WEATHER

The weather in Brno remains hot and sunny, with blue skies and a light breeze.  Temperatures were around 23° in the morning, with the track temperature rising to 41° in the afternoon.

SECOND CONSECUTIVE POLE FOR JEAN-MARC GOUNON

With a lap of 1:56.695, French driver Jean-Marc Gounon gave the Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R its second pole position of the season. “ It was difficult this morning. I knew that the Lister would be hard to beat around this track, as it loves this kind of corners.  I had to try to make the perfect lap.  I missed pole position on my first set of tyres, when I lost the car over the grass, but on the second set, everything was perfect. I knew already this morning that it would be very difficult to improve on my time. Today was a Dunlop challenge today, with Saleen and Lister at the front !”  Gounon will start alongside Jamie Campbell-Walter, whose best lap in the nr 14 Lister Storm was 0.283 seconds slower than the Saleen.  Third place went to the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello of Bobbi and Biagi, winner of the first three races, which is carrying 100 kg penalty weight.

LIEB TAKES THIRD POLE OF THE SEASON

German driver Marc Lieb claimed pole position in the N-GT class after an extremely close session.  His nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS was only 0.053 seconds ahead of Pergusa pole-setter, Andrea Bertolini, in the nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena.  “We have always been one of the fastest cars out there, we are just missing a bit of luck.  This is my third pole, but I would rather exchange it for three wins !  But our luck changed at Brno last year, and I hope it will be the same again this year.” Lieb’s lap of 2:03.371 was set in the faster morning session.  The nr 89 Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena was third fastest, with Darren Turner setting a time of 2:03.894. Tomas Enge was pleased with fourth place for the MENX Ferrari 360 Modena in its home race. 

FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION: GOUNON CLAIMS PROVISIONAL POLE; LIEB FASTEST IN N-GT

Just like in Enna-Pergusa, Jean-Marc Gounon, in the nr 2 Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R, set provisional pole in the first qualifying session . With an exceptional lap of 1:56.695, set late in the 45-minute session, the Frenchman demoted Jamie Campbell-Walter, who had been on provisional pole for much of the session, to second place.  Although the nr 14 Lister went out again just before the chequered flag fell, on new tyres, the British driver met traffic on his lap and was unable to improve on his time of 1:56.978.  The nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello of Biagi and Bobbi was third fastest, with a time of 1:57.431, set early in the session. Gollin and Cappellari were fourth, in the nr 22 BMS car, with Deletraz and Piccini in the nr 15 Lister Storm in fifth place.  The top seven cars, which set times within two seconds of each other, all set times which were faster than the best time set in qualifying in 2002.  The nr 9 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello had its times removed, due to failing the ride height test. 

In N-GT, Marc Lieb captured provisional pole, with a lap of 2:03.371 in the nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS.  The 22-year old German driver took pole twenty minutes into the session, demoting the nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena to second place.  The nr 89 Team Maranello Concessionaires car was third fastest, with Darren Turner setting a time of 2:03.894, while the team’s second car struggled slightly with ECU problems and hoped to improve in the second session. 

SECOND QUALIFYING SESSION: FORCE ONE AND FREISINGER FASTEST IN SLOWER SESSION

With temperatures rising, the afternoon session was significantly slower than the morning, and there were only two improvements.  Anthony Kumpen, at the wheel of the nr 5 Force One Festina Chrysler Viper GTS-R was fastest, with a time of 1:59.757 – over four seconds slower than the morning’s pole – set on old tyres and with a full tank of fuel.  “We were able to set a consistent pace of 2:00, so it is promising for tomorrow’s race.”  The car will start from sixth place on the grid for tomorrow’s 500 km, three-hour race. 

The nr 9 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello was second fastest, with Philipp Peter setting a time of 2:00.092, placing him and Fabio Babini 11th overall for tomorrow’s race.  The nr 14 Lister Storm was third, ahead of the pole-setting Konrad Saleen S7-R, the Championship-leading nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia car and the nr 7 Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R. 

In N-GT, the pole-setting nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-R remained fastest, ahead of the nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena, while the nr 88 TMC Ferrari, which had struggled in the morning, set the third-best time.  However, Mullen and Davies remain 8th on the N-GT grid.  The nr 61 EMKA Racing Porsche was fourth fastest, despite having the lap times from the first half of the session cancelled due to ride-height problems.  The only N-GT car to improve on its time was the nr 54 Cirtek Motorsport Porsche of Mayall and Khan, which cut two seconds off its time, placing it 14th in the class.

Philipp Peter – nr 9 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello : “I was pretty happy to set the second time in the second session.  We had engine problems in the second free practice session yesterday, so we could not do any work on tyre comparisons, which means that we might be running on tyres which are too soft for the first stint tomorrow. We have the speed in the car, but we lack reliability.  We had some changes here for Brno, we hope for some more for Donington.”

Matteo Bobbi – nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello : “I am very happy today as we worked very hard yesterday and found a very good set-up, especially for the race tomorrow.  Today, I tried to push. The car was good.  Tomorrow I think it will be a big fight between us and the Lister. I like this track but tomorrow will be difficult as it will be hot and the tyres might make the difference.”

Andrea Bertolini – nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena : “We had a very good fight between me, Darren and Marc today. It was very close, and I think it will be the same tomorrow during the race.  We worked hard with Pirelli for the balance of the race, which is going to be very important.  The race will be very hard.”

Tomas Enge – nr 57 MENX Ferrari 360 Modena : “This the second time we’ve had fourth place on the grid, and I hope we will do more than the 10 laps we managed at Magny-Cours.  I am pretty confident for the race, but we need a bit of luck in order to run with no problems.  Our target is to finish as high as possible, but we hope for the podium.  The car is running perfectly, and we are closing in on the leaders, which is looking pretty good.  I know the circuit perfectly, as does Robert.  We’ll have a lot of Czech fans here tomorrow, and I hope not to disappoint them.”  His team-mate Robert Pergl said : “I am happy  with the set-up for tomorrow, but we are hoping for a little luck.  I am enjoying this season in the Championship; I have learnt a lot and I am not afraid of the big GT cars any more !”

Tim Mullen – nr 88 Team Maranello Concessionaires : “We had ECU problems this morning, and we also had a cracked oil system, which was putting oil on our rear tyres.  We’d like to improve in the afternoon, but we used both sets of tyres, so we are really not where we should have been.”

Darren Turner – nr 89 Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena : “We started the weekend with a few problems, and although we seem to have solved them, we have not really done enough laps.  It is the first time here for most of the team and drivers, so we are learning about the set-up and how tricky the conditions are, as there does not seem to be much grip.  But the circuit is fantastic.  I think pole was really between the other two cars, as we are still half a second off the pace of the cars ahead of us.”