The 2007 season of the FIA GT Championship got underway in Monza on Thursday, with a press conference and three official test sessions; and the famous Italian sports cars brands were all in the thick of the action at the top of the timesheets with Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani all well represented on the historic high-speed Grand Prix circuit.

Three sessions took place on the track for the two classes, GT1 and GT2, with a total of twenty cars taking to the track during the day. The best time of the day was eventually set by the no 23 Aston Martin Racing BMS DBR9, shared by Fabio Babini and Jamie Davies, its fastest time coming in the third and final session of the day. The car was also fastest in the other two sessions. The track started off quite wet, after heavy overnight rain, but dried later and times came down.

Second-fastest time of the day went to the Racing Alliance Aston Martin DBR9, followed by the quickest of the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GTs. The Bologna supercar manufacturer's dramatic machines are set to be in the midst of the GT1 category action this year as the car's German builder, Reiter Engineering, has linked up with the All-Inkl team, who ran a single car in last year's series, to run a two car effort this year.

Both of the black-and-yellow Murciélago R-GTs were out at Monza with the no 7 car piloted by Frenchman Christophe Bouchet alongside two German pilots, Stefan Muncke and Marc Basseng, while the no 8 entry was in the hands of Dutch driver Jos Menten. Demonstrating that the R-GT should be a competitive proposition this year, Menten, who was deputising for Peter Kox, posted the fastest Lamborghini time in the no 8 car, a lap of 1:47.802, during the second of the day's three track testing periods, a time which was good enough for second place in that session. The team also had a third R-GT in action, the no 41 racer being driven by sometime Maserati GranSport Trofeo pilot, Albert von Thurn und Taxis.

With six Maserati MC12 sports car expected to take part in the FIA GT series this year, four of the Modenese cars took to the track at Monza last week. JMB Racing arrived with their two dark blue machines that have not been seen in racing action since the 2005 FIA GT season, the cars being piloted during the three sessions by Dutch duo, Peter Kutemann and Dirk Waaijenberg, in the no 15 entry, and an English trio, comprising of Joe Macari, Andrew Newey and Ben Aucott, in the no 16 car. Also in action was a car from Scuderia Playteam Sara Free and one from Hubert Haupt Motorsport.

The overall best time in GT2 on Thursday was set by the Michelotto development team's Ferrari F430GT, which was in the hands of official factory test driver Jaime Melo, the Brazilian posting a quickest lap of 1:50.157. Team Edil Cris was the fastest of the three GT2 teams present who will be taking part in this year's championship, with a best lap time of 1:50.481 in the third session, closely followed by Scuderia Ecosse.
 

The fast track gave the Scuderia Ecosse team a very good opportunity to run on their new Pirelli tyres and work on developing the car for the first few races of the season. Andrew Kirkaldy set the team's fastest time and the Scottish outfit was pleased with the progress they made.

Tim Mullen, Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy were all on duty for the team at Monza; although new boys Tomas Enge and Jarek Janis had other commitments last week. The aim of the two day test was to begin working with Pirelli and to - metaphorically-speaking - blow away the winter cobwebs. Tim Mullen was busy this afternoon doing some long runs. “We’ve definitely had a productive test” he said. “It’s always good to get back in a racing car after the winter and we were pleased to find that the Pirellis are consistent over a long run.”

This was Scuderia Ecosse driver Chris Niarchos’ first time at Monza but it didn’t taken him long to get up to speed. “This is my first time back in the car after having three months off,” he said. “I have to say it feels fantastic. I’m very happy with the car, very happy with the tyres and very happy with my team-mate; although he does keep saying I’m in trouble if I don’t go faster!  Seriously though I can feel an immediate improvement over last year. I felt very confident in the car and I’m looking forward to a good season.” His new driving partner for 2007, Andrew Kirkaldy, commented: “It’s good to be back on the Pirellis. The balance and the speed of the car over the two days has been good so we’re very pleased.”

Team Principal Stewart Roden was also very happy with the performance of the team this week. “The car is going incredibly well and I’m more than delighted with the performance of the new Pirelli tyres. We’re off to Knockhill next week to test with Tomas (Enge) then to Fiorano to shake down our new car, then it’s all systems go for China.” The other Ferrari teams running in GT2 on Thursday was the reigning class champions, AF Corse, who had Stephane Ortelli, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander behind the wheel of a single F430GT, and JMB Racing who turned up with an F430GT car alongside their brace of GT1 category Maserati MC12s.

Other cars out testing on Thursday included another Italian supercar-based machine, this time the Rock Media Racing run Pagani Zonda GR which hasn't been seen in race action for several years, although the Czech team did attend an official FIA GT Championship series test last year. The day also included a well-attended press conference, where Stephane Ratel outlined his projects for the year ahead. Guest of Honour Kristian Ghedina, downhill skier, took to the stage to explain his love of speed and to interview last year's Champion, Andrea Bertolini, Runner-up Andrea Piccini, and GT3 Champion Sean Edwards, who has moved up to GT2 this year with Tech9 Motorsport.