While slightly overshadowed by the debut of the Maserati MC12, the two DAMS-run Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT sportscars made their much-delayed FIA GT Championship debut at Imola this morning when the first free practice sessions kicked off. Lead driver Andrea Piccini commented afterward, "It was the first session in the car. I don't think it's too bad. We are two and a half seconds off the pace and we are quite close to the 575 cars. We are a way behind the Saleens but we have 60 kilos on board. On this track, that's maybe one second.

Final day of testing this week for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Having run for two days at Fiorano, Luca Badoer switched to Monza today, to bring to a close preparations for the forthcoming Italian Grand Prix, which takes place at this circuit on Sunday 12th September.

Minardi Cosworth today moved into the second, and final, day of its test at the Vallelunga Circuit, near Rome. At the wheel of the Minardi PS04B chassis on Friday was Champcar and Superfund World Series by Nissan driving star, Tiago Monteiro. The 28-year-old, from Oporto, quickly settled in, and once familiar with the F1 car and its controls, launched into a programme, under the guidance of Minardi technical staff, that included durability testing of new gearbox components. 

A notable absentee from this weekend's fifth round of the Japanese GT Championship at the Twin Ring Motegi, will be the powerful Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT run by Amprex Motorsports, owned by Kuala Lumpur based veteran Japanese driver Genji Hashimoto. The 550bhp sportscar developed mechanical problems during last weekend's Malaysian MME race, on the 180th lap, when leading the field by around 20 laps. The car is currently under repair and no decision has been made as to when it will be seen in competition again.

The second day of the FIA Formula One test at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza saw Minardi Cosworth drivers, Gianmaria Bruni and Zsolt Baumgartner, both in action. Bruni drove briefly during the morning session, a gearbox problem bringing his planned technical programme to a premature conclusion after 12 laps. Once the gearbox problem had been rectified, Baumgartner took over, driving throughout the afternoon session and concentrating on tyre assessment and chassis set-up. 

Second day of testing this week for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, working again today at both Fiorano and Monza. On the track which hosts the Italian Grand Prix on 12th September, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were in action. The German driver had an endurance run on his schedule, as well as trying various set-up configurations on the car. Testing earlier than planned because off an off-track excursion.

Minardi Cosworth’s busy September schedule became even busier today, and while members of the Faenza squad’s race team continued with their programme during the second day of the FIA Formula One test at Monza, another group launched into a two-day session at the Vallelunga Circuit, near Rome. Driving at Vallelunga today, and having his first taste of the current Minardi Cosworth PS04B, was Russia’s Sergey Zlobin.

From October 1, 2004 the Ferrari and Maserati import and distribution business in the Netherlands, which are currently managed by Kroymans Corporation for Ferrari and Hessing for Maserati, will be transferred to Ferrari Maserati West Europe, a Ferrari Maserati Group subsidiary. This change is in line with the Ferrari Maserati Group's strategy of managing its key markets directly and follows recent changes made to its West European operations in France and Belgium and the recently announced change in the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, six FIA ETCC teams with a total of ten cars took part in a test session organised by Michelin. “We have tested a few evolutions of our 17” slick tyres in view of the 2005 season, when the Championship will become FIA WTCC,” explained Mathieu Bonardel of Michelin Compétition, adding: “This does not necessarily mean that we are going to change the control tyre for next year. We just wanted to have different options, but in the end it will be up to the FIA to take a decision.”

Larbre Competition will enter a second Prodrive-built Ferrari 550 Maranello at next weekend's final Le Mans Endurance Series round, the Spa 1000km. The new car will see two experienced Czechs, Tomas Enge and Robert Pergl, joined by French driver Patrice Gouselard. For Tomas Enge it will be a return to the wheel of the Care-owned cars, the sportscar star having drove with success for them last year during their ALMS programme. The number one car, which has dominated the LMES GTS class so far this year, will be piloted as usual by Christophe Bouchet, Pedro Lamy and Steve Zacchia. Competition as usual will come from the two Barron Connor Ferrari 575 GTC racers and the Vitaphone Saleen S7-R.

Minardi Cosworth spent the first day of this week’s three-day FIA test at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza assessing new chassis set-ups and aerodynamic components, as well as a revised specification for the Cosworth Racing CR3L engine. The team’s regular Friday tester, Bas Leinders, handled the driving duties during the morning session, with Gianmaria Bruni then taking over. A fresh engine was fitted prior to the start of the afternoon session, and Bruni then launched into a tyre evaluation programme with technical partner, Bridgestone.

The summer testing break ended today for Scuderia Ferrari, as it resumes testing from today until Friday on two tracks: Fiorano and Monza. At Monza, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were both running. The day's programme centred on set-up work for the forthcoming Italian Grand Prix, which takes place at this track on 12th September, as well as aerodynamic work.

Russian Sergueï Zlobin and Briton Chris Buncombe took part in a test day at the Fiorano circuit, on Wednesday August 25th, to prepare for their participation in the next round of the FIA GT Championship at Imola in the nr 18 Ferrari 575 GTC entered by JMB Racing. The pair will share this car with Belgian Bert Longin for the remaining for races of the season, at Imola, Oschersleben, Dubai and Zhuhai.

It was a one-two in Super 1600 for Fiat on last weekend's Rally Hitit, the latest round of the Turkish Rally Championship. A Fiat Palio Abarth Rally, piloted by Volkan İşik and Erkan Güleren, won the Super 1600 classification, while also reaching 4th position overall. Team mates Hamdi Ünal and Kaan Özsenler finished 2nd in Super 1600 and 6th overall, while Süleyman Atay and Güray Karacar in a third Palio Abarth Rally were eventually placed 4th in the two wheel drive category, and 9th overall. Rounding out the Fiat runners, Selim Bacioğlu finished the rigorous event 19th overall at the wheel of a Palio Kit Car. With all four starters finishing strongly, the result confirms the reliability of the Punto on what is an extremely tough event, and also helps to reinforce Fiat's leadership of the Turkish Rally Championship. The next event of the series will based at Izmir and held on 10th-12th September.

Jürgen Hohlheimer and Wilfried Kippe brought their privately-entered Fiat Seicento Sporting home first in Class A5, although they the sole representative in this category, on the Rally Deutschland at the weekend. The German pair finished their home event, the tenth round of the World Rally Championship, in 39th place overall, with just 41 cars eventually reaching the finish of a drama-packed event. Holheimer and Kippe crossed the line 1 hour and 54.2 seconds behind the rally winning Citroen Xsara of Sebastien Loeb. The event saw the competitors facing some of the most appalling conditions seen on a WRC round for many years. The tiny Fiat, the sole Italian representative in Germany, survived the mud, fog and driving rain, treacherous conditions which claimed their share of casualties, including reigning World Rally Champion Petter Solberg's Subaru Impreza and Marcus Gronholm's Peugeot 307.

Ferrari Maserati today announced changes to their existing import and distribution business in the UK. From 1 October 2004 these activities, which are currently managed by Maranello Concessionaires Ltd, a subsidiary of Inchcape plc, will be transferred to Ferrari Maserati UK Ltd, a Ferrari Maserati Group company. This change is in line with the Ferrari Maserati Group's strategy of managing its key markets directly and follows recent changes made to its Western European operations.

This morning at Fiorano, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro carried out a shakedown of the three cars the team will use in the forthcoming Belgian Grand Prix that takes place on Sunday 29th August at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Luca Badoer completed a total of 20 laps, nine of them on the short version of the track. The best time on the day was a 59''798. Details: Circuit: Fiorano track, 2.976 km – short course 1.413 km; Driver: Luca Badoer; Car: F2004; Weather: air temperature 20/24°C, track temperature 23/39°C; clear skies.

Stefan Hodgetts gave Alfa Romeo their highest British Touring Car Championship starting slot of the year at the weekend when he qualified his GA Motorsports Alfa Romeo 156 GTA in eighth place for round 22 at Brands Hatch. Hodgetts, who recently switched from driving the BTCC's pace setting Vauxhall Astra Coupe to pilot the privately-entered Alfa, was just sixth tenth's away from Matt Neal's pole-winning Honda Civic Type-R, and within two tenth's of factory-backed cars from Vauxhall, Honda and SEAT. However race one, held on the short-course "Indy" track, saw his good work undone after he collided at high-speed, on lap 22 out of 27, with the Team Petronas Syntium Proton Impian of Shaun Watson-Smith, along the start-finish straight, a action that saw him officially reprimanded by the stewards. He thus started the second race from the penultimate row of the grid, but retired after just six laps, while the third and final race of the day saw him manage to complete only fourteen laps.

New FIA GT Championship entrants DAMS, will undertake a test with their new Lamborghini Murcielago R-GTs, at the Adria Raceway on 1st September, just ahead of their series debut at Imola on 5th September. Building on their session at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit with the first car delivered to them last week, this second test will allow the French outfit to shakedown their number two Murcielago R-GT, expected to be delivered just days prior, and let the cars scheduled driver's, Felipe Ortiz and Beppe Gabbiani, experience the car on-track for the first time.

Larbre Competition's drivers have now been demoted to second place in the overall LMES points standings after the series organisers decided to award them only half points at Silverstone due to the small GTS field. Christophe Bouchet, Pedro Lamy and Steve Zacchia in the Larbre Competition Ferrari 550 Maranello, have won the GTS class comfortably in all three LMES rounds to date, but with almost double the number of runners in the prototype category, it was felt they were gaining an unfair advantage. Allan McNish and Pierre Kaffer in the Team Veloqx Audi R8 now lead the championship with 28 points, the Larbre trio are second after being adjusted to 25 points, while in third place, the other Team Veloqx Audi is just a single point further back. The final race of the series takes place at Spa on 12th September.

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