2003 FIA GT CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 5, DONINGTON PARK
RACE REPORT

Bobbi/Biagi and Lieb/Ortelli win in Donington
2003-06-29
The only possible way to describe the fifth round of the FIA GT Championship is ‘action packed’. With temperatures high and the sun shining, the cars and drivers gave the 20,000 spectators lining the Donington Park circuit a thrilling show, with a breathtaking three-hour sequence of changes of lead, nose-to-tail battles, daring overtaking manoeuvres and assorted racing incidents. Although both Force One Chrysler Viper GTS-R cars and the nr 14 Lister Storm led the race, and the Konrad Saleen and other Lister Storms looked strong, an assortment of mechanical problems and racing incidents meant that the race result was identical to Brno, with BMS Scuderia Italia and Freisinger Motorsport finishing on top of the podium.
Further to the technical scrutineering, the nr 18 Zwaan’s Racing Chrysler Viper, originally classified second, was excluded from the results by a decision from the Stewards of the Meeting. Therefore the results of the race remain provisional, pending the appeal by Zwaan’s Racing to the exclusion, and engine checks on both the winning nr 23 Ferrari and the nr 18 Chrysler Viper GTS-R.

FIFTH WIN FOR BOBBI AND BIAGI
The two Italian drivers, in their first season of GT racing, continue to dominate the FIA GT Championship, with their seemingly invulnerable Ferrari 550 Maranello. Despite 100 kg penalty weight, and the undoubted speed of the Lister Storm and Saleen S7-R cars, Bobbi and Biagi put in a fine performance to take their fifth win of the season. With a perfect score of 50 points, they have a massive lead of 26 points over their nearest rivals, Care Racing drivers Bryner, Calderari and Livio. Their team, BMS Scuderia Italia, is well ahead of its nearest rivals in the Teams Classification, with Lister Racing trailing by 34 points.

FREISINGER TAKE N-GT TEAMS LEAD
Just like in 2002, Stéphane Ortelli’s fortunes appear to have changed in the Czech Republic. Last year, his Brno win heralded a series of victories that took him to the N-GT Drivers title, and after winning at the Czech track last month, the driver from Monaco continued the sequence with a win in Great Britain. With the second Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS of Longin and Gardel finishing in a fine third place, the team has moved into the lead of the N-GT Teams classification, while Ortelli and Lieb have 28 points, two behind the leaders Mullen and Davies, and just one behind De Simone and Ortelli. With six drivers within three points of each other, the class is closer than ever, and the upcoming Proximus 24 Hours of Spa should be fascinating.

THIRD FOR FORCE ONE AFTER ZWAAN’S RACING EXCLUDED
The surprise result of the fifth round had to be the second-place finish of Dutch team Zwaan’s Racing, with its Chrysler Viper GTS-R – the first Viper to finish on the podium this season. However, the car was later excluded from the results due to a breach of the technical regulations, further to a modification made after initial scrutineering. The team has lodged an appeal and the results therefore remain provisional. This elevates the Care Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello of Enzo Calderari, Lilian Bryner and Stefano Livio to second. Despite a number of misfire and power-steering problems, the trio managed to keep the car going and took their third third-place finish of the season. Care Racing, despite only having one car, is lying third in the Teams Classification. Third place went to the Force One Festina Chrysler Viper of pole-sitter Alliot, Hallyday and Zacchia, which had looked strong for much of the race, but lost time with two mid-race spins.
The Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R of Erdos and Newton was provisionally fourth, ahead of the Creation Autosportif Lister Storm, which had run strongly until a long pit stop due to starter problems. The Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R finished a provisional sixth in class, after looking certain to finish on the podium until late in the race, with the Roos-Optima Chrysler Viper dropping back from fifth as Magnus Wallinder struggled on worn tyres. The car inherited seventh place after the exclusion of the nr 18 Zwaans’ Racing Chrysler Viper, meaning that the nr 22 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari took the final point for eighth.

BEST RESULT OF 2003 FOR RWS-YUKOS
German team RWS-Yukos had its best weekend of the 2003 season today, when a strong performance from Stéphane Daoudi and Johnny Mowlem saw their nr 99 Porsche 996 GT3-RS take second place in the N-GT category, giving an all-Porsche podium for the first time this season. The Team Eurotech Porsche of David and Godfrey Jones was fourth, ahead of the nr 88 TMC Ferrari 360 Modena and the nr 80 Veloqx car of Smith and Kirkaldy. The second RWS-Yukos car of Vasiliev and Fomenko finished in seventh place, with the nr 53 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena of Kutemann and Gosse scoring the final point.

THE GT STORY
The Konrad Saleen failed to pull away from the start of the warm-up lap, meaning that Gounon had to start from the back. Hezemans got the better of his team-mate Alliot at the start, and led for the early stages, with Bobbi jumping up from sixth to third, overtaking Alliot and attacking Hezemans for the lead. On lap 15, Bobbi pushed past the Force One Viper and took the lead, but dropped back on the next lap after Hezemans spun, putting Alliot back in the lead. The Konrad Saleen had reached the top runners by this point, but was awarded a drive-through penalty after a collision with Gollin’s nr 22 Ferrari. For the rest of the first hour, the leading cars were involved in a nose-to tail battle, with the top eight cars separated by under 6 seconds on lap 21. Campbell-Walter, in the Lister, had by then climbed up after the grid and took the lead ahead of the nr 4 Viper, with the nr 23 BMS Ferrari following him up into second. Campbell-Walter led for the rest of his stint, handing over to Kinch. But the 21-year old was faced with a charging Biagi, who took the lead on lap 42 and began to pull away. Kinch reacted with some very fast laps, but then came into the pits unexpectedly, retiring with broken steering. This left the nr 23 Ferrari with a significant lead over the nr 15 Lister Storm of Piccini and Deletraz, while the Konrad Saleen, with Seiler at the wheel, moved up to third. The nr 4 Viper had two spins in close succession, dropping behind the Zwaans’ Viper. The Saleen moved up to second place, while the nr 15 Lister had problems with a broken break pipe, dropping out of contention. However, just 15 laps from the end, the nr 2 Saleen spun off after a racing incident with the nr 15 Lister, landing in the gravel and dropping down to an eventual 7th place. This left the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello to cross the line with a lead of over a lap from the nr 18 Zwaan’s Racing Chrysler Viper, with the Care Racing Ferrari third.

THE N-GT STORY
The nr 89 Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena led from pole, but was shortly overtaken by the nr 61 EMKA Racing Porsche 996 GT3-RS. The nr 50 Freisinger Porsche also moved ahead of the leading Ferrari. By lap 30, Emmanuel Collard had a lead of 7.4 seconds over Ortelli, with the nr 89 TMC Ferrari a further 6 seconds behind. After the first pit-stops, Lieb was in the lead, while the nr 88 TMC Ferrari lost a rear wheel at the Old Hairpin. By lap 62, Lieb had pulled out a lead of 25 seconds over Sugden. The nr 61 Porsche then had a long pit-stop due to a transmission problem. This brought the nr 99 RWS-Yukos Porsche into second place, with the nr 80 Veloqx Motorsport Ferrari 360 Modena third. However, vibration problems with the gearbox meant that the Veloqx car made two pit-stops in quick succession, dropping back to sixth, and promoting the nr 51 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche to third, for an all-Porsche podium.