ILMC 2011 – Round 5 – 6 Hours of Silverstone

Ferrari all conquering at Silverstone to take Le Mans Series title

Posted: 11.09.2011
Source: Ferrari

Maranello, 11 September – Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni took their 458 Italia GT2 to victory in the Silverstone 6 Hours, today at the Northamptonshire circuit. The thrilling endurance race was the fourth round of the Le Mans Series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the crew took top honours in the GTE PRO category. The victory was enough to ensure that the AF Corse team and the formidable duo have been crowned series champions with one race in hand. Having started from a lowly eighth on the grid, the Italians staged an amazing climb up the order, all the way to the top step of the podium. “Today’s result is down to a great strategy from the team which made less pit stops compared to other teams in the race and the skill of the drivers, as well as the quality of the 458 Italia GT2,” said Antonello Coletta, the head of Ferrari Corse Clienti. “It is very satisfying for us to see our car secure such an important result in its debut season in these most prestigious championships. Our next challenge is the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which also sees a Ferrari in the lead and we will have to do our utmost to repeat our excellent result from 2010.”

Fisichella was delighted with what he and Bruni achieved after a difficult start. “The outcome of qualifying did not affect our expectations, as we knew we could do well and that’s how it worked out. The team did an exceptional job, as usual in fact, and this victory proves it,” he said after the race. The race that featured no less than seven Ferraris also ended with a good result for the Luxury Racing Ferrari, which finished second in the GTE PRO category crewed by Stephane Ortelli and Frederic Makowiecki, while third in class in the GTeam was the F430 GTC of Pierre Ehret-Shaun Lynn for CRS Racing. The next round of the Le Mans Series takes place at Portimao on 25 September and the following weekend, the Maranello cars will be tackling the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on the American Le Mans Series calendar which also counts towards the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

ILMC – Ferrari qualify third at Silverstone

Posted: 10.09.2011
Source: Ferrari

Maranello, 10 September – The highest placed Ferrari came third in qualifying today for the Silverstone 6 Hours, which gets underway tomorrow at 11.35 at the Northants track. This is round four of the Le Mans Series and the International Le Mans Cup and no less than seven Ferraris are entered in the GTE PRO category, which saw pole go to the BMW M3 of Augusto Farfus – Jörg Müller (2.01.768) followed by Andy Priaulx – Uwe Alzen (2’02.096), ahead of the 458 Italia run by AF Corse (2.02.744) and driven by Jaime Melo and Toni Vilander. The other Ferrari run by AF Corse is only eighth in class, in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni (2.02.971.) “It was a shame we were unable to get the best out of the tyres, because we had the pace to finish further up the grid,” said Fisichella after the session. “We worked a lot on the balance of the car and now we hope to have more luck tomorrow, and it would be good if it did not rain, given the extreme unpredictability of the English weather.”