01.07.2004 One of the modern day stars at Goodwood was the Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello which former World Rally Champion Colin McRae raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours earlier this month

Fresh from its GTS class assault on the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands of Darren Turner, Rickard Rydell and Colin McRae earlier this month, the Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello was one of the stars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Ferrari 550 Maranello Le Mans project kicked off last year using cars built and run by Prodrive, with the whole project funded by Race Racing development.

The team raced to a stunning GTS class win, easily swatting aside the challenge posed by the big-budget, factory-back Chevrolet Corvette teams, handing Ferrari their first success at Le Mans for almost twenty years.

This year saw a repeat of the 'David versus Goliath' battle with the Americans still smarting from their defeat.

Despite Tomas Enge putting one of the two Ferraris onto pole, they eventually succumbed to the Corvette's pressure, the red cars eventually coming home third and fourth in GTS, still a very credible result after twenty four hours of eventful racing.

The no65 car drew much attention as it marked the racing debut of popular former World Rally Champion Colin McRae.

The Scotsman was joined by Englishman Darren Turner and Swede Rickard Rydell, for his racing baptism which was to take place in what is possibly the world's toughest race.

With their Ferrari battered and bruised after twenty four hours of drama packed racing, the trio were delighted to take the flag 3rd in GTS and 9th overall, McRae having quickly dialled himself into endurance racing by posting lap times comparable with his experienced team mates.

The Ferrari, which was entered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the "Masters of Endurance: Legends of Le Mans 1980-2004" category, drew the crowds all weekend, tantalised by the sheer romance of this exciting Anglo-Italian project.

by Edd Ellison