storm, this time driven by the slower driver, Nicolaus Springer. At the final pit stops the Lister team tried to save valuable time by just changing the left-hand tyres and that moved the team right up behind the Ferrari. Although handicapped by worn tyres, Deletraz held on to win the race by just 1.012 seconds. This third consecutive win now puts the two Ferrari drivers at the head of the Championship table by a single point, with four rounds still to go. In the smaller-engined N-GT class, the JMB 360 GT of Iradj Alexander qualified in second place behind the Freisinger Porsche. The second 360 GT of Bertolini was third on the grid but the class-leading car of Montermini/Pescatori qualified during a rain shower and started way down the order. In the race Bertolini's 360 GT took the lead but was gradually overhauled by Antonio Garcia in the RWS Porsche, but even quicker was the Peter/Wolff team who moved to the front in the final half hour of the race, leading Garbagnati/Bertolini with a third in class. The lead 360 of Pescatori/Montermini had a poor race, with several spins and they finished out of the points in seventh place. Their main rivals for the class Championship, Stephane Ortelli, retired from the race so there were no changes in the overall points position. Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page. |