FIA GT Championship

Phoenix Carsport quickest in Monza pre-qualifying

© DPPI

Like the first free practice session earlier today pre-qualifying started on a wet track with rain still coming down. As the session was almost half way it stopped raining and the track started to dry. After eighty minutes it was once again a Phoenix Carsport Corvette on top.

In the first part of the session lap times did not get under two minutes, but after twenty minutes it was Esteban Tuero who took his Ferrari 550 Maranello to a 1:59.811. His lap time would be improved by other drivers not much later and when as the track dried the two minute mark was only out of reach for a handful of GT1 teams. At the end of the session it was the Mike Hezemans who had put the Phoenix Carsport Corvette on top with a 1:58.400. The Maserati MC12 of Andrea Bertolini (Vitaphone Racing Team) was almost four tenths of a second behind Hezemans, with Christophe Bouchut only one tenth of a second behind Bertolini.

Richard Westbrook set the fastest time in GT2. In the Prospeed Porsche, which he shares with Collard, the British driver lapped the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in 2:02.130. This lap time was two-and-a-half seconds quicker than any of his rivals for most of the session. In the final minutes though Paolo Ruberti in the number 77 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 430 GT closed the gap a bit and ended the session one second behind the Prospeed car. Fabio Babini also improved his time in the closing stages of the session. The Italian put the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari in third, almost two seconds away from Westbrook.

The qualifying session for tomorrow’s race will take place later today.

Top three – GT1
Hezemans – 1:58.400
Bertolini – 158797
Bouchut – 1:58.870

Top three – GT2
Westbrook – 2:02.130
Ruberti – 2:03/167
Babini – 2:04.087