round #2 2005 FIA GT: MAGNY COURS (F), April 29-May 1

MASERATIS TAKE 1-2-3 IN FRANCE

Only Christophe Bouchut could rivalise with them

May 2 - At Magny-Cours we saw thrilling racing from start to finish. Having started from the pole position Christophe Bouchut (F) could not prevent that at the first curb the better placed Andrea Bertolini (I) could pass with his #15 JMB Maserati MC12 the fast R.A.R. Ferrari 550 Maranello. During the 18 first laps the four Maseratis and the Russian Ferrari were pulling away from the rest of the field. Even the Belgian Corvette C5-R (lacking some punch on the straight) and the Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT were unable to follow those five cars on the lead.
Already after two laps Justin Keen (GB), suffering from clutch problems in the Lister Storm Evo GT (still ninth at Monza), had to come into the pits. He restarted for two other laps and had then to reitire with terminal clutch problems. Problems too for Max Stanco (PL) in the RAM Saleen in difficulties with a rear flat tire. In one way or another the oil pump must have been touched and the car was retired after four laps.
In front Christophe Bouchut was involved in a gruelling combat with the JMB Maserati MC12 of Andrea Bertolini for the first place. After 16 laps he succeeded to pass the metallic blue Italian machinery by braking it out at the Adelaide Hairpin. Behind those two cars there was a close fight for third position between the #16 JMB Maserati MC12 of Fabio Babini (I) and the #9 Vitaphone Maserati MC12 of Timo Scheider (D). Scheider defended his third spot as well as he could, holding up Babini. After 15 laps both cars came into contact, and Babini had to go over the high curb, but he could pass the Vitaphone Maserati and was closing in on the tail of Bouchut's Ferrari. When Bouchut passed the surprised Bertolini, Babini could do the same, so that he was now second.
Meanwhile the Lamborghini had serious problems with the cooling of its gearbox and dropped seriously in the standings. Andrea Piccini (I), struggling in eighth position with the GPC Sports Ferrari 575 GTC, went off into the gravel at Turn 2, and lost two laps waiting on a tow. The Ferrari led and looked set to begin a battle royal with Babini. Next time around though, Bouchut, despite flashing headlamps to warn of his approach, was apparently unseen by Ian Khan (GB) in his 996-RS, the cars made contact and Bouchut ploughed across the gravel trap. The Maseratis were past in a flash and by the time the Russian Age Racing Ferrari regained the track it was back in fifth spot but, worse still, it had a front right puncture and a full lap to travel before a tyre change could be made. The four Maseratis were thus leading the race with the two JMB cars leading the two Vitaphone cars.
A boiling mad Bouchut pitted with smoke pouring off the front corner. He would rejoin in 20th place, the lead group now a Maserati 1,2,3,4 with Babini leading the way. The pattern of the day was (more or less) set. The #5 Konrad Saleen meanwhile had retired with engine woes after a spirited run from Uwe Alzen (D). Just before the hour mark the Safety Car emerged to enable the marshals to remove some debris (a sill panel from the Monaro – plus a huge chunk of rubber).

By refuelling under yel-low caution the #6 CLPK Corvette, now with Bert Longin (B) at the wheel, succeeded in rejoining the track in ... second position. Bertolini and Scheider made the mistake not to refuel under yellow caution, so they lost precious time in the pits. Michael Bartels (D) in the Vitaphone #9 Maserati was now the new leader. Longin could not hold his second position after a small collision with the #11 Ferrari Maranello of Gabriele Gardel (CH) who had already lost one lap. At Adelaide Hairpin Longin went off in the gravel a second time so that Karl Wendlinger (A), who herited the steering wheel from Bertolini, in the #15 JMB Maserati was now second. Thomas Biagi (I), who took over from Babini followed at 30 seconds from the Belgian Corvette and one minute from the leaders. Then came the second JMB Maserati, where Romas Rusinov (RU) took over from Philipp Peter (A) in fifth position. Bouchut was hanging on as sixth, last to be still in the lead lap. At one lap followed the Lamborghini and the first Graham Nash Saleen. Such were the positions at mid-race. When Bouchut and Rusinov had to come in for their second refuelling, Gardel could move into fifth position with Enzo Calderari (CH) in the second Larbre Compétition in sixth and the Lambo in seventh. In the #4 Konrad Saleen Harald Becker (D) was spinning off, loosing ...70 minutes to resume the race.
After two hours of racing we found Bertolini/Wendlinger and Bartels/Scheider nose to tail, followed at 1'10" by the Babini/Biagi Vitaphone Maserati. Anthony Kumpen (B), who took over from Longin defended his fifth position, followed by the two Larbre Compétition Ferraris. Those two cars had passed Nikolai Formenko (RU), being seriously slower than Bouchut with the Russian Maranello. On their second refuelling stop the leading JMB Maserati and the Vitaphone Maserati, now with res. Bertolini and Scheider behind the wheel were both passed by Biagi/Babini in the other Vitaphone Maserati. Since Scheider suffered from an engine refusing to fire up during nearly a full minute, the other Vitaphone was at once one minute behind its sister car and 40" behind the Bertolini/Wendlinger Maserati in second position. The Belgian Corvette was now fourth, followed by the other JMB Maserati and the RAR Ferrari 550, both one lap down. When Rusinov handed over the #16 JMB Maserati to Chris Buscombe (GB), the car dropped into eighth position.
Meanwhile we lost the #5 Konrad Saleen and the #7 Graham Nash. With the #8 hanging in a poor 15th position and the RAM Saleen out after 4 laps, the Saleens proved once more to be totally unreliable cars. With 50 minutes to go Biagi came in for his last pit stop so that Bertolini/Wend-linger were strong leaders, especially since Scheider could only take fractions of a second back per lap. With 30 minutes to go the Lamborghini lost its seventh place, due to a broken gearbox. With 20 minutes to go Scheider was at 15 seconds from the JMB Maserati, whilst Babini was closing the gap from third to second. With the Corvette hanging at the end of the lead lap, we had four cars in the same lap. Then followed the two Larbre Compétition Ferraris and the Russian Ferrari, all at two laps. The GPC Ferrari 575 GTC, having lost two laps in the gravel followed at five laps, having been passed by the two Gruppe M factory Porsches 996 GT3-RSR.

During the last half hour positions changed no more, but the Vitaphone Maserati could close the gap with the JMB Maserati from 15 to 5 seconds. It was a thrilling race, proving that only the Russian Ferrari is able to follow the Maseratis.

THE GT2 JOKE
In GT2 there is absolutely no competition at all among the two works Porsches RSR of Gruppe M and the rest of the field. Spectators hoped that the two Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris and the two TVRs could keep up with the works Porsches, but that was without knowing the rules. Those British cars raced under the much more stringent rules of the British GT Championship, so that they were too handicapped to realise any performance able to beat the Porsches.
In fact GT2 is a field fillers business, not worthy any other comment than that the Gruppe M cars are fantastic cars. It was not very serious that the organising SRO announced earlier this year a regular entry of 8 Porsches, wilst only 4 of those 8 showed at the two first rounds.

QUALIFICATIONS - April 30 - The Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello starts on Sunday from pole position after Christophe Bouchut realised during the morning qualification the sharpest time: 1'36"580. During the afternoon session nobody could improve this time. Second place on the grid goes to the #15 JMB Maserati C12 of Andrea Bertolini and Karl Wendlinger, having clocked 1'38"869. At the second row we'll find the #9 Vitaphone Maserati C12 of Michael Bartels and Timo Scheider (1'37"000) and the Belgian Corvette C5-R having been the fastest at free practice. Mike Hezemans realised at the first qualification session a sharp 1'37"062. Row three goes to the two remaining Maseratis. The #10 Vitaphone Maserati C12 of Thomas Biagi/Fabio Babini recorded the fifth best time in 1'37"088. The #16 JMB Maserati C12 of Philpp Peter, Chris Buncombe and Romas Rusinov is with 1'37"426 sixth. Already yesterday we predicted that those should be the six fasted car, immediately followed by the Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT. It's the first gentle-man driver's car with 1'38"115. Although the Saleens could not confirm their good performances of the previous season, the cars are now faster than at Monza. Paulo Ruberti and Joel Camathias take the eighth spot in 1'38"135. On the fifth row we find two Ferraris. The #11 Larbre Compéti-tion, having won the first round at Monza, realised in hands of Pedro Lamy and Gabriele Gardel 1'38"625. The #2 J.P.C. Sports 575 GTC of Jean-Déniz Deletraz and Andrea Piccini is tenth in 1'39"337. Then follows the second Larbre Compétition Maranello, the #12, in 1'39"772. It are the only cars having gone under 1'40". None of them did better in the second qualification than in the first.

The twelfth car on the grid, the #5 Franz Konrad Saleen S7-R, shared by Uwe Alzen and Robert Lechner, is the lonely car having done better at the afternoon qualifications. With 1'40"331 the car is twelfth on the grid. Row seven goes to the second Graham Nash Sameen and to the Polish Saleen. On row eight we find the disappointing Lister Storm Evo GT in fifteenth position with 1'4&"168 and the fastest GT2 Porsche, the #88 Gruppe M RSR of Emmanuel Collard and Tim Sugden, having realised a sharp 1'41"863. The #66 sister car comes one rank further in 1'42"043. That time however was not recognised by the scrutineers, so that the #66 Porsche RSR is credided by its best time of the afternoon: 1'43"463, resulting in a 20th place on the grid, just behind the fastest Scuderia Acosse Ferrari 360 Modena GTC. Nevertheless both work's Porsches have absolutely no competition in their class, despite the fact that no less than ten GT2 cars of the British GT Championship are found at the start. The problem however is that the British cars have to start in another configu-ration than the FIA GT cars of class GT2. Indeed, they all are carrying their specified silencers from the British Championship (so running at a disadvantage to the FIA GT2 and G2 runners), plus their control Dunlop rubber. That explains why the Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris 360 Maranello GTC, having been faster than all Porsches 996 GT3-RSR at Donington, are now two full seconds per lap slower. They are even headed by the remarkable G2 Mosler MT900-R which realised 1'43"297 (18th on the grid) against 1'43"333 for the fastest Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360 GTC, the #82, leading the British GT field.
The 4-litre TVR T400-R cars of Team LNT come behind the second Scu-deria Ecosse 360 GTC, having realised 1'43"717. They are split by the Embassy Racing Porsche 996 GT3-RSR res. on ranks 22 and 24. Two other Porsches RSR of the British GT Championship, those of Team Eurotech are split on ranks 25 and 27 by a regular FIA GT entrant, the Proton Porsche RS of Christian Ried and Gerold Ried. On rank 29 the Czech Porsche RS heads the similar machinery of Ian Kahn, being a British GT starter. The two last places go to the Nissan 350Z-R in 1'48"974 and to the strange Holden Vauxhall, a mobile chicane, having realised 1'54"481, but officially credited by its morning time of 1'57"481. 

FREE PRACTICE - April 29 - At free practice Christophe Bouchut realised in the #17 Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello the fastest time in 1'38"858, followed by the #15 JMB Maserati C12 in 1'39"393 and by the surprisingly fast #13 Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT in 1'39"396. Graham Nash caused a surprise by clocking the fourth time with their #7 Saleen S7-R in 1'39"818. Among the GT2 cars the Ecosse Ferraris 360 Modena, having won the two first rounds of the British GT Championship were no match for the Gruppe M Porsches 996 GT3 RSR. Indeed, the #88 Guppe M was fastest of the class in 1'42"781, followed by the #66 sister car in 1'43"947. Fastest Ecosse Modena was #83 in 1'45"083. The LNT TVRs, so convincing at Road Atlanta, came no further than 1'46"469 and 1'46"940, taking fifth and seventh place in GT2. First regular FIA GT Porsche entrant - apart from the Gruppe M Porsches - was the #69 Proton one in 1'49"941, preceeded by the Embassy Porsche and the two Eurotech Porsches, coming from the British GT Cham-pionship. The lonely other regular FIA GT Porsche entrant, the Czech #56 was one but last from 31 starters. The Renauer Porsche, the two Machanek Porsches, the ARC Bratislava Porsche and the Graham Nash Porsche - all anounced earlier this year to be regelar GT2 entrants - were all absent. Without the venue of the British GT2 cars, GT2 should have been restricted to a poor four entrants. That proves that FIA GT racing is living above its rank, as was written on a French web site. IN GT1 GPC has even withdrawn its second Ferrari 575 GTC.

IN 2006 THE FIA GT CARS WILL BE DRIVEN AT THE MODEL CAR WORLDS (more...)

At the morning session, however, the Belgian Corvette C5-R, driven by Mike Hezemans (NL), realised a still faster time than Christophe Bouchut (F) did in the afternoon: 1'37"851. Then followed the four Maseratis, all under the 1'38"858 realised by the R.A.R. Ferrari at the afternoon free practice session. In GT2 the two Gruppe M Porsches were again more than two seconds faster than the Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris. The RNJ Nissan 350Z-R, not present in the afternoon session, clocked 1'49"974 what was only the 27th time in 29 starters.
Most cars were slower in the afternoon than in the morning. The qualifications will be disputed on Saturday. One expects that the pole position will go among the four Maseratis, the Belgian Corvette and the Russian Ferrari. Perhaps the Lamborghinin Murcielago R-GT can join this cars and cause the surprise. Who knows.
The Lister Storm Evo GT was good for the eleventh time in the morning (1'40"761) and for the thirteenth time in the afternoon.
Noteworth is that the Mosler, racing in G2, could keep up with the Scottish Ferraris in both free practice sessions.
The "regular" Porsches #69 Proton and #56 Vonka Racing were in both sessions 7 full seconds slower than the Gruppe M Porsches, giving full evidence that the GT2 Championship anno 2005 is hardly more than an empty box. The fact that even the well-tuned Scuderia Ecosse Ferraris 360 Modena are 2 to 3 seconds slower per lap than the semi-works Porsches proves that the Gruppe M cars are without competition.

* In GT1 16 cars will start. There are several driver's changes. It was a false rumor - published officially by SRO! - that Jean-Marc Gounon should start on the #4 Konrad at Magny-Cours. On the #4 Konrad Saleen Walter Lechner jr (victim of leukaemia) has been replaced by Harald Becker, having driven the #5 at Monza. Franz Konrad himself will be Becker's team mate on the #4. In the #5 we'll find Robert Lechner and ...Uwe Alzen. As they did already last year, Graham Nash Motorsport "consumes" again a whole bunch of racers. On the #8 Saleen S7-R Hubert Haupt and Gavin Pickering have been replaced by  Enea Casoni, Philippe Almeras and Roland Berville. Their #78 Porsche 996 GT3-RSR is absent. On the RAM Racing #20 Saleen S7-R a third driver has been added: Andrea Maccin. Rumours that Pedro Lamy should not start on the #11 Larbre Compétition Ferrari 550 Maranello seem to be not true.
* GT2 will be the weak point of the 2005 FIA GT Series. At the start of the season the organising SRO promised that there should be at least eight regular entrants in GT2, all Porsches. But at Magny Cours we find only four Porsches back, having started in Monza. The rest of the field are occasional entrants, coming from the British GT Championship. How there can be spoken about a "championship" if, after two rounds, one finds only four GT2 cars back having already entered the two rounds. It seems that the financial means of the teams are not high enough to follow the "professional approach" intended by Stéphane Ratel. This year the GT2 championship can hardly be more than a joke, since everybody knows that Gruppe M cannot loose this so-called championship. What a mistake to allow semi-factory cars in GT2! [JPVR]