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 2006/apr/09 - dnf OA dnf GT2 - 1000 km  Istanbul - Jesús Diez de Villarroel (E) / Peter Sundberg (S) / Domingo Romero (E) - #84
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LMES Round 1 - Istanbul - Ferrari F430 GT scores international maiden win


Istanbul, Turkey, 2006, April 9th

Ferrari F430 GT scores international maiden win - Icer Brakes Ferrari 430 qualified on pole position
It took just two races for Ferrari’s 430 GT Berlinetta to score its maiden international GT2 victory, when Fabrizio de Simone, Gabrio Rosa and Luca Drudi won the shortened opening round of the Le Mans Series in Istanbul at the weekend. The Team Icer Brakes Ferrari 430 qualified on pole position in the hands of Peter Sundberg, but it was Gian Paulo Coppi’s GPC Sport team which took the victory at the end of the four-hour race.

Teams were left stunned by the news that fuel supplier Shell, official supplier to Le Mans and the Le Mans Series, had not delivered enough fuel for the 36 cars to complete the 1000km race, or six hours, whichever came first. The shortage was discovered on Sunday morning, and was announced to teams mid-race. Strategies were disrupted and both teams and drivers were left furious. “We just know that we did not have enough fuel,” said an embarrassed series organiser Patrick Peter. “We are 8,000 litres short, we discovered this morning, very late. We have to reduce the time of the race to four hours.

The race did not start perfectly for the Ferrari teams as Jesus Villarroel, driving the Team Icer Brakes Ferrari on a damp track, was hit by a faster prototype which forced the car to retire before the end of the first hour with just 23 laps completed. British driver Ian Khan also lost time early in the race due to a problem generating heat in the tyres, and he described the opening ten laps as “the worst of my life. It was impossible to drive when the tyres were cold, but once they had come up to temperature, I got onto the back of the leaders and was able to follow them,” he said. “The car is really easy to drive, even for me, and we were triple stinting the tyres, which was fantastic.”

The Czech team Convers MenX finished second in the GT1 category, Peter Kox, Robert Pergl and Alexey Vasiliev ending their race a lap down on the winning Aston Martin in the Ferrari 550 Maranello. The team has a new 550 chassis, and Vasiliev in particular was delighted with the new car. “The car is much better than last year,” said the Russian, who drove for the Cirtek Motorsport team in 2005. “It is because it is a new car, but the body is much stiffer and I can use 50 per cent more throttle through the corners. I can now understand why the others were just so fast last year!” Team owner Robert Pergl added: “We have some things to improve on the car and so we are looking forward to the next event.”

Overall, the Istanbul race was a great success for Henri Pescarolo’s team as Emmanuel Collard and Jean-Christophe Boullion finished six laps clear of the second placed team, the Barazi Epsilon Courage C65 which also won the LMP2 category. The race gave an indication of what to expect at Le Mans in June, and expectations are that both the, Ferrari 550 and 430 will be contenders for class wins.



1 PESCAROLO SPORT

F 17 Pescarolo C60 - Judd 10 10

2 LISTER STORM RACING

GB 6 Lister Storm Hybrid 8 8

3 CHAMBERLAIN SYNERGY MOTORSPORT

GB 19 Lola B06/10 - AER 6 6

* SWISS SPIRIT

CH 5 Courage LC70 - Judd * *

* CREATION AUTOSPORTIF

GB 9 Creation - Judd * *

* COURAGE COMPETITION

F 13 Courage LC70 - Mugen * *

* RACING FOR HOLLAND*

NL 14 Dome - Mugen * *

"LM" P2
POS TEAM NAT N° CAR ISTANBUL SPA NURBURGRING DONINGTON XXXX TOTAL

1 BARAZI - EPSILON

F 32 Courage C65 - AER 10 10

2 PIERRE BRUNEAU

F 20 Pilbeam - Judd 8 8

3 G-FORCE

B 35 Courage C65 - Judd 6 6

4 PAUL BELMONDO RACING

F 37 Courage C65 - Ford 5 5

5 PAUL BELMONDO RACING

F 36 Courage C65 - Ford 4 4

6 RML

GB 25 MG Lola EX 264 3 3

* ROLLCENTRE RACING

GB 22 Radical SR9 - Judd * *

* RANDACCIO RANIERI

I 28 Lucchini "LM"P2 * *

"LM" GT1
POS TEAM NAT N° CAR ISTANBUL SPA NURBURGRING DONINGTON XXXX TOTAL

1 ASTON MARTIN RACING LARBRE

F 50 Aston Martin DBR 9 10 10

2 CONVERS MENX TEAM

RUS 67 Ferrari 550 Maranello 8 8

3 LUC ALPHAND AVENTURES

F 72 Corvette C5-R 6 6

4 CIRTEK MOTORSPORT

GB 61 Aston Martin DBR 9 5 5

5 CIRTEK MOTORSPORT

GB 62 Aston Martin DBR 9 4 4

/ B-RACING RS LINE TEAM

D 51 Lamborghini Murcielago / /

* PSI EXPERIENCE

B 70 Corvette C6-R * *

"LM" GT2
POS TEAM NAT N° ISTANBUL SPA NURBURGRING DONINGTON XXXX TOTAL

1 GPC SPORT

I 97 Ferrari F430 GT 10 10

2 AUTORLANDO SPORT

I 76 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 8 8

3 TEAM LNT

GB 82 Panoz Esperante GTLM 6 6

4 IMSA PERFORMANCE MATMUT

F 92 Porsche 996 RSR 5 5

5 SPYKER SQUADRON

NL 85 Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R 4 4

6 FARNBACHER RACING

D 90 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 3 3

7 SPYKER SQUADRON

NL 86 Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R 2 2

8 VIRGO MOTORSPORT

GB 99 Ferrari F430 GT 1 1

ICE POL RACING TEAM

B 73 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 0 0

THIERRY PERRIER

F 75 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 0 0

SEIKEL MOTORSPORT

D 77 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 0 0

AUTORLANDO SPORT

I 78 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR 0 0

* FARNBACHER RACING

D 80 Porsche 996 GT3 RSR * *

* TEAM LNT

GB 81 Panoz Esperante GTLM * *

* TEAM ICER BRAKES

E 84 Ferrari F430 GT * *

"*" : not classified
"/" : Did not race


Ferrari F430 GT s/n 2408
Ferrari F430 GT s/n 2410
Ferrari F430 GT s/n 2402
Ferrari F430 GT s/n 2402
Ferrari F430 GT s/n 2408
Ferrari F430 GT s/n 2402
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