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

<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">FIA SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">05/04/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Barcelona </FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Latest</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">Sam Smith forwards this news from testing at Barcelona today, prior to the first round of the FIA Sportscar Championship.<BR> <BR> Only a handful of the 24 car grid went out on to the track today but tomorrow there promises to be the full quota of cars as some are still in transit from their workshops.<BR> <BR> The quickest time of the day went to the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari of Christian Pescatori and Marco Zadra. Both drivers completed the most mileage of the day and 'Pesca' peaked with a 1m34.00s. That was a full second faster than the Ascari of Collins and Lupberger who treated the day as a tyre test, with a switch from Goodyears to Avon during the second of the three one hour sessions. Werner set a 1m35.13s, but at no stage were the team going for times.<BR> <BR> Lupberger confirmed that the car had benefited greatly from a busy winter test programme; "It really has made the difference ironing out all the little problems we had last year and now we can find the limit of the car without worrying about reliability issues. We have been on all the different tyres (Goodyear,Michelin and Pirelli) since we started the programme and it was interesting to try the Avons as well today."<BR> <BR> Avon will be supplying both Ascari and the new Racing For Holland Dome team this weekend and sales executive Rob Meaton was confident that all their hard work over the past six weeks will come to fruition on their SR1 debut; "We've got 5 different compounds here, as well as intermediates, wets and monsoons so we're well prepared for our attack on SR1."<BR> <BR> Apart from the second Scuderia Italia Ferrari of Angelo Zadra, Enzo Calderari and Lilian Bryner, the only other SR1s on the track today were the new Reynard 01Q of Redman Bright's Mark Smithson and Peter Owen. Team boss John Bright was satisfied with the early developments of the car; "We are just playing ourselves in gently at the moment and the drivers are still settling in to the car. We just tried to find a rough set up today and will go for more detail tomorrow."<BR> <BR> A leaner Peter Owen had a big smile on his face after alighting from his first stint this morning and waxed lyrical about the car's stopping power with the implementation of carbon Brakes for 2001. Mark Smithson did the majority of the running in the afternoon and set a best of 1m41.98s.<BR> <BR> R&M had a frustrating day with their Riley & Scott Judd and it was a glum Gary Formato who strode back to the pits after an ECU failure in the morning session;"It was a shame as we really wanted to get a good balance today but we had a few little problems that have put us behind a bit. But last year we arrived at the race on the Friday evening and still managed to finish 3rd in the race, so hopefully it will be a similar arrangement this year."<BR> <BR> Both the Den Bla Avis and the Racing For Holland Domes arrived at the track this evening and attracted an inquisitive crowd as they were unloaded from the transporters. The RFH car, still in its 'naked' carbon attire, had come straight from a shakedown at Zandvoort and Jan Lammers and Val Hillebrand will be joined by ex-F3 front runner, Donny Crevels.<BR> <BR> Pescarolo and Kremer are due at the circuit tonight, whilst sadly the Tampolli Engineering 333SP has had to be withdrawn.<BR> <BR> In SR2, there were only four runners today, with the Rowan Racing Pilbeam, the Schroder Pilbeam, the PiR Debora and the Rapier 6 taking to the track. Warren Carway did all but six laps of the driving for Rowan, the County Wicklow born racer have nothing of consequence to report apart from accosting yours truly for giving him a British nationality on the entry list!!<BR> <BR> Team Sovereign had a disaster towards the end of the session when the blood red Rapier 6 suffered a suspension failure on the descent to the final corner. Team owner / driver Mike Millard doing well to bring the car to a halt without hitting anything. The team are working throughout the evening to find the cause of the breakage but Millard is confident of continuing testing tomorrow morning.<BR> <BR> Apart from a gentle rotation by Mark Peters in the Schroder Pilbeam that was all the action on the first day of the new FIA Sportscar Championship. Tomorrow is set to answer more questions as the GLV Fudd, the two Domes, the C60 and the Kremer (with new boy Sam Hancock at the wheel) hit the track.<BR> <BR> <BR> STOP PRESS:<BR> <BR> Just met Jean Marc Gounon at the track. The former Mercedes and BMW works driver stopped off after holidaying in Ibiza, and is still on the look out for a deal in sportscars this year, particularly for Le Mans; "Apart from the Porsche Supercup and maybe some Super Touring races I have no firm plans for Le Mans. Of course I am talking to many teams and I hope to get in to a prototype for the race."<BR> <BR> After winning four races in 1999 with the DAMS Lola, J-MG was relishing being in the paddock again. "It's great to see some old friends again. I loved racing in this championship (as SRWC) in '99, it has a great ambience and the racing is always close with a variety of cars going for the win. This year looks wide open at the moment, with good new cars like the Dome, which I must say looks absolutely fantastic."<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>