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Monza Tests

lineltex

08/03/2001

Monza Test And Media Days

Wednesday – PM

Luca Riccitelli returned to the track – with his neck in a support. “The doctor thinks I might have cracked a bone in my neck.” No Sebring? “No Sebring.”

What about the Tom Coronel / Lister story. Tom, when did Laurence Pearce get in touch with you? “Two days ago.” Is the drive for the whole season? “Nearly. I will have to miss two races because of my drive in the Dutch Touring Car Series.” The Dome? “There is still a chance I can drive with Jan.”

Times for the morning session eventually revealed that Christophe Bouchut was fastest with a 1:47.298. The Rafanelli Ferrari was nine tenths slower. No one else beat 1:50 in the GT class – early days yet. Larbre were also fastest in N-GT, Patrice Goueslard setting the time – 1:55.072.

Mike Hezemans lost the bonnet of the Carsport Viper, then repeated the incident in the afternoon under braking at the end of the pit straight. A tyre went down, the windscreen blew out during the spin – all rather a puzzle. Too much air getting into the engine bay? “Change everything and gain nothing,” said one sage.

This was just one incident of several during the afternoon; lots of red flags. The Rafanelli Ferrari sat at the top of the list for much of the interrupted session, then Bouchut nearly matched his morning time with a 1:47.407. Mike Hezemans in trouble? Nah. He went fourth with 15 minutes left, then second, four minutes later – 1:48.097. JC-W set a 1:48.396 in the #1 Lister, followed by three more Vipers. One of these was a Belmondo car, but the other was sidelined by a broken gearbox.

Tim Sugden was fastest in N-GT. EMKA found brake and clutch problems this morning, but the car seems to have benefited from some interesting work over the winter, plus Dunlop tyres. Result, a 1:54.110. The Goueslard Larbre 911 was barely a tenth slower, followed by a pair of Porsches before the JMB Ferrari in fifth – 1:56.024. It may not be terribly quick in a straight line, but it looks very good under braking.

The Wieth and Prinoth Ferraris were both suffering teething troubles.