Team Maranello Concessionaires’ two Ferrari 360N/GT race cars claimed third (car 89) and eighth (car 88) places in class on the grid during qualifying for round four of the FIA GT Championship in Brno today. Darren Turner, driving car 89, set the quickest time of the pair in 2.03.894, just 0.5 seconds behind pole position. 2002 British GTO Champion, Jamie Davies, driving car 88, was baulked by traffic but achieved a still impressive lap time of 2.05.478. 

TMC, who enter round four leading the Team Championship with 27 points, are continuing development of both cars with further test sessions planned at the Le Mans Bugatti and Snetterton circuits over the coming weeks. 

Jamie Davies: “I’m a little disappointed that, on my really fast lap this morning, I was baulked by one of the GT cars and suffered a spin as a result. Unfortunately for me, by the time I left the pits once the car had been checked, the session was nearly done. Its just one of those things but with three hours ahead of us tomorrow, we’ve got plenty of time to make up the difference. I’m enjoying the circuit, the car is running very well, and the team is continuing to refine the set-up for tomorrow.”

Darren Tuner: “Being one of the new guys here, I’m quite pleased to be just a few fractions behind the best time of the day. The P1 and P2 drivers have previous experience of Brno so they had an advantage yesterday in free practice and today. Now I know the circuit, we should have a great race tomorrow. The team has sorted the concerns that Kelvin (Burt) and I had with the gearbox in Enna so we are expecting a good result tomorrow. We know we have every chance now to go for the win.”

“This is the team’s first experience of Brno,” commented Rod Benoist, TMC’s Team Manager. “We have learnt a great deal from yesterday and today’s sessions and will continue to work this evening on refining our set-up. All four drivers have provided excellent feedback to the Engineers which makes a big difference to the speed at which we can work. Considering the relative lack of track time here for the whole operation, our lap times are encouraging.”