Care Racing Ferrari 550 Maranellos will once again fill the first two rows of the GT1 grids for tomorrow's fifth and final round of the LMES here in Istanbul, Turkey. But it was the Czech MenX team which topped the time sheets, taking their first pole position of the series in their debut season. Pedro Lamy qualified the black no.67 car with a fastest time of 1:49.295, four tenths of a second ahead of the faster of the two red BMS Scuderia Italia Ferraris. Christian Pescatori qualified car no.51, while BMS newcomer, Fabio Babini, used his Istanbul FIA GT experience to good effect to qualify in 3rd place. Unusually for him, Frenchman Christophe Bouchut, driving the Russian backed Convers Ferrari, had to settle with a second row slot.

With all three teams being in with a chance of winning the GT1 Championship, tomorrow's six hour race is expected to be extremely competitive and tightly contested. The pressure is on everyone except Care Racing who, whatever the outcome, will be celebrating yet another milestone in the successful career of the Ferrari 550.     

Pedro Lamy: "I had a bit of traffic but not too much, it was okay. I didn't lose any time and if I put all the laps together it could have been a bit faster but you know, when you are pushing, sometimes it doesn't come all together. Michelin have done a good job on the tyres since the FIA GT race here, and they were very consistent today. Tomorrow is a long race and it depends on the weather, it looks like maybe rain. It will be difficult for everybody but I hope it will be less difficult for us!"  

Christian Pescatori: "I am very happy with qualifying. We worked hard for the race and the new Pirellis tyres are very good on our car at this track. They work well in the fast corners, especially in the last four corners, and there's plenty of grip in the slower sections. The car is very fast and
stable which for the race is important."
 

Fabio Babini: "It was a good job for the qualifying and we did a good time in the first part of the session and I also managed a good lap at the end even though I had a problem in two corners. The car was okay, had a good balance, very consistent and will be good for tomorrow."

Christophe Bouchut: "I'm happy with the car, and I was quicker here today than the best FIA GT time I set, but the position is not good. We're slower than we were earlier on, which is strange. I have no complaints about the set up or the car; we're just slow and I don't know why."

Care Racing supported Ferrari 550 Maranellos: BMS Scuderia Italia - Car 51: Michele Bartyan (I)/Christian Pescatori (I)/Toni Seiler (CH); Car 52: Matteo Cressoni (I)/Fabio Babini (I)/Miguel Ramos (P); Convers Team - Car 61: Christophe Bouchut (F)/Alexey Vasiliev (RUS)/Darren Turner (GB); Team MenX - Car 67: Pedro Lamy (P)/Peter Kox (NL)/Robert Pergl (CZ)

LMES GT1 final qualifying times, Istanbul: 1st Lamy / Kox / Pergl MenX Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:49.295; 2nd Pescatori / Bartyan / Seiler BMS Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:49.609; 3rd Babini / Ramos / Cressoni BMS Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:50.047; 4th Bouchut / Turner / Vasiliev Cirtek Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:50.062; 5th Kutemann / Gosse / Daodi Ferrari 575 GTC 1:53.000; 6th Sommereau / Papolla / Wasover Chrysler Viper 1:58.297