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A hot and busy race round the challenging and technical Imola circuit saw the Vitaphone Racing Team –Saleen S7 of Uwe Alzen and Michael Bartels take the win, crossing the line ahead of the two Maserati MC 12 cars which were entered on a non-Championship basis. With Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari scoring the points for second place, BMS Scuderia Italia has taken an unassailable lead in the GT Teams Classification. In N-GT, GPC Giesse Squadra Corse’s Ferrari 360 put in a dominant performance, crossing the line ahead of the Freisinger Motorsport Porsche of Luhr and Maassen, and the Championship leaders Ortelli and Collard. However, afterwards the 360 GTC was excluded due to an airbox failure, giving the Porsche the win. The team has said that it intends to appeal, making the N-GT results provisional. Crossing the line fourth, Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari finished second in the GT category, whilst their BMS "team-mates" Bobbi and Gardel finished fourth, after an unbelievable series of incidents. On lap 22, the two BMS cars collided when the Bobbi (nr 1) tried to take the lead from Gollin (nr 2) at Variante Bassa, for which manoeuvre a time penalty was awarded which was served on lap 32 by his team mate Gardel, as they'd swapped over on lap 28. The very next lap the two cars got tangled up again, when Gardel went to pass the nr 2 car, this time driven by Capellari! The former went off and incurred a puncture and bodywork damage. Despite all, this the two cars made it to the end and secured the GT Teams Championship for BMS Scuderia Italia, for the second year running. The Ferrari 550 Maranellos proved to be reliable and consistent in the blistering temperatures, with the Care Racing 550M finishing third in GT for Bryner, Calderari and Livio. The BMS trio was followed by the two GPC Giesse Ferrari 575 GTCs, scoring a group finish to remain second in the GT Teams classification, with the JMB Racing 575 GTC of Melo and Wendlinger seventh. In a field full of Ferraris, all of which finished, the Mik Racing N-GT 360 of Giovanni Berton and Alex Piccolo finished third in class (subject to the results of Giesse's appeal). The JMB Racing 575 GTC of Gosse/Kutemann/Malucelli was 9th in GT, with the third JMB car of Longin/Zlobin/Buncombe 11th in class. In the Drivers classification, Gollin and Cappellari have 70 points, 16.5 ahead of Bobbi and Gardel, with Babini and Peter a further 9.5 behind. Wendlinger is 7th and Bryner and Calderari in joint eighth position. The two Maserati MC 12 cars, entered by Italian team AF Corse, put in a useful performance for their first-ever race, finishing second and third overall. Andrea Bertolini and Mika Salo finished second, with Johnny Herbert and Fabrizio De Simone third. The cars ran smoothly throughout the race, gradually rising up the field until the Bertolini/Salo car was challenging for the lead thirty laps from the end. “I am very pleased with this result with both cars making the podium,” said Luca di Montezemolo, who was at Imola. “This is testimony to all the work done at Maserati. After twenty-five years, the return to the track could not have gone any better for a manufacturer that is part of automobile history.” The cars are not yet homologated and are not eligible to score Championship
points; they were given special permission to run in this race, Oschersleben
and Dubai by the FIA, with the agreement of the teams concerned, which
on the face of it, seems a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas!
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