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Of particular interest to followers of FOC racing was the large numbers of racers from the Club's Championships. 2004 Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge Champions Damax entered no less than four cars for the highly accomplished crews of Ted Reddick/Kevin Riley, Robin Ward/Marco Attard and David Grace/Gary Culver in 360/Chs, with Mike Furness/Steve Farthing in a 355/Ch.. At the moment we can only report the bald facts of their experiences, but hopefully more soon if we can prevail upon someone to give us some more information! The meeting got underway with two one-hour qualifying sessions. The DDO Saleen took provisional pole in the first session, but its time was superseded by that of the Cooper's Racing Ferrari 550M of David Brabham and Allan Simonsen in the second, giving them pole position for the first of three 35-minute single-driver qualifying races, each setting the grid for the next race. It's not clear who drove in each of the races, unless it was directly reported, so we'll give team results. The first race took place as the sun was setting; night fell rapidly, and the race was stopped after nine laps. Simonsen pulled away to win in the 550m, with Sergey Zlobin finishing 6th overall and second in GT2 in JMB Racing's 360 GTC. Attard/Ward were the best of "our" blokes, finishing 23rd overall and 10th in GT3, with Riley/Reddick right behind them. Farthing/Furness were 32nd and Culver/Grace 35th. The second race, which took place early on Monday morning, was a real thriller. David Brabham started from pole in the Coopers Ferrari - each driver having take the start of two races during the meeting - but he was followed closely by Dominique Dupuy in the DDO Saleen S7. They continued to fight nose to tail throughout the 35-minute race. On the final lap, when Brabham became briefly caught in traffic, Dominique seized his chance and overtook, taking the chequered flag shortly afterwards. Sergei Zlobin was again the GT2 star during the second race, bringing the JMB Racing Ferrari home first in class and 5th place overall, having fought almost throughout the race with Frédéric Dedours in the Larbre Competition Viper. Attard/Ward were again the best of the Damax entries, finishing 24th and 10th in GT3, with Culver/Grace doing better, than before, coming in a couple of places behind them. Riley/Reddick were 31st and Farthing/Furness 34th. Race three looked like seeing a replay of the Brabham / Dupuy dual, but a puncture forced the Saleen into the pits. Similarly, the Wieth 550M, starting from the pit lane and with an overheating engine, made it back up to eighth during the 35 minutes. But this left Brabham with a clear run, and he won ahead of a nest of Vipers. Attard/Ward were 20th, with Culver/Grace right behind them. Riley/Reddick were 30th and Farhing/Furness 35th. The final saw Simonsen take the lead, first followed by Makowieki, and then by Fiat in the Saleen. Kaufmann, in the Wieth 550M, leapt up to third, but returned to the pits on lap three, while Simonsen gradually extended his lead over the Saleen to 20 seconds by lap 5, but the safety car, coming out on the next lap, closed up the field. But any hopes of a renewed fight were extinguished when the Dane pulled out a lead of over six seconds on the first lap after the safety car. The pitstops began, while a further safety car period, to allow a Porsche to be recovered from a dangerous place, brought the field up close again. Brabham and Dupuy took over their respective cars for the final stint, and although the gap between the leaders went down to just over two seconds, the Ferrari kept the advantage and took the chequered flag after 26 laps and one hour of racing. Patrick Long (Porsche 996 GT3 RSR) finished fifth in the leading GT2 car, after a puncture took the JMB Racing Ferrari out of the race. This time, Culver/Grace took the "PMFC" honours with 20th and a fine 9th in GT3, Riley/Redick were 26th and Farthing/Furness 30th. Attard/Ward only completed 12 laps. So Ferrari took another victory in Bahrain to add to Schuey's win in
the GP - fortunately there were no pesky Masers there!
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The
Bahrain GT Festival proved to be a great success with teams, drivers and
the enthusiastic spectators, offering two days of close and thrilling
GT races with a fine grid of 48 cars. For the first race at the magnificent
Bahrain International Circuit since the Formula One race in April, a fine
meeting was enjoyed by all.
