30.07.2004 "I am very happy with my second pole position of the year, without the 100kg penalty the car is quick and very beautiful to drive, much easier": BMS Scuderia Italia FIA GT qualifying report from Spa
Fabrizio Gollin on his way to pole position during qualifying at Spa

After three qualifying sessions for the 24 Hours of Spa, the two Care Racing supported BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranellos find themselves well placed to make a good attack on both the race honours and the FIA GT Championship points tables.

Fabrizio Gollin claimed pole position in the nr.2 car with a best time of 2:15.047, set yesterday evening in the first of the two official night qualifying sessions.

Just behind him on the grid will be car no 1, Matteo Bobbi having claimed third fastest time at 2:15.996. Times did not improve over the following two qualifying sessions, the second of which was during the hours of complete darkness, and today’s third in much higher temperatures.

BMS Scuderia Italia’s Team Manager, Tiziano Minuti, was happy with the team’s approach to qualifying and preparation for the race. “We are very pleased with this weekend so far as we have worked hard for this. The car has run well in all sessions and we have prepared two good cars, to exactly the same standard, for the race. We haven’t had any problems and I’m confident the race will give us a positive result.” 

BMS Scuderia Italia car no. 1 - Matteo Bobbi: “It was very difficult to find a clear lap in qualifying, I found about half a lap, but really I am not so worried about that as I think the most important thing for the 24 Hours is reliability. It’s always good to be faster than our competitors though. 

"We are happy with our car’s settings for the race and for sure we can run at a good pace. We have to take it a bit easy as the most important thing is to finish, and to be very careful with everything. My 2003 24 Hour race only lasted for 4 hours so we hope it will be very different this year.”   

BMS Scuderia Italia car no. 2 – Fabrizio Gollin: “I am very happy with my second pole position of the year!  Without the 100kg weight penalty the car is quick and very beautiful to drive, much easier.

"I know the pole position is not so important for a 24 Hour race but for me and my career, BMS, Care Racing and Prodrive, it is important. I am happy because I’m the fastest driver at Spa! It is critical for us to finish the race for the Championship. I’m not so worried about finishing ahead at 6 hours or 12 hours, I want to finish well at 24 Hours.

"I know that if we finish, with this car, we can be on the podium. Our driving team did well last year so we have good experience together, even though it was difficult because of all the rain. The engineers have done a lot of work and we have made a step forward with the aerodynamics, so we are looking forward to the race very much.”

The BMS managed Care Racing entry has not been entered for this round due lack of time to repair accident damage caused at Donington. 

Combined Qualifying Times: 1st Gollin/Cappellari/Bryner/Calderari  Ferrari 550 Maranello  2m 15.047, 2nd Alzen/Bartels/Konrad/van der Poele  Saleen S7-R  2m 15.221, 3rd Bobbi/Gardel/Livio/de Castro  Ferrari 550 Maranello  2m 15.996, 4th Vosse/Salo/Babini/Peter  Ferrari 575 GTC  2m 16.913, 5th Bouvy/de Fourny/Naspetti/Morbidelli  Ferrari 575 GTC  2m 17.012, 6th (G2) Goosens/Kumpen/Lebon/Cayrolle  Corvette C5-R  2m 17.518, 7th Erdos/Newton/Goodwin/Ramos  Saleen S7-R 2m 17.678, 8th Longin/Wendlinger/Mueller/Corthals  Ferrari 575 GTC  2m 17.854, 9th Campbell-Walter/Derbyshire/Verdon-Roe/Snowdon  Lister Storm  2m 18.194, 10th Alliot/Jakubowski/Gilbert/Labhardt  Chrysler Viper  2m 18.273