20.09.2003  SECOND CONSECUTIVE POLE FOR KONRAD SALEEN AS FERRARI LINE UP ON ROW FOUR

Alongside him on the grid for tomorrow's eighth round of the 2003 FIA GT Championship will be the nr 5 Force One Chrysler Viper GTS-R, with Mike Hezemans and Anthony Kumpen hoping to finally finish a race this season. The team's second car, driven by Philippe Alliot and David Hallyday, will start from fourth place, alongside the nr 7 Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R of Tommy Erdos and Mike Newton, which took third place towards the end of the first qualifying session. This means the front two rows will both have a Saleen ahead of a Viper. The nr 15 Lister Storm of Piccini and Sterckx was fifth fastest. Both the nr 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello and the nr 14 Lister Storm of Campbell-Walter and Kinch set identical times in the first session, but as the Lister set the time shortly before the Ferrari, the nr 14 will start ahead on the grid, giving an all-Lister Racing third row, ahead of an all-BMS fourth line.

Andrea Bertolini took pole position in the N-GT category, having set a time of 1:27.319 in the morning session, at the wheel of the nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari Modena.  "The car is very good and fast; I am very happy as we have done a lot of work with Pirelli with the new compound tyres, and along with the new gearbox, the new Marelli system and the new tyres, we have a very fast car," Bertolini said. The nr 88 Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena of Davies and Turner was second fastest, with Darren Turner setting a time of 1:28.111. Championship leaders Ortelli and Lieb set the third-best time in their nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS, with a lap of 1:28.140, just 29 thousandths of a second behind second place. The second TMC Ferrari of Mullen and Burt was fourth. Anderstorp winners EMKA Racing were fifth-fastest in the category, ahead of the nr 57 MENX Ferrari of Enge and Pergl.

FIRST QUALIFYING SESSION

The first 45-minute qualifying session round the 3.667 Oschersleben circuit started off at a frantic pace. Biagi, in the nr 23 Ferrari 550 Maranello, was the first to lead the time sheets, with a lap of 1:24.820. Walter Lechner, in the nr 2 Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7-R then improved the provisional pole to 1:24.676, with three cars setting times under the 1:25 barrier.  The Force One cars were the next to hit the top, with first Philippe Alliot in the nr 4 Chrysler Viper setting a time of 1:24.632, and then Hezemans in the team's nr 5 Viper knocking three tenths off with a lap of 1:24.322. But they were all shortly to be eclipsed when Walter Lechner Jr lapped in 1:23.869, eight minutes into the session. This time was nearly half a second faster than last year's fastest qualifying time of 1:24.263, set by Jamie Campbell-Walter in the Lister Storm. Ten minutes before the end of the session, Tommy Erdos in the nr 7 Saleen improved up to third place with a time of 1:24.379. By the end of the session, no-one had been able to come close to Lechner Jr's time, which stood as provisional pole. He was followed by the nr 5 Force One Chrysler Viper, the nr 7 Graham Nash Saleen S7-R and the nr 4 Force One Viper. The two Lister Racing Storms were fifth and sixth, with the best-placed Ferrari the nr 23 car of Championship leaders Biagi and Bobbi, 7th, having set the same time as the  nr 14 car.  The nr 9 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello, which was so fast in free practice yesterday, could only manage 3 laps due to a transmission problem; the team's nr 10 car was tenth.

In N-GT, the nr 61 EMKA Porsche was the fastest early on, with a time of 1:28.694. However, by the half-way point, the nr 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena had improved to 1:27.319, followed by the nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche, approximately eight tenths behind. The nr 88 TMC Ferrari then moved up to second with a lap of 1:28.111. 

SECOND QUALIFYING SESSION

The unseasonably hot weather meant that there were very few improvements in the second qualifying session. However, the nr 9 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello, which was only 16th overall after the first session due to a broken transmission, immediately knocked a second off its morning time. The car continued to improve, setting the best time of the session with a lap of 1:25.029 and rising to 9th overall. However, after the end of the session, the nr 9 Ferrari was to see all its times from the session cancelled, due to not complying with the airbox restrictions, and therefore dropped back down to 16th position on the grid for tomorrow's race.

The other car to improve, by just four thousandths of a second, was the nr 18 Zwaan's Racing Chrysler Viper, which had lost some of its morning times due to failing to comply with the weighing procedure.

This left the Championship leaders, Thomas Biagi and Matteo Bobbi, as the fastest drivers in the second qualifying session, with a time of 1:26.009, topping the time sheets for the first time this weekend. They were followed by the nr 5 Force One Chrysler Viper of Hezemans and Kumpen, who were also second fastest overall. The nr 10 JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello of Pescatori and Derichebourg set the third-fastest time, followed by the nr 18 Zwaan's Racing Chrysler Viper.
TMC leads the N-GT class

The nr 89 Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena of Kelvin Burt and Tim Mullen was the fastest N-GT car on the track during the hot second qualifying session. Setting a lap time of 1:28.455, the car set the 13th time overall, ahead of the nr 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche and the nr 61 EMKA Racing Porsche 996 GT3-RS.