19.10.2003 ANOTHER STRONG PERFORMANCE FROM THE BMS ITALIA TEAM SEES THEM END THE SEASON AS THEY STARTED

An action-packed race around the ultra-fast Monza circuit in Italy closed the 2003 season of the FIA GT Championship in style.  With 30,000 spectators lining the track, situated in the beautiful Monza park, the 500 km, 87-lap race was completed in 2 hours and 40 minutes. 2003 Champions BMS Scuderia Italia sealed their winning season with another victory, this one for Gollin and Cappellari. In N-GT, while JMB Racing took a fourth win of the season, second place was good enough for Stéphane Ortelli and Marc Lieb to win the Drivers' Championship, while giving the Teams title to Freisinger Motorsport. A good end to a good season.

ORTELLI, LIEB AND FREISINGER MOTORSPORT TAKE CHAMPIONSHIP

The extremely close and ultra-competitive N-GT class was still open coming into the final round, but 2002 Champions Freisinger Motorsport did more than enough to retain their title, finishing second to put themselves out of reach of Team Maranello Concessionaires, while  Stéphane Ortelli and Marc Lieb claimed the Drivers' Championship. "It was a very exciting race, and an exciting way to finish the Championship," Ortelli said. "This victory feels better than last year, first of all because I am not alone. Marc already helped me a lot last year, and I am very glad he is here with me today, he did a wonderful job all season. And I think it is better when you can share something like this. This is now our victory. And I am very pleased for our team, Freisinger Motorsport.  To do this two times in a row is something really special." Marc Lieb was also delighted: "This is the biggest success of my career so far, and I want to thank the team, and Dunlop and especially Stéphane for his support.  It's just wonderful."

CAPPELLARI AND GOLLIN WIN ON HOME GROUND

Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin took their first overall win of the season today, as although they won the GT class in the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa, they finished behind the Freisinger Motorsport Porsche. Extremely fast all weekend, and qualifying in second place, Gollin took the lead into the first corner, and stayed ahead for all his stint. In the top three for the much of the rest of the race, Gollin retook the lead when the nr 21 Care Racing Ferrari had to stop for a splash and dash in the closing stages.

"It was a great race and I have to thank our engineer Marco Galuppi who made a wonderful strategy, we finished with only 6 litres in the tank but we didn't have to make a splash and dash," Luca explained. "So we won the fight with Enzo and Lilian, with whom we were fighting for the title. Many congratulations to the team who have done a fantastic job all season. We have got to the finish line in nine races out of ten, and my team-mate Fabrizio was very fast." This second place also gave Gollin and Cappellari the second place in the Championship behind their team-mates Bobbi and Biagi, after a close battle with Lilian Bryner and Enzo Calderari.

FOURTH N-GT WIN OF THE YEAR FOR JMB RACING

The season started as it ended, with another strong performance by Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio De Simone putting them on the top of the podium in N-GT. The two Italians took their fourth win of the season, and their third in a row, finishing 9th overall, ahead of the Freisinger Motorsport Porsche.  With neither Team Maranello Concessionaires car finishing in the points, JMB Racing have moved up to second in the N-GT Teams Classification, with De Simone finishing third behind joint leaders Ortelli and Lieb, and Andrea Bertolini moving up ahead of Jamie Davies.

"It was a very good result for us, with three victories in the last three races, which is the result of the work done by Pirelli, the big developments of the car made by Ferrari and the work that we put in together with the team," said Fabrizio De Simone."I am really very happy about this; we had some problems during the season that stopped us in the rush for the Championship, but that's OK. I'm very happy for Stéphane and Marc. I think it was very good to come to the race with some chances for the Championship. It was very good; we won the race, we did our work, and that's it." The team's second car, driven by Kutemann and Gosse, also finished in the points, in seventh place.

THE GT STORY

At the start, the nr 22 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari got ahead of the pole-sitter, the nr 5 Force One Viper, and began to pull away. The nr 2 Konrad Saleen was close behind in third. By lap ten, the Saleen moved up into second place, and the nr 21 Care Racing Ferrari took third, overtaking for second seven laps later. The two cars, fighting for second place in the Championship, continued their close battle, while the nr 2 Saleen made an early stop for fuel.  This meant that Walter Lechner Jr took the lead when the other cars made their scheduled driver change stops, followed by the nr 21 Care Racing car, which took the lead when Seiler took over the Saleen on lap 46. 

With its different pit schedule, the Saleen took the lead again by the time it pitted for Konrad to take over. On lap 50, the nr 5 Force One was reported going slowly on the track, and retired with transmission problems, meaning that the car failed ot finish a single race this season. However, on lap 67, an incident involving the nr 15 Lister Storm, Lancieri at the wheel, saw both cars spin and stop, blocking the track and briefly delaying the nr 14 Storm. This put the Konrad car out of contention, and it retired shortly afterwards. 

The nr 9 took advantage to take third from the nr 14 Storm. It looked as if Care Racing would take its first win of the season, but a last-minute splash and dash on this fuel-thirsty track put the nr 22 back into the lead, while a similar situation placed the nr 14 Storm back up to third.  At the chequered flag, the nr 22 BMS won ahead of the nr 21 Care Racing, with the nr 14 Lister Storm third.  The two new Ferrari 575GTC cars came in fourth and fifth, with the nr 23 BMS Ferrari, damaged in a collision with a Porsche early on, recovering to sixth. The second Lister Racing Storm of Piccini, Sterckx and Lancieri was seventh, with the nr 6 Lister Storm of Verdon-Roe and Zadra taking the final point for eighth.

THE N-GT STORY

The nr 61 EMKA Racing Porsche got ahead of the pole-sitting nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena at the start. However, it was caught out when a slower GT car braked ahead of it, and Emmanuel Collard spun out into the gravel on lap 11. This put Bertolini, in the nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari, in the lead, a position he only lost during pit-stops until the end of the race. 

In similar fashion, the nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche remained in second place throughout, securing their Championship. The nr 99 RWS Porsche moved up to third, but then was involved in an incident with the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari, dropping out of the race. The nr 51 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche then running up to third, but was hit by overheating problems.  

After good first stints, the two Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena cars both hit problems, with an off and electrical problems meaning that neither car scored a point for the first time this season. In a good race for the Porsches, the nr 74 Team Eurotech car of Jordan and Barff made steady progress to third. The positions remained fixed until the chequered flag fell. The nr 85 JVG Racing Porsche took fourth position for Mark Mayall, Ian Khan and Michel Neugarten, with the nr 67 Autorlando Porsche of Sabatini and Spinelli fifth.

Sixth place went to the all-Russian RWS Yukos team of Vasiliev and Fomenko, with the second JMB car in seventh place - meaning that all four JMB Racing cars finished in the points.  In eighth and final points-scoring point, the Proton Competition Porsche 996 GT3-RS of Christian and Gerold Ried, along with Maciej Marcinkiewicz, took their first point of the season.