Thomas Biagi and Matteo Bobbi moved a step closer towards the 2003
FIA GT Championship when they took their sixth win of the season
in Oschersleben in their 550 Maranello. Although they finished the
race in second place, crossing the line 23 seconds behind the Campbell-Walter/Kinch
Lister Storm, the Storm was later excluded from the results for
causing an avoidable accident.
The car, which had collided with Philippe Alliot's Chrysler Viper,
was deemed to have put at serious risk the people working on the
pit wall and the officials. The Viper hit the pit wall with force,
bringing out the safety car but Alliot emerged unscathed. The team,
Lister Racing, has appealed the decision and the results therefore
remain pending.
In the Teams Classification, BMS Scuderia Italia now has a lead
of 40 points over nearest rivals Lister Racing, which is an unassailable
lead in the Teams Championship with two rounds provisional.
As for Bobbi and Biagi, two drivers in their first season of GT
racing, they are now 11 points clear of their nearest rivals, Lilian
Bryner and Enzo Calderari who drive the nr 21 550 Maranello entered
under the Care Racing name but run by the same team. Bryner and
Calderari, with Stefano Livio, finished in third place in the amended
results, and were delighted with the unexpected podium, especially
after losing time in the pits when their engine would not start.
Gollin and Cappellari, who also drive a 550, failed to score after
retiring with clutch problemsand are now 17 points behind, with
only 20 points available.
Andrea Piccini, the only non-Ferrari driver in the title chase
before this round, is now out of contention, his Lister Storm retiring
mid race with a broken radiator.
In the N-GT class Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio De Simone led an
all-Ferrari N-GT podium in their JMB Racing 360 Modena. Starting
from pole, the two Italians dominated the race, only losing the
lead due to differing pit stop strategies. They finished 12 seconds
ahead of the Team Maranello Concessionaires 360s, with Jamie Davies
and Darren Turner ahead of Kelvin Burt and Tim Mullen. The EMKA
Porsche, victorious in the previous round in Sweden, ran an ambitious
one-stop strategy and was forced to fall back from second to fourth
in the closing stages of the race.
“We are very happy with this win,” Bertolini said.
“The car was very fast today, we have worked hard all weekend
and this is especially thanks to the Pirelli tyres, which were excellent
today.”
In the points, Ortelli and Lieb, who finished in fifth place today,
are now 12.5 points ahead of Jamie Davies and fifteen points ahead
of Fabrizio De Simone, with two races remaining. As far as the teams
are concerned, 17 points separate Freisinger Motorsport from Team
Maranello Concessionaires. Although the German team has a good lead,
with 36 remaining in play, the title fight will continue on to the
next round in Estoril, Portugal.
And at Estoril expect the debut of the new JMB-run 575 GTC.......
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