Monza - 22/04/2001   Monza Conclusions   Franco Tedeschi draws some conclusions from a fascinating and eventful weekend. The Dome weekend has been highly impressive. John Nielsen had a largely impressive meeting, but I’m sorry for his retirement in a race which saw three-in-a-row wins in 95BPR / 96BPR / 97 1000 KM for him. Jan Lammers really demonstrated how good this car is. The Racing For Holland team couldn’t test the car on Friday, so they didn't run until Saturday morning, in the rain and with really low temperatures. The half hour of qualifying was the first real dry test on a fast circuit for this car and they eventually managed to set the third best time. Even more surprising, Dome engineers were a bit disappointed at not being at the top. The Japanese will to win is impressive and the Chief engineer of Dome, trying to understand what was happening on the car, had icy eyes. The two Dome cars continued to show impressive speed during the race. Despite the fact that Lammers told me on Saturday that they were going to do an absolutely conservative race, they matched the times of the Courage in the early stages of the race, and they lowered their pace only after being sure that the car can stay with the front of the field. Eventually they took a third place, which was an entirely deserved result. Another surprise has been the Reynard. They didn't complete a lap on Saturday morning (broken rear wing in the first lap out of the pits), but in qualifying they had the pole position. A strong race for them, but a bit unlucky. Is too easy to say it now, but this year the SR1 Reynard is totally different from the last year’s car, and next season it will surely get the trust of one or more other teams. The Ascari had a great race, being the car that challenged the Courage for the longest period. Considering that they have had problems in shorter races, this result is a reward for their commitment and an important performance leading up to Le Mans. Lavaggi took another win in a classic race - after his 1995 Daytona win. They had a frustrating Friday and an even worse Saturday. Friday they didn’t run a single lap because of a problem with the oil pump. Saturday morning they had a poor 11th time, while in qualifying they exited the pits with a sick car - only to recover and take the start on Sunday. During the night, Lavaggi exploited his (own) engineering experience to define a blind car setup. In the race they were the fastest. The top speed was the same as the other Judd equipped cars, but in the corners the Ferrari chassis demonstrated that it is still the BEST! The determination of Lavaggi, his team mate and the entire team, saw the miracle result come true. The Pescarolo team is the best shape and I hope this race convinced their sponsors to back them for the entire SCC season. They deserve such a chance. BMS didn’t get points on this race, but they are still in the top position in the drivers championship. Considering that this was the circuit which least suits the characteristics of their car, the balance could have been even worst. The Championship looks as though it is going to be very hard fought now, since almost all the top cars have the same engine and, most important, this engine lasts for the entire race. Many people think that this championship is composed of old cars, so the ALMS must be better. This was true last year but now the battle is between all new cars. The R&S and Ferraris, as we know them, are going to almost completely “disappear” within one or two races. Why? The Conrero R&S is a major evolution and also the bodywork is pretty different from the usual. The Baldi R&S is going to be replaced by a new model designed by Giorgio Stirano - maybe by the fourth championship race. The GLV and BMS Ferraris are going to receive a Lola B2K concept bodywork and a revised cooling system. Within two races, all the field will be completely different from last year’s. Then the only difference between SCC and ALMS will be the works teams, but after such a thrilling race, I can say that I prefer to see another 1000 Km the next year without Joest Audis. Needless to say, if Audi or Chrysler or whoever decides to sell cars under the SCC price-cap I’ll be the happiest for such a wise decision. In the GT class, at least Porsche demonstrated how reliable are their cars....Having a better GT class was difficult indeed, considering that the race wasn’t awarding points for any GT championship. The ELMS and the FIA-GT had a race just a week before, the Euro GT and the Grand Am had an event the same day, and the Italian GT championship is going to start only on the 6th of May, so all the interesting cars which this year will compete (Skylines, Corvettes, Callaways, Exiges, Tuscans, Vipers, etc.) are still in build in respective teams' garages. However the battle for Overall Victory left little time to track the battle for the GT class. In ALMS, after betting with the bookmakers that the entire podium will be composed of Audis, you have all the time to enjoy the GT race............ Franco Tedeschi Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport