'It was a slightly different Friday to the usual for us due to the fact that we expected rain in the second session, so we set ourselves a bigger workload in the morning. In the second session, we tried a few variations in set-up which worked very well. Overall, I am quite happy with our performance today" Silverstone Friday free practice session one & two Ferrari news

The Fiat Punto Abarth Rally Super 1600 of Bernd Casier and Frederic Miclotte, claimed third place in the Super 1600 category, as well as placing fifth overall on last weekend's Ypres Rally, the sixth round of Belgian Rally Championship. In the A7 Class, Daisy Cols was forced to retire on stage twelve after a very impressive run up to that point. Fiat now lead the manufacturer's classification, while Bernd Casier and Frederic Miclotte are in with a shout in the driver's championship. The next event of Belgian Rally Championship will be the Omloop van Vlaanderen Rally on 11th-12th September

GPC Giesse Squadra Corse has confirmed its line-up for the upcoming Proximus 24 Hours of Spa.  The nr 11 Ferrari 575 M Maranello will be driven by Fabio Babini, Phillip Peter, Vincent Vosse and Mika Salo.  The nr 13 car will be in the hands of Emanuele Naspetti, Gianni Morbidelli, Frédéric Bouvy and Didier Defourny.  As for the nr 62 Ferrari 360 Modena, it will have a powerful trio of Italians behind the wheel, regulars Christian Pescatori and Fabrizio De Simone, joined by four-times 2003 race winner Andrea Bertolini. All three Belgians taking part have previously won the race, most recently Vincent Vosse in 2002, when he drove for Larbre Competition. 

By the time Michael Schumacher arrived for his press conference this afternoon at Silverstone, the British weather was doing its worse, with dark skies and pouring with rain. Would the reigning champion enjoy it if this weekend provided the first wet race of the year? "From what I understand, the weather is supposed to improve by Sunday, so I have not considered a wet race"

Rubens Barrichello faced the press in the Ferrari Marlboro motor home this afternoon. The media immediately wanted to know if the Brazilian could repeat his performance from last year, when he won the British GP. "I hope so as I really love this place and I am always strong here"

Bob Rice has been appointed China Country Manager of Fiat Auto, directly reporting to the President of Fiat/Lancia Business Unit, Gianni Coda. Rice takes over the position from Flavio Ciappa, who will assume other responsibilities within Fiat Auto in Italy

India's biggest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd, is in advanced stages of negotiation with the joint GM-Fiat, Powertrain venture, to build their diesel engines at a new Rs 350cr facility they have earmarked for Gurgaon. A team from Powertrain is already in Gurgaon, and the new plant could be operational as soon as 2006. While annual diesel growth has been around 13% for the last few years in India, this year it reached 20% during the first quarter, and MUL, who at present are a fairly insignificant player, are keen on capturing a bigger slice of the action. "We want to play a major role in diesel segment, that’s our next target, " MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar told reporters earlier this week.

This afternoon at Fiorano, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro carried out a shakedown of some components that it will use in the forthcoming British Grand Prix, scheduled to take place at Silverstone circuit on 11th July. Luca Badoer completed a total of eight laps, half on the short version of the track. The best time on the day was a 59.113. Circuit: Fiorano track, 2.976 km - short course 1.413 km, Driver: Luca Badoer, Car: F2004, Weather: air temperature 31 °C, track temperature 52/46 °C; clear skies.

Fiat India is drawing up ambitious plans to put the Italian carmaker firmly back on local the map after previous efforts to gain market share in the world's largest democracy fizzled out. With a growing demand for small, entry-level cars across the Indian subcontinent, Fiat India believe that the new Panda and Idea could be highly successful players. Early next year the facelifted Uno and Palio arrive on the local market, and now the plan is to have these complimented by the multi-award winning Panda and the Punto-based 'mini-mpv' Idea. With a local manufacturing base already established, Indian assembly is also being evaluated, a move that would reduce import duties and allow the new models to be much more competitively priced.

This morning at Fiorano, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro carried out a shakedown of two of the three cars the team will use in the forthcoming French Grand Prix that takes place on Sunday 4th July at the Magny-Cours circuit. Luca Badoer completed a total of 13 laps, five of them on the short version of the track. The best time on the day was a 58:184. Circuit: Fiorano track, 2.976 km - short course 1.413 km, Driver: Luca Badoer, Car: F2004, Weather: air temperature 21/24 °C, track temperature 29/37 °C; clear skies.

Polish update: While production of the new Panda is gearing up further to cope with ever increasing demand, Fiat have stopped making the Palio Weekend in the Northern European country. During the five years it has been built in Poland 35,000 were assembled with 10,000 of these exported. However last year demand stretch to only 1,900 units. Powertrain are meanwhile rapidly expanding 1.3 Multijet production facilities. In motorsport, the Fiat Punto Abarth Rally is having a very strong season, but Alfa Romeo have now ended their GpN 156 2.0-litre racing series. Włodek z Poznania

The Fiat Punto Abarth Super 1600 driving Junior World Rally Championship runners suffered on the weekend's incredibly tough Rally of Turkey. Alessandro Broccoli, Xavier Pons, Mathiew Biasion, Alan Scorcioni and Luca Tabaton all failed to finish in an event dominated by the factory backed Suzuki Ignis drivers. Local pilots fared somewhat better, with Hamdi Unal and Volkan Isik, bringing their Punto Abarth's home 7th and 9th in the Super 1600 class, while Mitat Diker also made the finish line in one of the two Palio Kit Cars entered.

Nevio Di Giusto, head of product development at the Fiat-Lancia division, has been quoted as saying that the carmaker is well on target to replace the Stilo in 2006. The Stilo, an unashamed VW Golf rival, has recorded disappointing sales despite being a well built, cost effective contender, with 180,000 shifted during 2003, well down from expectations of 350-400,000 units. Sales this year are likely to slide slightly further. A fourth variant of this C-segment player, alongside the 3 and 5-door and estate models will be added in 2006.

New CEO Martin Leach is confident that Maserati can raise sales by a whopping 65% this year, buoyed by the fact the the initial Quattroporte production has sold out. Around 4,800 Maseratis will be sold this year, the Quattroporte accounting for up to 2,000. Leach, who is in the final stages of drawing up a business plan for the marque, believes that a target of 10,000 by 2007 is achievable without the introduction of any further new models.

Jacques Villeneuve drove his father's former Ferrari Grand Prix car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier today. The 312T3, now owned by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, was driven by Gilles to his first F1 victory, the 1978 Canadian GP. Clearly emotional, Jaques, who used one of his father's helmets for the run, commented afterwards, "It was really great and very special, even if it was short. I never thought I would do this, it's something that you do once in a lifetime, and that's what it will remain. This run was like 'thank you and goodbye' to my Dad."

The third Trofeo Vodafone Maserati Europa group test was held today at Mugello. Over twenty five drivers from four nations took to the 5,245 metre circuit in cars derived from the Coupé Cambiocorsa production model. Mugello is owned by the Ferrari Maserati Group. Top model Jodie Kidd was present at the track, driving the Zegna VIP car. The twenty-five year old English woman is a great driver and set the fastest lap time in a VIP contest organised by the BBC programme Top Gear. She also competed in Speed 2003 at the Goodwood Festival onboard a Maserati Spyder. After getting a look at the track with Enzo Panacci, already a Trofeo Vodafone Maserati Europa driver, Kidd gained confidence on the testing circuit. She ended the day setting some good times. “Mugello is a continual challenge and I had a lot of fun in the superb Maserati Trofeo. I wanted to approach this test cautiously, beginning by getting to know the track, then the car and finally going for the times. The agility and balance of the Trofeo stood out. I am satisfied with the outcome but I want to go on improving.”

25.06.2004

The Lamborghini Gallardo, which was recently handed over to the Italian police force in Rome, has made it's first arrest. The 'supercops' intervened to stop an Alfa Romeo 156 travelling at 190 km/h on the A1 motorway near Mentana. The Alfa driver could not believe his eyes and thought he was victim of a hidden camera show.

Fiat Group Spa released the following statement this morning: Notice is hereby served that, as expected and indicated in the 2003 Annual Report, the bond exchangeable into General Motors shares ("Exchangeable GM") issued by Fiat Finance Luxembourg will be almost entirely redeemed. On April 23, 2004 Fiat repurchased on the market and cancelled US$ 540 million of the Exchangeable GM. Following this transaction, bonds still outstanding on the market totaled US$ 1.69 billion. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the bond, bondholders have requested the early redemption, which will be made in cash on the early redemption date(July 9, 2004) utilizing available liquidity.

Eloy Entrecanales’ Fiat Stilo 1.8 won the 2WD classification on the second round of Spanish Rally Championship, held on gravel roads at Alcaniz. Thanks to this victory Entrecanales now leads the championship.

Yesterday Zandvoort circuit hosted the third event of the season for Dutch Pearle Alfa 147 GTA Challenge. Rory Bertram won the race, joined on the podium by Tim Coronel and Sandor van Es. Vincent van der Valk won in the Olympic Class. The next event will be at Zolder, on 18th July.

Fiat has agreed in principle to write down the debt owed by Zastava. Deputy Foreign Economic Relations Minister Vlatko Sekulovic announced that around €35 million will be reprogrammed, with the remainder being repaid through privatisation of subsidiaries. Talks are still in progress and although Fiat are happy to write-off 50% of the Kraguievac firm's debt, Serbian negotiators have been pushing for a figure nearer 66%.