Five Ferrari 360GT's entered the legendary 24 hour race, JMB Racing's new US offshoot entered two cars, with one each from Risi, Ferri Competizione and the reigning GrandAm GT Champions, Scuderia Ferrari Of Washington. Qualifying had seen the Risi Competizione Ferrari line up in 17th on the grid, one place ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari of Washington 360GT, with Ferri Competizione in 23rd. Further back the JMB Racing USA cars settled for 31st and 35th.

The team has chosen four highly-rated British drivers. Jamie Davies, Ferrari’s British GTO Champion of 2002, will head the TMC attack, partnered by youngster Tim Mullen. Driving the other TMC 360GT will be 2001 British GTO Champion, Kelvin Burt and ex-DTM racer, Darren Turner. There is no place for Ivan Capelli, the ex-Ferrari F1 pilot who drove for the team in the closing rounds of last year's British GT series.

The team, and its new 'Cambridgeshire Blue Nose' livery, will be officially launched on 19th March.

Ron Meixner, team owner, "We are very excited to be the first to bring Lamborghini to racing in US. I have been developing and testing this car for over six months and we are ready to come to Sebring and win. I think that is a great indicator of things to come. I am very excited about the drivers and crew as well. I have been keeping an eye on Cristiano for some time and I am looking forward to bringing a new talent to the sports car scene, Joe is very talented and experienced in many different types of cars, together we compliment each other." 

Ron Meixner has competed in the Formula Renault and Porsche cup series. He won the GT class at the 24 hours at Daytona in 1993 and drove with Bob Wollek to finish 3rd at Atlanta. Ron also finished 9th at Le mans with Bob Wollek and Henri Pescarolo in 1993. 

Cristiano Piquet was a rising talent in Brazilian karts and moved to the Skip Barber series where he finished in the top three out of 129 drivers in the 2002 series championship. "I am excited about the challenge to run the 12 hour and am looking forward to learning more about the GT class." 

Joseph Safina has several podium finishes over the years and competed at the 12 hour in 1997, he finished 3rd at Homestead in the GT class and ran the 24 hours at Daytona four times without a DNF, finishing in the top ten, three times. "We are making history with this team and car, this year there are more manufactures competing then ever. I think we will be the car to beat in Sebring. I look forward to the opportunity and challenge to win this race." 

ACEMCO Motorsport's announcement adds to the Ferrari 360 Modena's running in this year's ALMS series. Already confirmed are two cars to be run by Risi Competizione and two cars from JMB Racing's new offshoot, JMB Racing USA. 

The series kicks off with a new event at Barcelona on April 9th, taking in races at Magny-Cours, Brno, Donnington, Spa, Anderstorp, Oschersleben and Estoril, before the season closes with the other new fixture at Monza on October 19th.

The Swedish round at Anderstorp is currently provisional and subject to FIA inspection regarding improvements to the pit garages, video control and run-off areas. The round at the classic Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit is again a 24 hour encounter with extra points being awarded at different stages of the race.

Meanwhile, Superpole is to be scrapped, the series reverting to the best two times from the two 45-minute qualifying sessions.

The team is confident that the Prodrive-built cars have overcome the the reliability problems, that last year saw the title slip from their grasp when they failed early on at the high points scoring Spa 24 Hour race. Meanwhile Prodrive, who have undertaken an extensive close season development program are still undecided on their program for this year. Already comfirmed to compete at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans, an extension to take in the full ALMS series remains bogged down.

"There is plenty of work for us," Team Logistics Director Marco Strepavara commented. "22 people will be working on the cars this year. We will be picking up the third car next week, from Clermond Ferrand, where Michelin is undergoing tyre tests." The car is from Prodrive like the two already run by the team this year. "We have a very strong relationship with Prodrive. There is still considerable work to be done on the other two cars, mainly on the electrical systems. We were very happy with last year's performance, with four race wins - more than anyone else - and six pole positions. It would have been even better to have won the Championship, but it was still very good, especially considering that we only received the car two days before the first race. So we are very pleased to have more time and more opportunities to test the car." 

Dave Price's bid to run Prodrive-developed 550 Maranello's in the FIA GT series, spearheaded by Jan Magnussen, seems increasingly unlikely as a budget has failed to materialise.

Another Italian representative in the ALMS series will be Toine Hezemans who is planning to run a single Mercedes-powered Pagani Zonda C12S in all rounds this year. Hezemans, however, plans to develop the Zonda throughout the season and build up to 15 of the cars in preparation for sale in 2004.

Toine Hezemans, has revealed further plans, building on this years development, to prepare up to 15 of the cars in for ALMS/FIA GT use in 2004.

The whole project will be officially launched in Belgium early next month.

There will be 26 Trofeo cars on the starting grid, and it will be possible to enter two drivers for endurance events. All the Trofeo race cars will be prepared and run directly by the Maserati factory, to guarantee technical equality and similar performance. 

Meanwhile pride of place on the Autocar magazine stand goes to the Maserati Trofeo GT, destined for a factory organised seven race series this year. It is receiving its UK premier here and, with entries still open, has attracted a great deal of interest.