italiaspeed.com

Care Racing supported Ferrari 550 Maranellos filled the first four places in the GT1 category after today's 20-minute qualifying session for tomorrow's Le Mans Endurance Series (LMES) Nürburgring 1000kms, with the Pirelli shod BMS Scuderia Italia cars taking pole and second position.

Under blue skies and sunshine, Christian Pescatori set a fastest time of 1m 54.881 to claim class pole position, just one tenth of a second faster than British guest driver, Jamie Davies, in the sister BMS Maranello.

The pair profited from some newly developed Pirelli tyres which left Pescatori with a broad smile on his face: "I'm very happy because we were very fast! Today we tried some new Pirelli tyres and they are very good, very consistent. There is more grip under braking and in the corners so it's very easy to drive in these circumstances. It makes it easier for the other drivers too, so tomorrow should be a good race for BMS Scuderia Italia."

For Jamie Davies, standing in for Fabrizio Gollin who has racing commitments in the USA, there was pleasure from driver and team alike at the little amount of time it took him to get up to speed in the Ferrari. He said after the qualifying session. "It was fine, I had a clear run, and the car is working very well. The team has done a really good job with it; they have a lot of experience with the 550 and they proved that today by having a 1-2 (in class) on the grid. It's a nice feeling for me to come here and to jump into the Ferrari 550 again. I've driven it in the past, but it's a couple of years ago now, so to be straight on the pace is a good feeling and it's looking good for the race. It's long, but I think we are in a good situation."

Christophe Bouchut in the Cirtek-run Convers bank entry was philosophical about not being fastest. "I am happy, the car was okay, and I have nothing to complain about. We lost an hour yesterday morning [due to gearbox troubles] and, with three of us in the car, it lost us some valuable set up time. But two tenths from the pole is nothing in a long race like this. We had two compounds of Michelin tyre to choose from and we chose the harder one. We know that when we chose the softer one we can get pole position, but the harder one is good for the race."

Completing the Care Racing 1-2-3-4 is the Czech MenX Ferrari 550, also on Michelin tyres, which today was qualified in the hands of Peter Kox. Traffic marred what could have been the Dutchman's fastest two laps but the team is not demoralised about their chances in tomorrow's race: "I'm not sure if I would have been faster than that or not, but on my last lap I set the fastest time in one sector and then found traffic on the next sector so that was that.