FIA GT Championship

Test days at Monza: Maserati and Ferrari share honours

The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza was the location for the two-day official test for the cars taking part in this year’s FIA GT Championship. With the weather staying fine and dry until the very last session on Wednesday, the teams were able to get plenty of testing, and the extremely close times around the fast circuit bode well for the season ahead. The rain then came down for the sixth and final track session.

© Francois Flamand

Vitaphone ran its two Maserati MC 12 cars, up against the Ferrari 550 cars of Russian Age Racing and Czech team Menx, one Ferrari 575 M Maranello from GPC Sport and two from Swiss team Loris Kessel. Reiter Engineering’s Lamborghini Murciélago was in the hands of Norman Simon, while the Lister Storm was an early casualty with engine problems. In GT2, GruppeM Racing ran both their Porsche 996 GT3-RS cars in their new livery, while other Porsches were entered by British GT frontrunner Embassy Racing, Machanek Racing from Slovenia, ARC from Slovakia and Italian teams AB Motors-port and Autorlando. Balfe Motorsport entered its G2 class Mosler.

On the Tuesday, times gradually dropped during some extremely close sessions. Vitaphone’s Maserati MC 12 cars led the first two, with Christophe Bouchut in the Russian Age Racing Ferrari setting the best time of the day in the final session, with a lap of 1:45.187, one tenth of a second ahead of the nr 10 Maserati. In GT2, the nr 66 Grup-peM Porsche of Lieb and Rockenfeller was fastest, with a time of 1:50.449.

During Wednesday, Vitaphone brought down the barriers again, with a lap of 1:44.596 in the first session. Menx set the best time during the second session of the day, with a time of 1:45.316 for Tomas Enge. GruppeM also improved on its time, with a lap of 1:50.138 for the nr 66 car, one tenth ahead of the nr 88. Embassy Racing was third in the GT2 class. Full results, as well as photos, can be found on the web site.

Tuesday - Top ten times from the three test sessions

Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:45.187
Vitaphone Racing Maserati MC 12 1:45.288
Vitaphone Racing Maserati MC 12 1:45.399
Menx Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:45.619
Loris Kessel Ferrari 575 Maranello 1:45.980
Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Murciélago 1:47.240
GPC Sport Ferrari 575 Maranello 1:48.183
GruppeM Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:50.449
GruppeM Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:50.624
Autorlando Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:53.732
Embassy Racing Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:54.778

Wednesday - Top ten times from the three test sessions

Vitaphone RacingMaserati MC 121:44.596
Menx Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:45.316
Vitaphone RacingMaserati MC 12 1:45.522
Loris Kessel Ferrari 575 Maranello 1:45.700
Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello 1:45.829
Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Murciélago 1:46.884
GPC Sport Ferrari 575 Maranello 1:48.673
GruppeM Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:50.138
GruppeM Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:50.239
Loris Kessel Ferrari 575 Maranello 1:51.181
Embassy Racing Porsche 996 GT3 RS 1:52.722