Beretta on GT pole

Driving for Chrysler Viper Team Oreca, he set a fastest lap of 1:45.344 during the morning qualifying session. The afternoon session, held in bright sunshine and rising temperatures, was generally slower.

Alongside him on the grid will be the team's other car, after a
surprisingly fast lap by Viper novice Jean-Philippe Belloc. "It's very
nice to make your debut in a team like this," said Belloc, who will share
the car with American driver David Donohue.

Although Oreca, last year's dominant GT2 team, has been consistently
fastest this weekend, the field is much closer than before. The customer
Chrysler Vipers have proved themselves to be competitive, with Emmanuel
Clérico's Viper taking third place on the grid for Paul Belmondo Racing .

The Chamberlain Viper, driven by Ni Amorim and former BTCC driver Will
Hoy, finished in fifth. "It's very good to have Will in the team," Amorim said.
"He is very experienced, and is helping a lot with the set-up."

The Lister Storm will start from fourth place on the grid for Sunday's 500
km race. "We changed the car to increase the straight line speed, and it
worked," said,Julian Bailey, who is sharing the car with Tiff Needell and
Bobby Verdon Roe.

The Porsche 911 GT2 cars had a harder time, with Roock Racing struggling
to make up time after the late arrival of the truck carrying their new
cars. Le Mans winner Stéphane Ortelli set the best Porsche time of
1:47.829 to start from eighth.


FIA GT Championship 1999,
Round 1 : 500 km of Monza (Italy)

Ps.No. Driver , Car Lap Time

-- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- --------

1 1 Beretta/Wendlinger Oreca Chrysler Viper GT 1:45.344

2 2 Donohue/Belloc Oreca Chrysler Viper GT 1:45.494

3 22 Clérico/Pillon Belmondo Chrysler Viper GT 1:46.916

4 25 Bailey/Needell/Verdon Lister Lister Storm 1:46.273

5 18 Amorim/Hoy ChamberlainChrysler Viper GT 1:47.342

6 33 Vosse/Dufourney GL PK Chrysler Viper GT 1:47.636

7 10 Euser/Hezemans Marcos Marcos Mantara LM 1:47.716

8 3 Hürtgen/Ortelli Roock Porsche 911 GT2 1:47.829

9 21 Belmondo/Gosselin/Rostan Belmondo Chrysler Viper GT 1:47.937

10 15 Kaufmann/Ligonnet Freisinger Porsche 911 GT2 1:48.546

11 4 Arhlé/Haupt Roock Porsche 911 GT2 1:49.223

12 8 Neugarten/Salvarini Haberthur Porsche 911 GT2 1:49.254

13 19 Glasel/Vann ChamberlainChrysler Viper GT 1:49.449

14 6 Konrad/tba Konrad Porsche 911 GT2 1:50.052

15 29 Sabatini/Spinelli/Villa Autorlando Porsche 911 GT2 1:50.073

16 5 Eschmann/Price/R'son RoockSport Porsche 911 GT2 1:51.375

17 28 Frigerio/Babini/Massa Ebimotors Porsche 911 GT2 1:51.835

18 9 Garbagnati/Bucci/Casadei Haberthur Porsche 911 GT2 1:52.544

19 24 Felbermayer/Felbemayer RWS Porsche 911 GT2 1:52.632

20 78 Mastropietro/Padovani/Sanguiolo Porsche 911 GT2 1:53.228

21 77 Nearn/Palmberger/Smith Seikel Porsche 911 GT2 1:53.251

22 20 Bodis/Barta/Ratkai Bovi Porsche 911 GT2 1:53.429

23 26 Grassi/Munz Tecno Race Porsche 911 GT2 1:53.713

24 69 Ried/Ried/Vuillaume Proton Porsche 911 GT2 1:53.985

25 16 Jurasz/Lintott Freisinger Porsche 911 GT2 1:57.648

26 27 Tamburini/Melgrati Mac Racing Porsche 996 1:57.936