FIA GT Championship

All the latest about the Dubai FIA GT race

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Next weekend’s MotorCity GT 500 will be the final race of the 2006 FIA GT season. Most regular FIA GT teams have shipped their cars to Dubai and are ready to run the 500 kilometers on Saturday. Spyker Squadron and Larbre Competition, both Le Mans Series regulars, are joining the field which will see the return of some familiar names and also the -unexpected- absence of some others.

© Planetlemans

Driver change at AF Corse : Vilander to replace Bobbi

2006 GT2 Teams Champions AF Corse have announced that driver Matteo Bobbi will be replaced by Toni Vilander for the final race of the season. This comes as a consequence of an incident towards the end of the race in Adria, when the nr 58 Ferrari 430 GT2 collided with the team’s second car.

The two drivers of the nr 58, Bobbi and Jaime Melo, had secured the title jointly, but this decision means that as long as Melo finishes in the points in Dubai, the Brazilian would win the Championship alone. “The first rule of racing is that you don’t collide with your team-mate,” Mika Salo commented. Finnish driver Vilander first drove in the FIA GT Championship at Mugello. Qualifying third in the Scuderia Playteam Maserati MC 12, he put in a stunning performance to lead the race in the rain throughout his stint, although unfortunately the car did not go on to finish.

Larbre Competition to run with Care Racing Development engine

Larbre Competition, who won the 2005 title with Gabriele Gardel and a Ferrari 550 Maranello, will be returning to the Championship for the Dubai race.

The nr 3 Ferrari 550 Maranello will be fitted with the new Care Racing Development engine, and the entry has been accepted, with certain conditions, so that the FIA Technical department can assess the performance characteristics of the engine for possible future use by entrants in the series.

The engine offers the same power and track performance as a standard GT1 engine but is able to run with no restrictors fitted as power is controlled electronically. Championship organisers will be able to set and regulate the power output themselves, in co-operation with the engine manufacturers.

The engine, developed by Care Racing’s long-time technical partner, Prodrive, will be available to Care Racing’s customers in 2007 and have an extended ‘life’, the time between re-builds being considerably longer than the current 4,500 kilometres.
Care Racing’s Frederic Dor was pleased with the first demonstration of the evolution engine “The costs of competing in GT racing, as in all areas of motor sport, continue to rise and, as a company providing a customer based service, we have been working hard to find ways to reduce technical and operating costs for our customers. I believe this is a significant step towards lowering budgets, and I very much hope the FFSA, FIA and ACO will be able to support the initiative for 2007 and beyond.”

The driver line-up for Dubai will include Steve Zacchia and Frédéric Makowiecki, both seen in the FIA GT3 European Championship this season, and 2005 FIA GT Champion Gabriele Gardel. Gardel has won the last two FIA GT races to be held at Dubai, so he has plenty of experience at the track. “It’s nice to be back and to be involved with a project like this,” he said. “I’m proud to be coming back. This year, however, the aim is to show you can have a quick car without spending lots of money. The car is really good, and can still be competitive.”{mospagebreak }Rockenfeller replaces Riccitelli in Ebimotors Porsche

A driver change at Ebimotors sees 2005 GT2 Champion Mike Rockenfeller return for the last race of the season. German driver Rockenfeller was part of the all-victorious GruppeM team last season, winning five races including the GT2 category at the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa.Rockenfeller will share the nr 75 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR with Emmanuel Collard, one of his GruppeM team-mates last year. In 2005, Rockenfeller and Lieb failed to finish the Dubai race - their only non-finish all year. As for Luca Riccitelli, the Italian is sad to miss the race - but his second child should be born any time now, and that is an event he does not intend to miss.

Van de Poele and Vosse join Vitaphone regulars for final race of 2006

Having sealed the GT1 Teams title in Budapest, and the Drivers title in Adria, Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels can go to Dubai without any pressure. However, they have no plans on taking things easy ! “This is my third time in Dubai,” Michael Bartels explained. “We were fourth in 2004 with the Saleen, but third in GT1 due to the Maserati, then second last year with the Maserati. So this year I will aim to win, to make it three-two-one !”

However, their task will be made slightly more complicated by having three drivers in each car. “We took the opportunity to give something back to our Spa drivers,” Michael carried on. Eric van de Poele will therefore be back in the nr 1 Maserati MC 12, with Vincent Vosse in the nr 2 with Thomas Biagi and Jamie Davies. “They will take time to get used to the cars again, so we’ll have to see what is possible.”

The battle is not over for the nr 2 car, which is still in contention for second place. “They have a good possibility to improve in the rankings, and we will help them to reach the best position possible,” Bartels continued. “We will have a lot of guests from Germany and Belgium, and I am really looking forward to the race. We’ll do our best to finish in style.”
Malucelli rejoins Aston Martin Racing

Matteo Malucelli put in an excellent performance in Budapest, when he shared the nr 23 Aston Martin DBR9 with Fabio Babini, finishing in third place overall. This was the team’s best result since Brno, early in the season. For the final race of the season, Malucelli will rejoin the nr 23 car to hopefully give the team another podium in order to finish the season with a good result. The second car will be in the hands of Fabrizio Gollin and Miguel Ramos. The team will also enter two DBRS9 cars, making for a busy weekend for Aston Martin Racing BMS.

Phoenix Racing aims for second place

Contrary to some announcements in the press, Phoenix Racing will attend the final race of the 2006 season, with Andrea Piccini and Jean-Denis Deletraz aiming to regain second place in the GT1 Drivers Classification. The nr 5 Aston Martin DBR9 will have no penalty weight, compared to their main rivals in the GT1 category.

Garbagnati to race with JMB

Andrea Garbagnati, a regular with JMB Racing in previous seasons, will be back for the Dubai race, sharing the nr 56 JMB GruppeM Ferrari 430 GT2 with Peter Kutemann. The team’s second car will be in the hands of Tim Sugden and Iradj Alexander, as usual. The duo inherited third place in Adria, and therefore have 10 kg
penalty weight for this final race.

G3 for BMS Scuderia Italia and JMB Racing

Three cars will race in the G3 category in Dubai. BMS Scuderia Italia will enter two Aston Martin DBRS9 cars, with Sergey Zlobin, Luca Pirri and Roberto Benucci in the nr 115 car and FIA GT3 regulars and Budapest race winners Franco Groppi and Toni Seiler in the nr 133. JMB Racing will enter the nr 122 Ferrari 430 Challenge
GT3 car for Nicolas Comar, Philippe Rambeaud and Michel Mhitarian. The JMB car last raced in the Paul Ricard event, in August, when it failed to finish.

_{(credit: FIA GT)}