25.02.2004 FORMER FERRARI F1 DRIVERS PATICK TAMBAY AND RENE ARNOUX ARE TO BE REUNITED WITH THE MARQUE IN THE FIA GT CHAMPIONSHIP

Patrick Tambay and Rene Arnoux, Formula One team mates at Ferrari more than 20 years ago, are set to share one of the Maranello marque’s 575 GTC racers in this year’s FIA GT Championship.

Tambay has agreed to terms with the new Spanish Scuderia Cavallino team for this season, while negotiations with Arnoux are ongoing. The plan is for the 1983 F1 teammates to join forces in one of two 575 GTCs entered by the Barcelona-based team in FIA GT.

Team boss Antonio Cano explained his motivation to reunite the two drivers, who between them won five F1 races for Ferrari: “I am a real Ferrari enthusiast and want to bring together two great names from the marque’s past and put them together in one car.” Tambay, 54, said he has yet to sign a deal with Cavallino, but expects to be racing one of its cars.

“Everything looks 100 percent. It is an interesting concept and a fantastic car,” said the Frenchman. “There will be no pressure on me, I’m doing this purely for fun. It will be strange racing with Rene, because we were rivals, on and off, for nearly 20 years.”

The deal marks a full-time return to the track for Tambay for the first time since racing for the TWR-Jaguar sports car team in 1989. Arnoux, 55, has raced sporadically since his retirement from F1 at the end of the ’89 season; he contested a limited program in French touring cars last year.