Care Racing supported, Prodrive engined Ferrari 550s finished 1-2-3 in the GT1 class in yesterday's incident packed, cold and very foggy opening round of the Le Mans Endurance Series.

It was an historic victory for the Pirelli shod BMS Scuderia Italia cars who finished 1st and 3rd - the first time than anyone other than Michelin has won the GTS/GT1 class of the LMES.

Current FIA GT Series Drivers' Champion, Fabrizio Gollin, led the 52 car to victory and 6th place overall after a remarkably trouble free race. The Italian, who is also racing in the US Rolex Grand American Series, was delighted to achieve his first victory this season having had unfortunate luck up until now.

Fabrizio Gollin: "It's unbelievable. It's my fifth race this season and my first win so I am very happy. It's incredible, I think I'm dreaming! It's very important because it shows we can win again here in the LMES."

Miguel Ramos: "This gives BMS good confidence for Le Mans. It's a good way to start the season and also for the next round of the Italian GT Championship, which is in two weeks' time. I think we will also have a chance there to have a good result."

Matteo Cressoni: "For me it's my first GT race, so it's a very good start! The whole [sportscar] world is new to me. I am very happy with this start and I want to thank my team mates, Fabrizio and Miguel, who did a fantastic job."

Despite some setbacks on the track and in the pits, due to a faulty wheel pin, the Convers Team, running on Michelin tyres, fought back to take second place in the GT1 class. Christophe Bouchut drove for just under three hours to put the team into contention for a podium place and was pleased with the end result.

Bouchut: "It's good to be on the podium at the finish because for us the LMES title is our target for this year and we want to be strong so of course we have to finish. Today the conditions were really hard for everybody and, although we had some problems which lost us time, the result was good for the whole team and for the Championship.

The two Russian drivers maintained position for the number 67 car, and Vasiliev in particular put in a very consistent stint.

Nikolay Fomenko: It was difficult in these [weather] conditions and we didn't really have enough time in practice or warm up to get used to them. I had a few problems, but we have to continue to work better and next time we have a good chance with better conditions. In Spa the weather is VERYspecial!"

Alexey Vasiliev: "The weather today is like it is normally in Russia. I only thought about finishing the race today. I could have been quicker but I didn't want to take any risks and stayed at my level."

The final podium place in GT1 was taken by the second BMS Scuderia Italia entry which had a more troublesome race than its sister car, but never gave up. A power steering problem lost Christian Pescatori three laps in the pits, and the weather conditions caught out both Bartyan and Seiler during their stints.

Michele Bartyan: "I am quite happy because when I did my run it was really good. It's a pity we had the problem with the steering but 3rd place is a good result for the Championship which is quite long."

Christian Pescatori: "I tried to continue without the power steering but, with slicks, it was very difficult. I tried for one hour but it was too much for me so we decided to repair it. In the last hour I had another problem with the wheel, but this is the first race so it's important for the team to have these points and this result."

Toni Seiler:  "I am very happy. The car is beautiful and you can be very consistent in it, lap after lap. I like the wet conditions so I wasn't worried about it. Even though I had a spin while I was trying to overtake a slower car, I didn't lose too much time, so I am happy."

Spa did not treat the Czech Team MenX so well this year. Tomas Enge took the start and, having elected to use medium wet compound Michelin tyres, took just six laps to overtake the Convers Team Ferrari 550 of Christophe Bouchut who had started with a different compound.

After his first stint, Enge handed over the car to his team mate, Robert Pergl, having changed to slick tyres as the track has continued to dry. Unfortunately, a few laps after he had left the pits, the Ferrari suffered a big accident at Les Combes[one and a quarter hours into the race] which damaged the car beyond repair and it took no further part in the race.

Robert Pergl: "It's always sad when an accident happens but when it is not your fault it's even more difficult to take. I hit oil on the track, that's the only explanation I can give for what happened. I saw a yellow flag so slowed, and wasn't pushing hard at all. It was on a dry line and I had had no problems with the car or tyres up until then. I started to brake at the 200m board, which is earlier than I usually do, and the car just completely went from under me and I was just a passenger after that. The biggest impact was the last one when I was stationary and another car?"