02.07.2004 As Ferrari racks up a new AND glorious chapter of their sportscar racing history we take a close up look behind the scenes at the TEN cARS RACING at Donington PARK last weekend

After several decades away from the GT racing scene, the Ferrari name is now back with a vengeance.

Race prepared 'Gran Tourers' have followed up last year's utter dominance in the European-based FIA GT Championship with another season of on track successes.

Two versions of of the front engined V12 550/575 M Maranello family are going head to head with each other in this year's FIA GT series, while at the same time fighting off opposition from Saleen and Lister.

The Prodrive built Ferrari 550 Maranellos, campaigned by BMS Scuderia Italia, were the first to arrive on the scene three years ago. The project, financed by Care Racing Developments, kicked off in January 2001.

Prodrive took the Ferrari 550 Maranello, redesigned the suspension while incorporating new anti-roll bars, increased the front and rear track width, added huge AP Racing brakes and slashed the weight from 1690kg to 1100kg, while under the bonnet the V12 engine's capacity was raised from 5474 to 5850cc and fed to the wheels via a new X-Trac gearbox.

The Prodrive 550 Maranello made its debut, six months after the project was initiated, at the Hungaroring in the hands of Rickard Rydell and Alain Menu. After qualifying an excellent fifth, the car, suffering from teething problems, retired before half distance. The car's second outing, at the Austrian A1 ring, was to prove to be the first chapter of a new glorious racing career, as Menu and Rydell steered the Ferrari to victory, putting the legendary marque back into the GT winner's circle for the first time in more than two decades.

The second year saw the car's running handed over to the highly regarded BMS Scuderia Italia team, the team notching up four victories, courtesy of Jean-Denis Deletraz and Andrea Piccini. Last year, young guns Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi, in a team now expanded to field three cars, cruised to the driver's title, while BMS topped the team's classification. Prodrive also scored an historic victory during summer when they took on the mighty factory Corvette team at Le Mans, easily sweeping them aside to claim the LM-GTS crown, while later in the year, a stateside ALMS challenge saw the red cars win GTS at the prestigious Petit Le Mans.

Last year saw Ferrari, impressed by the race proven potential of the Prodrive cars, commission their own GT contender, based on the road going successor to the 550 Maranello, the 575 M. Developed by N-Technology, the Fiat Group's in-house competitions department, the new car, known as the 575 GTC, immediately earned its place in history by winning on its first outing, the penultimate FIA GT race of the season at Estoril, in the hands of loyal customer team JMB Racing.

At Donington Park last weekend BMS Scuderia Italia were running a trio of Prodrive built 550 Maranellos, while factory customers, JMB Racing and GPC Squadra Corse, fielded a pair of the 575 GTC racers each. A fourth team, German outfit Wieth Racing, are campaigning their own self-developed 550 Maranello, but thus far the team, running on a strictly limited budget, has encountered with little success.

The three BMS run cars claimed second, third and fourth on the grid, with Matteo Bobbi and Gabriel Gardel lining up on the front row next to the pole winning Konrad Saleen. Bobbi took race lead at the green light, but was swiftly removed from the equation as he incurred a drive-through penalty after being adjudged to have jumped the start.

The Ferrari challenge was then taken up by the black JMB Racing Ferrari 575 GTC piloted by Austrian ex-F1 star Karl Wendlinger and up-and-coming young Brazilian hotshot Jaime Melo. The pair set the race pace, until two laps from home, and running dangerously low on fuel, they were overtaken by the Vitaphone Saleen.

However, the drama was not let over, as on the penultimate bend the Saleen collided with a N-GT Porsche, allowing the JMB Ferrari to dive past and take the chequered flag. Karl Wendlinger, clearly emotional as he claimed his and the team's first win of the year, pulled up to his mechanics to celebrate, contravening the regulations which call for the cars to proceed immediately to Parc Ferme after finishing. A five minute penalty handed down by the stewards later dropped him to fifth.

While the Saleen was awarded the win, Ferraris filled the next six places. GPC Squadra Corse's 575 GTC, in the hands of Phillip Peter and Fabio Babini, took second, while Bobbi and Gardel made it onto the final step of the podium. Their team mates, championship leaders Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari were next, both of the BMS cars struggling all weekend with their heavy 'success' ballast loads, while Wendlinger and Melo were eventually classified fifth, once a penalty was added to their time. Rounding out the Ferrari finishers was the second GPC car in fifth and the third BMS 550 Maranello, entered under the 'Care Racing' banner, in sixth.

Meanwhile in the N-GT class, two teams running a single Ferrari 360 GTC each, were facing seven Porsche 911 GT3-RSRs. Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy eventually brought the Scuderia Ecosse entered 360 GTC, on the team's FIA GT series debut, home fourth, one place ahead of a similar machine from the GPC Squadra Corse stable.

We take a look at the ten Ferraris, with a series of close-up images from behind the scenes at Donington Park.

by Edd Ellison