Monza Eurosport Super Racing Weekends 01/04/2001   Friday Comments   Franco Tedeschi chased around the Paddock and elicited these comments and conclusions on the first day of the 2001 FIA GT Championship. Morning session The morning session was held in the rain. Not all the cars were on the track, but at least one car for each team. The Larbre Viper, the Belmondo no.10 Viper, the Lister no.2, the Rafanelli Ferrari no.6 and the no.1 Lister were the top six. Times were not particularly significant. Tom Coronel hadn’t had a stint yet because of the rainy weather. He told me that he was going to drive only on Saturday. Gabriele Sabatini, driver of one of the two Porsche 911 GT2 (the car wears an aggressive all silver livery), was satisfied with the 11th class place (16th overall). I asked him if the car has had some evolutions. Sabatini told me that the car has new front aerodynamics and revised aerodynamics under the car. The engine is the latest Porsche evolution, with some more power. About the season’s target? Sabatini said: “Last year we were every time between the 8th and the 10th grid position, so this year we will try to improve, but considering that there are nineVipers, it will be difficult.” Have you pushed hard? “No, only a shake down.” I have asked if the Team Owner Orlando Redolfi (definitely a magician; Toyota engineers come to Italy from Japan to try to unveil the secrets of his rally Celicas) is preparing a Turbocharged Porsche GT3 for the FIA GT. Sabatini told me that Redolfi has already built the Twin Turbo version of the GT3, but only for road use. The AutoOrlando team runs also a Porsche GT3, in the N-GT class, driven by the touring car living legend Johnny Cecotto, and Philipp Peter. Peter set a fourth class time (11th overall), and he told me that he set his best time at the start of the practice, with the track not too wet. Peter continued: “The car is a bit soft into the corners but we will try to fix this problem.” Have you pushed? “I always push, is the best way to see if the cars has any problem, so I’ve driven at 95% of the limit.” His team mate Cecotto has completed only a few laps, because the track was too wet and oily in the last minutes of the first practice. Tim Sugden set the second best class time (8th overall). “I’ve done a good time, but it is possible to improve, because we are trying many different details on the car. I’ve also made a mistake (for the first time in five years), putting a wheel on a kerb, and spinning.” Are you happier with the car than the in the tests on the 7/8 March? “Yes, the car really is much better.” Afternoon session From the 2 p.m. to the 3 p.m. the rain ceased and a Formula Renault practice session nearly dried the track. But, with the start of the second GT session returned the rain, but, this time, a light rain. So the first cars entering he track began to set times some tenths lower than in the morning. The rain lasted for the first hour of the practice session, and the last half hour saw a real battle between the best teams, on a drying track. So the top two N-GT position have gone to the two Porsches equipped with Pirelli intermediates tyres: the no.54 ART Engineering driven by Moccia / Babini (10th overall) and the no.69 AutOrlando car (12th overall). Third is the EMKA Porsche and fourth the no.51 Larbre car. In the GT class, Lister no.1 rules with a time faster than the next car by over a second. Behind them, we find four cars separated by two tenths: the Larbre Viper, the no.6 Rafanelli Ferrari, the no.3 Carsport Viper and the other Rafanelli car. More than a second behind we find the best Belmondo car (the no.10), the Racing box Viper, the GLPK Viper, and the no.11 Belmondo Viper. No significant times from both the JMB Ferraris, but the efforts of the Rafanelli 550s more than make up for any lack of success in N-GT. Steve O’Rourke cannot talk with me because he has just lost his wallet with all his documents! N.1 Lister – Tom Coronel Despite what he said to me this morning, he drove in the afternoon. “For me this has been the first time out, since I haven’t driven this morning. We had some little problems but now is all OK. We set the best time but I can’t say if we are “the fastest”, because we don’t know the tactics of our rivals. Driving with the rain has been a bit difficult because when you drive you see the rain fall but you cannot understand how much the rain is.” N.7 Larbre Viper – Jean Philippe Belloc “We have first worked to improve the handling, and we have run with the race set-up. In our best lap there was some traffic. Now, we wait to see tomorrow’s weather. If, as all think, tomorrow will be dry, we have to forget all and restart from zero.” N.3 Carsport Viper – Jeroen Bleekemolen “I’m going well enough. We had an engine problem in the morning, but in the afternoon it was all good. I’m spending the time to learn the car and the circuit. If tomorrow there is the same weather, we can be in the top five. If it is dry, I can’t say.” N.4 Carsport Viper – Michael Bleekemolen “We have an electronic problem, so we haven’t run in the second practice. We hope to fix it before tomorrow.” N.5 Rafanelli Ferrari 550 – Emanuele Naspetti “We have some electronic problem and a difficult braking set-up for the rain, but so far we can be happy. With the dry the speeds will change and for us may be better.” N.5 Rafanelli Ferrari 550 – Mimmo Schiattarella “The difficult rain set up of the brakes is not a big problem, but with the rain it is always difficult to find the right balance. The biggest problem has been the non regular work of the engine in low revs, so it is difficult exiting from the chicanes. We will try to repair this problem.” N.10 Belmondo Lister – Anthony Kumpen “This morning we have done the 2nd best time. In the afternoon we went too far every time we braked. Anyway I’m confident, I don’t know how quick we can be with the dry, but with the wet I can improve (two seconds) and we can be in the front. We have a good set-up.” N.54 ART Engineering Porsche GT3 – Luigi Moccia “Is really all OK. We have only to fit better gearbox ratios, but the rest is OK. For tomorrow we hope to be into the top three to do the Super Pole.” N. 69 AutOrlando Porsche GT3 – Philippe Peter “The Pirelli intermediate helped us when the track began to dry. We lack some power and top speed. We have resolved the softness of the car and now we have even a bit of understeer. With the dry we won’t probably be so good.” Franco Tedeschi Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport