Several customers have expressed their desire to take the 575M to Le Mans next year. The cars would be built by Italian tuner Michelotti who current prepare the 360GT.

Meanwhile Prodrive have undertaken a five day endurance test session in Spain this week, with their own developed Ferrari 550s. Regular drivers Rickard Rydell and Tomas Enge have carried out driving duties as the British specialist attempts to cure the 550's fragile nature.

>>> new models: Ferrari 575 M

It is believed that Maserati, now controlled by Ferrari, will build a sportscar based on Ferrari's new Enzo supercar, which may ditch the 6.0-litre V12 engine in favour of going down a twin-turbo route. To be known as the Maserati 6000GT, it will be a hard-top sportscar with the road version, expected to be built in similar numbers to the Enzo, aimed primarily at the US market.

The race project is around six months down the line, and will move into a brand new purpose-built unit on the Modena site before Christmas. Maserati will field a factory team, while also selling customer examples. The car will run on Pirelli tyres, the Italian tyre manufacturer being highly involved with the 6000GT's development.

The race however proved less successful. Regular driver John Bowe started the Ferrari but the car was sidelined with major engine problems after 96 laps. The Holden Monaro went on to win on its race debut, with the Mosler coming home in second place.

Maserati displayed a Trofeo model, specially shipped over for the event, and the car undertook several demonstration laps of the Mount Panorama circuit prior to the race day warm-up.

The opening race was won by the JVG Racing Porsche 996 GT3, driven by British pair Ian Khan and Nigel Smith, from the JMB Racing Ferrari 360 of Andrea Garbagnati and Andrea Bertolini. The first Lamborghini Diablo GTR accross the line was the MIG Power car of Luigi Moccia and Franco Groppi, which grabbed the final podium position after leading the first half of the race. 

The second sprint race saw Bertolini and Garbagnati take the spoils, 46 seconds ahead of Moccia and Groppi, with Marco Lambertini in another JMB Ferrari 360 chasing them home third. The 2002 Lamborghini GTR Supertrophy Championship title was claimed by the Team Cornona Diablo GTR driven by the French pairing of Franck Sevin and Jean Marc Gounon with a final total of 93 points, followed by the Autovisse Team pairing of Alex Frei and David Velay with 59 points while Lee Cunningham, took third in the Reiter Engineering car, with 51 points. The Gentleman Drivers' section was won by French ex-F1 boss Gérard Larrousse, who scored 101 points, well ahead of Stephane Lacroix-Wasover 60 pts and Cédric Lorent 57 pts. 

Starting from pole, they ran out easy victors, taking the flag over a minute ahead of Pedro Chaves in a Saleen S7-R, whose second place was good enough to clinch the Spanish, while the Marcos LM 60 of Tomas Saldana just under ten seconds further back claimed the final podium position. The other BMS Ferrari 550 fared less well, Enzo Calderai retiring the car early on in the race. JMB Racing also took advantage of the testing opportunity bringing three of their regular FIA GT Ferrari 360 GT's, with the best finishers being regular driving pair Andrea Garbagnati and Andrea Bertolini eventually coming home in fifth place, thirty seconds down on Nicolas Dalli's Porsche 911. In a strong Ferrari representation in Barcelona, 12 Ferrari 360 GT's took part in the race.

‘It’s a dream come true,“ said Wagner. “In a Ferrari, winning a championship, it’s your boyhood dream. This whole team - every one of them - has been absolutely fabulous. And to have Girard-Perregaux, our sponsor, join us in the championship in their first year in racing just makes this result perfect.” 

Bill Auberlen set the fastest GT lap by half a second on the way to the 360GT finishing 19th overall, 6th in class, and with the title sealed after completing one lap, he was delighted as he got out at the end of his stint. “What a championship. Unbelievable. Who would have thought Allie Ash (team owner) would have brought a brand new car, a new team, a new group of drivers and win the championship. The team, along with the drivers, have learned so much this year. By mid season we were so lethal we could hardly lose a race. These guys are just so great.” 

In possibly the cars last outing, the 962.com team entered one elderly Ferrari 333SP, but the car only lasted 17 laps before it became the 98-lap race's fourth retirement.

The Supercar Rally 2002 saw 35 contemporary sportscars running in a non-competitive event, the field including, as well as the Maseratis, the Italdesign Maserati-based Alfa Romeo-badged Brera. The event started on the streets of Paris before heading to Clermont-Ferrand where several laps of the Charade circuit were undertaken. After 530 kms the first leg ended at the spa town of Vichy. Day two saw the competitors head to Aix-les-Bains, over 450 km of twisty mountain roads. The third leg took the field out of France and to Stressa in Italy, through the Mont Blanc tunnel and via Biella, 450 km over many roads used in the Monte Carlo Rally. The final day brought the competitors to Monaco with a closing parade through the principality's famous Casino Square. 

The Trofeo ran faultlessly, although on-the-spot modifications were made in the mountains of southern France to the front spoiler which was hitting the ground.

In the hands of Pirelli test driver Fabio Babini, day one saw 67 laps covered at the 3.229 km circuit in overcast conditions with a best lap time of 1:19.225. The second and final day turned out warm and sunny, and with track temperatures around 26°C, Babini notched up 129 laps with a fastest time of 1:19.198.