The
fifth round of the World FIA GT Championship has taken place at Donington
Park in a sunny Great Britain.
Andrea Bertolini, driver of our Ferrari 360 Modena car leading the Championship, entered the race with serenity; without trying tricky actions after disappointing tests and qualifying (5th lap time), he maintained the contact with the leading cars, awaiting his opportunity at the first pit stop. Taking advantage of an excellent pit stop executed by the mechanics of the JMB Racing team, Fabrizio de Simone left the pit lane in second position. This racing weekend could have ended on the podium reinforcing the leading position in the general classification, if concerns about the gearbox command had not come up, immobilising definitively the Ferrari 360 Modena car no52 in the garage 55 minutes from the end of the race.
The misery of the no52 car became the fortune of the team Peter Kutemann – Antoine Gosse that, battling at the limit of points, delivers for the second time this season a regular performance without a hitch compensated with a point in the general classification.
Concerning the Ferrari 550 Maranello cars, the satisfaction could be seen on the faces of the team members at the end of the race. After the disappointments of the earlier races, the two Ferrari 550 Maranello cars of the JMB Racing team finally passed the finish line. Even better, the drivers of the no9 and no10 car obtained the same lap-times as the leading cars.
After these results, we can just feel sorry about the starter problems of the Ferrari 550 Maranello car of Philipp Peter and Fabio Babini, forcing the car to two longer pit stops, nullifying any possibility to step on the podium.
Different motif but same punishment, the Ferrari 550 Maranello car of Boris Derichebourg, David Terrien and Christian Pescatori suffered a weakness of its engine sensors, requiring a long enough stop to fall back in the classification. Anyway, the two Ferrari 550 Maranello cars of the team finally showed their reliability that together with the speed since long recognized by its opponents.
Next meeting on July 26th/27th at Spa (Belgium) for the Spa 24H – 2003 FIA GT Round 6.
