Any folks that follow this ?
Anyone familiar with participation of Honda/Acura in this series?
NSX content: the GT500 NSX cars that compete in JGTC should be pretty competitive in this series.... if smaller specialty marques like Saleen and Lister can field competitive entries.
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Ferrari dominates opening round of FIA GT
5/4/2003 - 6/4/2003 Barcelona
It was a red-letter day for Ferrari in the opening round of the FIA GT Championship at Barcelona at the weekend, with 550 Maranellos taking the first three places overall and 360 Modena GTs taking the top four slots in the N-GT category.
The overwhelming competitiveness of the private teams running Ferraris is even more impressive given that the grids this year are the most hotly-contested since the FIA championship began in 1997, with entrants from Ferrari, Lister, Saleen, Chrysler and Porsche. The popularity of the championship bucks the trend of motor racing as the series is well promoted and well subscribed, with 35 cars lining up for this, the first race of the season.
Thomas Biagi and Matteo Bobbi, the single-seater specialists who were contesting their first ever endurance race, took a well-deserved victory for the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello team ahead of their team-mates, Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin. The team celebrated by hurling their overjoyed drivers into the air in celebration of a victory which firmly underlined the Prancing Horse's potential for this season. Enzo Calderari, Lilian Bryner and Stefano Livio (Care Racing) rounded out the 550 Maranello’ podium positions after a consistent race which saw many of their challengers falling by the wayside.
The Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper of reigning champion, Christophe Bouchut and his co-driver Jean-Philippe Belloc, retired with mechanical failure, while the pole-sitting Lister Storm of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Nathan Kinch was black-flagged and later retired after a bizarre incident. Philippe Alliot's Chrysler Viper lost its front splitter on the main straight, and Gollin ran over it, flinging it into the air. Campbell-Walter was right behind and the offending splitter struck his plastic windscreen, causing it to deform and the resulting air flow blew the roof off the Storm. Despite the repairs, the car retired three laps later with an overheating engine.
The JMB pairing of Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio di Simone, who switched from the European Touring Car Championship this year, took their first win of the year in their N-GT class Ferrari 360 GT, eighth overall and ahead of the Team Maranello Concessionaires 360 of Jamie Davies and Tim Mullen. That car was delayed only by a spin on oil, which involved two other cars as well, with Davies at the wheel. "I had a good solid race today but with one scary moment when three of us spun together on some oil in turn six," said Davies. "Thankfully, we all came out unscathed. We have some more learning to do to improve our race pace but we will get there soon, I'm sure."
The second Maranello Concessionaires 360 GT driven by Kelvin Burt and Darren Turner came third having started from the back of the grid following a qualifying accident in which Burt collided with a parked car. A puncture delayed them, but the pair recovered to take the final podium position ahead of Guillaume Gomez and Steve Hiesse in the Auto Palace Ferrari.
Ferrari and Maserati customer racing director Claudio Berro was on hand in Barcelona to confirm that Maserati would enter the series next year with a carbon-tub supercar. To be permitted as a factory team, Maserati must run four customer cars in addition to its two factory machines, ensuring a strong presence in the series for years to come.
First 12 finishers:
1 Thomas Biagi/Matteo Bobbi (BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello) 96 laps in 3h 00m 37.819s (150.79 km/h)
2 Luca Cappellari/Fabrizio Gollin (BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello) at 15.663 secs
3 Enzo Calderari/Lilian Bryner/Stefano Livio (Care Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello) 95 laps
4 Jean-Denis Deletraz/Andrea Piccini (Lister Storm GT) 95 laps
5 Bobby Verdon-Roe/Peter Snowdon (Lister Storm GT) 95 laps
6 Henrik Roos/Magnus Wallinder (Roos-Optima Racing Chrysler Viper GTS-R) 94 laps
7 Arjan van der Zwaan/Rob van der Zwaan/Klaus Abbelen (Zwaan's Racing Chrysler Viper GTS-R) 93 laps
8 Andrea Bertolini/Fabrizio de Simone (JMB Ferrari 360 Modena) 93 laps
9 Jamie Davies/Tim Mullen (Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena) 92 laps
10 Kelvin Burt/Darren Turner (Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena) 92 laps
11 Franz Konrad/Toni Seiler (Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R) 92 laps
12 Guillaume Gomez/Steve Hiesse (Auto Palace Ferrari 360 Modena) 92 laps
Anyone familiar with participation of Honda/Acura in this series?
NSX content: the GT500 NSX cars that compete in JGTC should be pretty competitive in this series.... if smaller specialty marques like Saleen and Lister can field competitive entries.
#####################
Ferrari dominates opening round of FIA GT
5/4/2003 - 6/4/2003 Barcelona
It was a red-letter day for Ferrari in the opening round of the FIA GT Championship at Barcelona at the weekend, with 550 Maranellos taking the first three places overall and 360 Modena GTs taking the top four slots in the N-GT category.
The overwhelming competitiveness of the private teams running Ferraris is even more impressive given that the grids this year are the most hotly-contested since the FIA championship began in 1997, with entrants from Ferrari, Lister, Saleen, Chrysler and Porsche. The popularity of the championship bucks the trend of motor racing as the series is well promoted and well subscribed, with 35 cars lining up for this, the first race of the season.
Thomas Biagi and Matteo Bobbi, the single-seater specialists who were contesting their first ever endurance race, took a well-deserved victory for the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello team ahead of their team-mates, Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin. The team celebrated by hurling their overjoyed drivers into the air in celebration of a victory which firmly underlined the Prancing Horse's potential for this season. Enzo Calderari, Lilian Bryner and Stefano Livio (Care Racing) rounded out the 550 Maranello’ podium positions after a consistent race which saw many of their challengers falling by the wayside.
The Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper of reigning champion, Christophe Bouchut and his co-driver Jean-Philippe Belloc, retired with mechanical failure, while the pole-sitting Lister Storm of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Nathan Kinch was black-flagged and later retired after a bizarre incident. Philippe Alliot's Chrysler Viper lost its front splitter on the main straight, and Gollin ran over it, flinging it into the air. Campbell-Walter was right behind and the offending splitter struck his plastic windscreen, causing it to deform and the resulting air flow blew the roof off the Storm. Despite the repairs, the car retired three laps later with an overheating engine.
The JMB pairing of Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio di Simone, who switched from the European Touring Car Championship this year, took their first win of the year in their N-GT class Ferrari 360 GT, eighth overall and ahead of the Team Maranello Concessionaires 360 of Jamie Davies and Tim Mullen. That car was delayed only by a spin on oil, which involved two other cars as well, with Davies at the wheel. "I had a good solid race today but with one scary moment when three of us spun together on some oil in turn six," said Davies. "Thankfully, we all came out unscathed. We have some more learning to do to improve our race pace but we will get there soon, I'm sure."
The second Maranello Concessionaires 360 GT driven by Kelvin Burt and Darren Turner came third having started from the back of the grid following a qualifying accident in which Burt collided with a parked car. A puncture delayed them, but the pair recovered to take the final podium position ahead of Guillaume Gomez and Steve Hiesse in the Auto Palace Ferrari.
Ferrari and Maserati customer racing director Claudio Berro was on hand in Barcelona to confirm that Maserati would enter the series next year with a carbon-tub supercar. To be permitted as a factory team, Maserati must run four customer cars in addition to its two factory machines, ensuring a strong presence in the series for years to come.
First 12 finishers:
1 Thomas Biagi/Matteo Bobbi (BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello) 96 laps in 3h 00m 37.819s (150.79 km/h)
2 Luca Cappellari/Fabrizio Gollin (BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello) at 15.663 secs
3 Enzo Calderari/Lilian Bryner/Stefano Livio (Care Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello) 95 laps
4 Jean-Denis Deletraz/Andrea Piccini (Lister Storm GT) 95 laps
5 Bobby Verdon-Roe/Peter Snowdon (Lister Storm GT) 95 laps
6 Henrik Roos/Magnus Wallinder (Roos-Optima Racing Chrysler Viper GTS-R) 94 laps
7 Arjan van der Zwaan/Rob van der Zwaan/Klaus Abbelen (Zwaan's Racing Chrysler Viper GTS-R) 93 laps
8 Andrea Bertolini/Fabrizio de Simone (JMB Ferrari 360 Modena) 93 laps
9 Jamie Davies/Tim Mullen (Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena) 92 laps
10 Kelvin Burt/Darren Turner (Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena) 92 laps
11 Franz Konrad/Toni Seiler (Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R) 92 laps
12 Guillaume Gomez/Steve Hiesse (Auto Palace Ferrari 360 Modena) 92 laps
