In a Ferrari dominated round at Estoril, JMB Racing won both
GT and N-GT categories and the French team heads for the final round
at Monza with hopes of taking the N-GT Drivers’ title for
De Simone.
After a very difficult season in the GT category JMB Racing took
their first win on their first time out with the brand-new factory-blessed
575 GTC. "It was really good, and everyone is delighted,"
Philipp Peter explained. Fabrizio de Simone and Andrea Bertolini
took their third N-GT win of the season in Estoril, having already
set pole position and fastest lap, just like in Oschersleben. Although
the team is out of the running for the Teams title, De Simone still
has a mathematical chance of claiming the Drivers Championship.
Third place in Estoril was enough to move Matteo Bobbi and Thomas
Biagi (Scuderia Italia 550 Maranello) out of the reach of the rest
of the field in the fight for the GT Drivers title. Thomas Biagi
later said. "It has been unbelievable - but very good! This
is my first title in my career, and that is very important to me.
I am also pleased that I won it in such a professional Championship
as the FIA GT"
In the race, the BMS 550 Ferrari of Cappellari/Gollin took the
lead on lap 9, with the JMB 575 in third place. After the first
round of pit stops, Anthony Kumpen (Chrysler Viper) began to chase
down Luca Cappellari, overtaking him on lap 42. However, brake problems
saw Kumpen spin out on lap 56, retiring shortly afterwards. Then
there was a battle for the lead between the two BMS cars, and on
lap 58, Biagi went ahead. The JMB 575 then overtook Cappellari for
second place. At this stage, there were four Ferraris in the top
four. On lap 87 Babini's 575 took the lead from Bobbi's 550 and
six laps later, the latter's team mate Gollin overtook him too,
Bobbi’s car clearly suffering from 50kg “success”
ballast. The situation then remained static until the chequered
flag.
In N-GT the JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena of De Simone/ Bertolini
led from pole, with the TMC 360s running fourth and fifth. When
the leading Ferrari made its pit stop on lap 41, the Porsche 996
GT3-RS of Sugden/Collard briefly took the lead before pitting in
its turn. This placed the TMC cars, on a one-stop strategy, in the
lead. They finally pitted simultaneously on lap 52, and the JMB
car retook the lead followed by a couple of Porsches. When one pitted
this promoted the TMC cars to third and fourth. Then the Porsche
of Ortelli/Lieb received a 60 second stop/go penalty for speeding
in the pit lane and the leading JMB Ferrari was also called in,
for ten seconds, due to getting a push start after its second pit
stop. This relegated them to third place but by lap 99 Bertolini
regained the lead which he held to the end, giving the car its third
win of the season, ahead of the TMC 360 GT of Turner/Davies. If
Davies/Turner win in the next round at Monza, Davies could be Champion......but
so could De Simone.....or Ortelli.
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