Triple FIA GT Championship-winning team Larbre Competition has announced its plans to compete with the Care Ferrari 550 Maranello in the 2005 FIA GT Championship series.

The French team, which won Teams and Driver titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002, will enter two Ferrari 550 Maranello cars in the 2005 season. Their ambition is to put up the strongest possible challenge to the Maserati MC 12 cars, with the fast, reliable and well-proven Prodrive-built 550 and Michelin tyres.

The cars will be led by two of Larbre Competition’s victorious team from the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series. The first car will be driven by Portugal’s Pedro Lamy and Gabriele Gardel from Switzerland, while the second car will be led by Steve Zacchia, also from Switzerland.

Lamy previously drove in the FIA GT Championship in 1998, when he claimed the GT2 title with Olivier Beretta and Chrysler Viper Team Oreca. Gabriele Gardel has been a regular in the FIA GT Championship for the last two years. A podium finisher in the N-GT category in 2003 with Freisinger Motorsport, he drove for BMS Scuderia Italia in 2004. He won two races with his team-mate Matteo Bobbi, in Hockenheim and then in Dubai, after a fantastic fight with the Maserati MC 12. Zacchia competed for Force One in the 2003 Championship, in a Chrysler Viper.

“Larbre Competition has been one of the most successful teams in GT Racing in recent years,” Stephane Ratel commented. “It is great for the FIA GT Championship to have them back, which will fill the gap left by the absence of BMS Scuderia Italia in this year’s Championship.”

Gardel, joint second in the 2004 Championship, will be driving for Larbre for the first time : “I am very proud and happy to be able to drive the Ferrari 550 again, and I am very glad that Mr Leconte has given me this opportunity, especially to be alongside a top driver like Pedro Lamy. The Championship looks difficult for this year, but I believe Bobbi and I showed last year that the Maserati is not unbeatable. With Larbre, Pedro, Michelin and the car - I am really excited at the thought of the coming season !”