ZANI ON HOME GROUND and DAMAX ARE BACK

GT3 NEWS #1
FREE PRACTICE

For the final two races of what has been an extremely successful inaugural season, the FIA GT3 European Championship has moved to Italy, and the beautiful Mugello circuit, in the heart of the Tuscan region.  With 42 cars due to take part, representing all eight makes which have raced this year, the challenging 5.245 km circuit should provide a perfect backdrop for another two fascinating races.

WEATHER
Rain was forecast for Friday, and the morning was grey and wet, meaning a damp track when the GT3 cars took to the circuit for the first time.  However, conditions soon improved and it was almost dry by the end of the session.  The sun was shining brightly as the cars came out for the second free practice session, but it was beginning to cloud over.

HANDICAP WEIGHTS
For Mugello, the following performance balancing criteria apply :
Ascari KZ1R : + 100 kg, hard tyres and the ride height raised by 7mm front and rear
Aston Martin DBRS9 : + 60 kg
Corvette Z06 : to raise the height of the chassis from the ground by 10 mm at the front (151 mm instead of 141) and to 10 mm      at the rear (100 mm instead of 90 mm)
  +100 kg of ballast
                1 restrictor of 75.00 mm maximum diameter, hard compound tyres
Dodge Viper Competition Coupe : 2 restrictors of 48.56 mm
                 ride height of 99mm at the front and 124 mm at the rear
                 hard tyres and 100 kg
Porsche 997 GT2 : the 20 kg penalty weight is removed, and the cars are allowed to use a standard fuel tank

LAST TIME
The fourth round took place at the French circuit of Dijon-Prenois, where two exciting races took place around the technical and challenging circuit.  Jonathan Cocker, in his Barwell Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 and James Ruffier in the Riverside Corvette Z06 took pole for the two races.   Racing Logistic’s Dodge Viper Competition Coupe of Patrick Bornhauser and Jean-Luc Blanchemain took the chequered flag in the first race, ahead of the Racing Box Viper of Ceccato and Livio,  with Barwell’s Cocker and Machitski third.  However, the Racing Logistics car was later excluded due to a brake issue, but the team appealed the decision, and the results are therefore provisional, pending the appeal, which will be heard later this month.  The second race was interrupted by a start-line crash, which brought out the safety car for over 20 minutes.  But an exciting race afterwards saw the Porsche 997 GT3 claim its first FIA GT3 victory, Sean Edwards and Phil Keen winning for Tech9 Motorsport, ahead of BMS Scuderia Italia’s Groppi and Seiler, with Bornhauser and Blanchemain a provisional third.

PADDOCK NEWS
42 cars are due to take part in this weekend’s meeting, including eight Porsche 997 GT3, eight Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, six Aston Martin DBRS9, six Corvette Z06, six Ferrari 430 Challenge GT3, three Lamborghini Gallardo, three Ascari KZ1R, and two Maserati GranSport Light.

• Morgan Moullin-Traffort is back in the nr 6 AutoSport Promotion Porsche 997, alongside Marc Cattaneo.
• Paul van Splunteren is partnered this weekend by Andrew Purdie of Great Britain in the nr 8 Tech9 Motorsport Porsche.  Sean Edwards and Phil Keen are continuing their Dijon-winning partnership in the nr 9 Tech9 Motorsport Porsche
• Frédéric Bouvy, double race-winner in Spa, has returned to Racing Logistic, but is teamed this time with Jean-Yves Adam in the nr 12 Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.  As for provisional Championship leader Patrick Bornhauser, he will share the nr 10 Viper with another leading French GT driver, Frédéric Makowiecki.
• Phil Bastiaans, of the Netherlands, who put in such a good performance in Dijon, is ill, and has been replaced in the nr 13 car by Dennis Retera.  The nr 14 car is shared by Luciano Linossi and Lorenzo Bontempelli, both of Italy, while former FIA GT driver Vittorio Zoboli is sharing the nr 15 Lamborghini with Nicolaas Hommerson of the Netherlands
• With six Corvettes Z06 present this weekend, newcomers include young Czech driver Adam Lacko – seen in an FIA GT Saleen last year – as well as the return of Italian driver Luca Pirri
• All three Barwell Aston Martin DBRS9 cars are racing this weekend, with Tom Alexander/Michael Bentwood in the nr 22 car and Martin Rich/ Phil Burgan in the nr 66 joining regular duo Jonathan Cocker / Leo Machitski in the nr 44.  For its home race, BMS Scuderia Italia has Marco Panzavuota and Ettore Bonaldi in the nr 25 car, while the usual teams of Groppi/Seiler and Mugelli/Zani share the other two DBRS9s
• Trofeo Maserati reigning Champion Alberto Cerrai has a busy weekend, competing in both the Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati and the FIA GT3, for Racing Box.  Pouchelon has just two cars, for Duqueine/Reid and Stanton/Hay.
• JMB has six Ferrari 430 GT3 cars in the race – plus another two in the FIA GT Championship.  Allan Simonsen is back alongside Hector Lester, while the JMB Racing Compétition teams include an all-Swiss line-up of Henri Moser and Loris Kessel.  Frequent FIA GT competitor Mauro Casadei will make his GT3 debut in one of the cars.
• Damax is back, with all three cars, for Scott/Turvey, Thompson/Allison and Zwart/Collins.
• AF Corse has just two Maserati GranSport Light cars this weekend, for Sperati/Palma and Bellin/De Megni.

FIRST FREE PRACTICE SESSION : ZANI ON HOME GROUND
For his home race, BMS Scuderia Italia driver Marcello Zani  set the fastest time in the nr 23 Aston Martin DBRS9 he shares with local hero Max Mugelli.  The time of 1:57.386 in the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Aston Martin DBRS9 was almost two seconds faster than the second-best time, set by the Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo of Luciano Linossi and Lorenzo Bontempelli.  The leading Dodge Viper Competition Coupe was third-fastest, the nr 28 Racing Box car of Maddalena and Cerrai.  The nr 16 Callaway Corvette of Berberich-Martini and Ludwig was fourth - making four different makes in the top four, and the second, third and fourth cars separated by less than three tenths of a second.
The Ascari KZ1R cars, making a welcome return after missing Dijon, put in a fine performance, and the nr 47 car of Klaas Zwart and Ben Collins was sixth, ahead of the leading Porsche, Dijon winners Edwards and Keen in the Tech9 Motorsport 997 GT3. 
The first one-hour session started off on a damp track, drying continuously through the allotted time.  The nr 29 Pouchelon Viper of Duqueine and Reid was fastest early on, followed by the nr 25 BMS DBRS9 of Bonaldi and Panzavuota.  12 minutes into the session, the nr 14 Lamborghini of Linossi and Bontempelli set a lap of 2:14.253 to go fastest.   Half-way through the session, the Dijon winners, Edwards and Keen, placed their Porsche ahead with a lap of 2:08.533, improving steadily to 2:05.047 as the track dried.  The session was briefly red-flagged after a Corvette went out, the Damax Ascari leading at the time.  After the restart, the nr 14 Lamborghini went fastest again, before the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Aston Martin set the best time of the session with a lap of 1:57.386.

SECOND FREE PRACTICE SESSION :  DAMAX ARE BACK
The Mugello circuit, host of the final 2006 round of the FIA GT3 European Championship, is apparently universally popular with the drivers.  In the second free practice session, Damax showed they were well and truly back in the Championship by setting the fastest time around the 5.245 km circuit.  The nr 46 car of Thompson and Allison set a lap of 1:58.241 in the dry session, six tenths faster than the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Aston Martin DBRS9 of Mugelli and Zani, who had been ahead this morning.
Third-fastest was the nr 10 Racing Logistic Dodge Viper Competition Coupe of Bornhauser and Makowiecki, ahead of the second Ascari of Scott and Turvey.  The leading Corvette was fifth, the Callaway Z06 driven by Jürgen von Gartzen and Luca Pirri.  The nr 9 Tech9 Motorsport Porsche of Edwards and Keen was the fastest of the Porsche cars, in ninth position,  while Lester and Simonsen were the best Ferrari representatives in twelfth.  The leading Lamborghini was the nr 13 car of Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Dennis Retera, in fourteenth.
The session was red-flagged after a serious crash, in which the nr 28 Racing Box Dodge Viper Competition Coupe of Maddalena and Cerrai was badly damaged.  

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