Sportscar Update - Ferrari Owners' Club

11.9.06

We thought it was about time we had another look at the sportscar scene. There is of course no Ferrari prototipo capable of outright victory at Le Mans or any of its various spin-off series' nor is there likely to be in the forseeable future, and it looks like diesels are going to rule the roost. I'm sure it would be no problem for Dallara to produce a 333SP replacement but it's extremly doubtful that Fiat's 2.2 litre 4 cylinder could be persuaded to produce Audi-beating power. In any case a Ferrari diesel is a complete no-no really.....

FIA GT
Frustratingly, the GT1 category of GT racing is still largely controlled by the Maserati MC12, the car formerly known as Enzo, but we've said enough about that.... The good news is that the Michelloto-built 430GT is the class of the GT2 world, having won every round this year.

After Dijon last weekend (Round 6 of 10) AF Corse lead the Teams' Championship and their drivers occupy the first four places in the Drivers' Championship with Matteo Bobbi and Jaime Melo tied in first place from Mika Salo and Rui Aguas in joint second. The former duo have won two rounds (1&6), with Sugden/Alexander taking Round 2 for JMB. Salo and Aguas (with Timo Scheider) won the prestigious 24hrs of Spa (R4) . Newcomers to the series Scuderia Ecosse have won two rounds, with Andrew Kirkaldy and Nathan Kinch winning at Oschesleben (R3) and Paul Ricard (R5).

Paul Ricard was a very good race for the Scottish team as Tim Mullen, paired with Marino Franchitti, rather than his usual team-mate Chris Niarchos, was second, though Mullen/Niarchos did take second at Dijon. All this means that Scuderia Ecosse are in a comfortable second place in the Teams' Championship, with Kirkaldy/Kinch third in the Driver's with Mullen fourth.

Unfortunately the 430 tipo has been less successful in the European GT3 Championship. After Hector Lester/Allan Simonsen's win in the first race at Silverstone, the 430/Challenge has been completely outclassed.

LMES
The old Prodrive-built 550M hangs on gamely in the "LM" GT1 class of the Le Mans Endurance Series of 1000km races with the Convers Menx team of Peter Kox/Robert Pergl/Alexei Vasiliev putting up a good showing. They were second in Istanbul and third at Spa, the Nüburgring and Donington Park.

The 430GT is a winner in the "LM" GT2 class too with Luca Druidi/Gabrio Rosa/Fabrizio de Simone winning for GPC Sport in Istanbul and finishing third at Donington. Their team mates Stefano Zonca/Andrea Bellicchi/Marco Cioci won at the Nüburgring.

British Ferrari interest in the Series is provided by the Virgo Motorsport car of Dan Eagling and Tim Sugden. They were third at Spa and sixth at their home round at Donington. They qualified on pole and took the lead of the class which lasted for almost two hours until Dan Eagling was tipped into a spin by a Corvette. The marshals helped him back onto the track, whereupon he was shortly driven off it again by an errant LMP2 car! The team worked hard to recover to sixth place at the end of the race.

British GT
As you would expect Tim Mullen and Chris Niarchos are leading the British GT Championship in their Scuderia Ecosse 430GT, having won nine of the 11 rounds they have entered. JMH Automotive are the leading Ferrari team in the GTC class in fifth place with a home-modified 360 Challenge. Drivers Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton are 13th and 14th respectively in the Drivers' Classification with a sixth place at Rockingham in Round 11 being their best result to date.

Britcar
Even though it's not strictly a sportscar series it's, err... hard to describe - even the Series' Organiser doesn't attempt it, we should mention that erstwhile PMFC racer Bo McCormick and Callum Lockie are the best Ferrari team in it. They won outright R1 in the 360/Ch. at Silverstone, average third place and generally win Class 2.