TotalMotorSport All the latest Motorsport news, race reports and photographs from around the world. Alms, Touring Cars, Formula One & Le Mans 24 Hours

Monza Tests

lineltex

08/03/2001

Monza Test And Media Days

Thursday

A dismal morning at the old Autodromo; very overcast with a light drizzle keeping the track moist. That’s the old banking, which looks particularly sinister in this sort of weather.

The #1 Lister Storm was fastest in the first session with a 2:01.780, over a second quicker than the Larbre Viper, which had the Hezemans Viper within a tenth. Tim Sugden was again fastest in N-GT on 2:06.611.

Freisinger’s #59 GT3R had a moment and damaged the front end, with either Fomenko or Vassiliev at the wheel. We haven’t seen Ortelli here, although he was listed in this car. The session Was Stopped early after Didier de Fourny went off at one of the Lesmos in the #10 Belmondo Viper. He clipped the left rear, then damaged the front as he spun.

The other car, #10, which had been in gearbox trouble yesterday, was running a Ricardo sequential gearbox. This has been changed back to a conventional H pattern unit. It turns out that the Hezemans Viper is also running the Ricardo sequential ‘box. Mike Hezemans is seen explaining to the RTL TV crew that his heavily revised Carsport Viper is fast, but he hasn’t got in as many laps as he would have hoped for. The revised layout of the radiators can also be seen.

Tom Coronel has completed his first laps in the Lister. He managed a few late on yesterday, then some more in the wet this morning. “The Viper is much softer, it has more roll in the corners. It also has more torque than the Lister, but the V12 has higher power. This car (the Lister) is more like a racing car.” How else is it different? “Well, I’m sitting on the right. I went to change gear with my right hand.”

Tom will miss Brno and the Nurburgring because of his Touring Car commitments.

So how did the Tom Coronel signing come about, Laurence Pearce? “I talked to Tom at Magny-Cours last year. We talked over the winter. The level of competition – Naspetti, Schiattarella, Bouchut etc – is such that with Ian McKellar not knowing the tracks and not having international experience, I decided for this year to let him lead our first works supported customer team. He can get all the right experience this year, ready for when he joins us in the lead car in 2002.”

That works supported team is called Tech 9 Lister Storm Racing, not the name mentioned yesterday.

Laurence Pearce has some very exciting news for 2002, but that news is embargoed for a day or so.

Back to today’s action. Was Tim Sugden happy with being quickest in the last two sessions? No not really. “We don’t really know what the rest are doing. We only used one set of tyres yesterday, so when I got in the car, they’d already done 20 laps or so. It was nice to be quickest on tyres that weren’t fresh, but really we haven’t got a good balance on the car. The springs and dampers seem to be fighting each other.” Without a back to back test, he felt he couldn’t compare this year’s Dunlops with last year’s Pirellis, but he seems happy enough with the prospect of different rubber this year.

Sugden was fastest again (in N-GT) in the wet this morning. “The car felt like it was steering itself. They found something loose at the back, which was a worn ball joint. I stayed with it to set a time. That lap was deceptive. It was my first quick lap in the wet, and I thought it would be a 2:09. It was a 2:06.6, so that was good.”

EMKA are packing up now, as they have changes to make to the car, which they can’t tackle here. They’ll be testing in the UK before the season starts back at Monza next month.

TotalMotorSport will miss the last GT session, as editorial tasks are calling. Times from the last session this afternoon will be available tomorrow.