The Race:

Ferraris owned by Care Racing, managed by BMS Scuderia Italia, and built by British-based Prodrive finished in 1st, 3rd and 5th places at a sunny Brno track today, despite carrying 180kg of success ballast between them. 

Slick pit work, a good race strategy and fast consistent racing from both Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi saw the young Italians take their 4th consecutive victory and extend their lead in the FIA GT Drivers’ Championship.  Bobbi and Biagi finished the race ahead of the Lister of Deletraz and Piccini and their BMS teammates Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari in 3rd place. 

The Care Racing entry of Lilian Bryner, Enzo Calderari and Stefano Livio finished 5th, having made up 8 places during the race through good, steady running and all three drivers were happy with their eventual race result. 

Bobbi, who started from 3rd position on the grid, began his quest for success by slowly closing the gap between himself and the 2nd-placed Lister of Campbell-Walter.  Car no.23 made its first pit stop on the same lap as the leading Saleen, but smart pit work by the BMS Scuderia Italia mechanics ensured that he left the pits ahead of it and was soon leading the field – a position the car was never to relinquish, partly due to the subsequent misfortune of some of the competition.

The fight for third place was much closer.  Four laps before the chequered flag there was just six seconds separating the cars the next three cars behind Matteo Bobbi but no one was able to pass to gain a better position.

Driver Quotes: 

Matteo Bobbi (I), BMS Scuderia Italia no. 23:  “I am really happy for this win but it is a shame for Jamie [Campbell-Walter in the Lister] because he should have won this race.  The Championship is still very long and there is a lot of work to do yet. 

Thomas Biagi (I), BMS Scuderia Italia no. 23:  “The situation was very difficult at the beginning as there was oil on the track but fortunately I didn’t spin.  The team did a great job with the pit stops, and the Michelin tyres were very consistent, fantastic.  Matteo and I were very consistent in lap times and we didn’t make any mistakes so we won the race. 

Luca Cappellari (I), BMS Scuderia Italia no. 22:   “We had a few problems with the car because we tried a different set up from our team mates and suffered from oversteer.  We hope that we will be better at Donington, although the 80kg of weight penalty we will have will make it very heavy.”

Fabrizio Gollin (I), BMS Scuderia Italia no. 22:  “It was a very exciting end to the race, like last year.  And I am still in 3rd position, like last year!  I am happy for this result and we were lucky because the Lister was very fast here.  I worked a lot this weekend for the future.  We tried a lot of things to make the car faster because we know the competition is also very fast.”

Lilian Bryner (CH), Care Racing no. 21:   “The result is good.  We didn’t have such a good qualifying session but this gives us more points in the Championship so for this race we are happy and we hope the next race will be better.” 

Enzo Calderari (CH), Care Racing no. 21:  “The car was fine in the race.  It was difficult to come from where we started and it needed a lot of concentration as there was a lot of dirt off the line and we had to wait and take one car after the other.  I think therefore we are happy with this result.”

Stefano Livio (I), Care Racing no. 21:  “I pushed very hard at the start of the race as I was trying to make up a position, but when I realised this would not be possible I decided to stay where I was and make sure we got some points in the Championship.”