In the toughest of weather conditions, the four Care Racing supported Ferrari 550 Maranellos all came home safely after yesterday's 6-hour race at Silverstone, with the young Czech MenX team taking GT1 victory for the first time. Second place for the Convers team boosted their Championship standings and they now lead both the GT1 drivers' and teams' points tables. BMS Scuderia Italia's cars finished in 5th and 6th positions in class and they trail the Convers team by just three points.

The majority of the race was run under simply dreadful weather conditions, with multiple and lengthy safety car periods due to incidents, accidents and the sheer force of the rain. Despite this, and having to run the closing stages in darkness on an unlit circuit, the MenX drivers all held their nerve and kept a cool head and brought the black Ferrari home in 5th place overall to a rapturous welcome.

The victory was particularly sweet for guest driver Peter Kox, standing in for Tomas Enge who had a clashing race in the USA. After completing a marathon three and a half hours in the car, he said, "I think for me it was a fantastic result because of the history I have with this car. I started the Care Racing/Prodrive Ferrari 550 programme with a shakedown here at Silverstone in 2001 - in this chassis - and I won the first race with it and now again at Silverstone. It's the second time this year I've won here so it's been good to me. It was a very difficult race, exactly the same weather conditions as in the 1997 FIA GT race which I won too. I was very unhappy with the organisation, how they handled the safety issues, but in the end we didn't make any mistakes and we were in a position to win the race."

Robert Pergl, who was the quickest of all the GT1 cars during his stint, said: "It's a nice feeling to win and I really think we deserve it. We've worked so hard on the car and had such bad luck in the last two races. We had a great line up of drivers and we were lucky with the safety car periods which fitted with our strategy so everything was perfect for our first victory." The task of bringing the car across the finish line fell to Jarek Janis who, despite this only being his second race in the car, drove steadily and sensibly to the chequered flag. "Everything went very well. I was very nervous before my stint because I was the one who was going to finish the race and you are told to keep pushing but to keep your position too so it's quite a responsibility. I also had this job in Monza. I have to thank the team because they did really well and didn't make any mistakes, and also to Peter and Robert. It's perfect."
 

One of the most experienced of all the drivers at Silverstone today, Christophe Bouchut, summed up the appalling conditions that everyone faced. "The conditions are a bit serious! I've never seen conditions like this today, it's imposible to drive in them. I was aquaplaning behind the safety car. When you brake so early for the corners and the back of the car is skidding you have no chance." Both Bouchut and his co-driver Alexey Vasiliev overcame some early setbacks and clawed back time lost to finish 7th overall.

BMS Scuderia Italia were extremely unlucky with some of the safety car periods, the timing of which didn't favour their race strategy. With three of the six drivers visiting Silverstone for the first time, it was a less than ideal debut for Bartyan, Cressoni and Malucelli. A tired Christian Pescatori, who drove for over three and a half hours, found the final hours in the dark the most difficult. "A lot of the time I was turning into a corner only to find that the corner was another 5 metres on. You couldn't see anything at all. I'm happy for the team that we brought the cars home without too much damage and that we have got some more points. I hope it won't be as bad at the Nurburgring!"

The LMES moves onto the fourth round of the series at the Nürburgring on 4th September.

LMES SILVERSTONE 1000KMS - Overall Race Result: 1 McNish / Ortelli Audi R8 151 laps; 2 Minassian / Campbell-Walter DBA03S-Judd -6.5s; 3 Barbosa / Short / Ickx Dallara Judd -7 laps; 4 P2 Gosselin / Vosse / Ojjeh Courage C65 -8 laps; 5 GT1 Janis / Kox / Pergl Ferrari 550 Maranello  -8 laps; 6 Hignett / Stack / Kurosawa Zytek 04S -9 laps; 7 GT1 Bouchut / Vasiliev Ferrari 550 Maranello -9 laps; 8 P2 Bennett / Vergers / Barazi Courage C65 -10 laps; 9 GT2  90 Pompidou / Lieb Porsche 996 -10; laps; Selected (GT1 class finishers only ) 12 GT1 Kaufmann / Tiemann Porsche 996 Turbo -10 laps; 15 GT1 Turner / Goossens / Fomenko Aston Martin DBR9 -13 laps; 17 GT1  Cressoni / Malucelli / Ramos Ferrari 550 Maranello -13 laps; 25 GT1  Bartyan / Pescatori / Seiler Ferrari 550 Maranello -16 laps