The Ferrari 550 Maranellos from the Care Racing stable have continued their strong record of podium finishes here at the 24 Hours of Spa today, with the Larbre Compétition entry of Christophe Bouchut, Gabriel Gardel, Kurt Mollekens and Vincent Vosse taking 3rd place in a challenging and fast-paced race.

Their sister car, driven by 2004 race winners Lilian Bryner and Enzo Calderari, together with Frederic Bouvy and Steve Zacchia, finished in 5th place, ahead of both the factory supported Aston Martins. It is a tribute to the strength of the car 11 driving team, the superior performance and endurance reliability of the Ferrari 550 that, despite having completed more pit stops than any other car, the Larbre drivers represented the only privateer entry on the podium. By ‘borrowing’ Christophe Bouchut from Cirtek/Russian Age Racing for this race to strengthen the driving team, Larbre Team Principal Jack Leconte went some way towards fulfilling his aim of achieving as many points as possible for the FIA GT Championship. Gardel’s 3rd place finish sees him in 2nd place in the Drivers’ Championship, while Larbre Competition moves closer to JMB Racing in the Teams’ Championship by virtue of the two points-finishing cars.

Constantly changing weather conditions in the opening and closing hours of the 24 Hour event meant that race strategies were discarded, re-written and then discarded again as the mechanics changed set after set of tyres to cope with the differing track conditions. Neither Larbre car, powered by Prodrive-built 6 litre V12 engines, encountered any major issues during the race although a problem with selection of 6^th gear on car 12 hampered the Swiss/Belgian driving team from dawn onwards, and an electronic gremlin associated with traction control aggravated rather than delayed the Ferraris in their battle to the finish.

Christophe Bouchut: “The weather was really bad for everybody and we had a bad beginning of the race because we made the wrong choice of tyres.  So we came in straight away and changed them but then we had a problem with the wipers which were not working and then with the radio which was not working so I arrived in the pits and no one was ready. That’s was not the best way to start!  Jack, and all of us to be honest, expected to win but the Maseratis were faster than we expected them to be. After a 24 hour race, 3rd is a good finish for the team and our sponsors so I think we should be happy with it.”

Gabriele Gardel: “I’m really happy – we all are. We did the best we could and the team did too. The Maseratis were quicker for the whole race, they had to win. We had to do more stops because of a fuel problem and really it meant we had no chance to catch them. I’m pleased to stay in the fight for the Championship with such a good car and with a wonderful team which is helping me a lot this season. I’d like to thank Jack and everybody for their support – especially these three wonderful drivers today.”

Kurt Mollekens: “The race was way too quick!  It was great being with Larbre, one of the most proven teams in the paddock. Everything more or less worked out as planned bar one factor and that was Maserati but hats off to them as we didn’t really expect them to be this strong.”
 

Vincent Vosse: It was a tough race, very difficult for tyre choice. Then we had a few little problems. It’s incredible that the car was so reliable with the engine and gearbox because we were really pushing on those two things. Our small problems didn’t lose us the race because I think the Maseratis were too quick for us but we should be closer than we are. For the race, at midnight we were 11 laps behind and we finished 9 laps down so we did a good job.”

Frederic Bouvy: “It was a really difficult race but nevertheless we had exceptional equipment to do the job. Apart from the small problem with the gearbox, which was managed well by Prodrive and the team, everything was good. The car was easy to drive and, if we hadn’t had the 6th gear problem we might have finished 4th or higher.”

Lilian Bryner: “I am a little disappointed if I am honest. We thought the Maseratis would not be so reliable so we thought we could have a podium finish here. We did our best though. We had some problems and we finished 5th. That’s racing.”   

Enzo Calderari: It doesn’t quite compare to last year, obviously. It was a really difficult race and the weather was very unpredictable all the time. In my last stint, for five laps I had no windscreen wiper and it took me a little time to persuade Jack to let me pit for it to be repaired! To be honest we didn’t expect the Maseratis to be so strong and we thought we’d both be on the podium. That’s racing.”

Steve Zacchia:  “It was the best race of the year for me. I did four double stints and don’t feel too tired so I am really happy with my physical condition and my performance. Maybe we would have finished in front of the Corvette if we’d had 6th, I don’t know. I had a small spin in my final stint because of the damp track, but luckily there was no damage.”

The Russian Age Racing/Cirtek Ferrari 550 Maranello was retired from the race in the 5th hour after having run very competitively in the top six. A clash with a slower Porsche resulted in accident damage which was too great to repair at the track.

Proximus 24 Hours of Spa - Race Classification: 1st Poele / Bartels / Scheider Maserati MC12  576 laps, 2nd Bertolini / Wendlinger / Peter Maserati MC12  -2 laps, 3rd Bouchut / Gardel / Mollekens / Vosse Ferrari 550 Maranello -9 laps, 4th Longin / Kumpen / Hezemans / Bl’mln Corvette C5R -13 laps, 5th Bouvy / Bryner / Calderari / Zacchia Ferrari 550 Maranello -14 laps, 6th Lamy / Kox / Goossens Aston Martin DBR9 -19 laps, 7th Brabham / Turner / Sarrazin Aston Martin DBR9 21 laps, 8th GT2 Lieb / Rockenfeller / Luhr Porsche 996 -35 laps, 9th Duez / Menten / Hernandez / Cayrolle Corvette C5-R -40 laps, 10th GT2 Moccia / Groppi / Camathias Porsche 996 -41 laps