Downpour hits first practice for Monza classic

The restoration to the international calendar of one of Europe's most historic sportscar endurance events has attracted a 30-car grid, which is bolstered by the addition of a handful of GT cars alongside the usual SR1 and SR2 class prototypes.

Although heavy rain has been a feature of the day, the circuit was dry for the first minutes of the SR1 prototypes' session, allowing the first car to venture a flying lap, the Redman Bright Reynard-Judd of Mark Smithson, to top the times by a margin.

More representative form once the rain had resumed resulted in 1990 Monza 1000Km winner Mauro Baldi setting the best time in the R&M Racing Riley & Scott. The former Le Mans winner set a best time of 1m53.42s as the teams got to work setting their cars up for the circuit's long straights and chicanes, before handing over to new team-mate Ivan Capelli for the former Ferrari Grand Prix driver to familiarise himself with the car.

"Things are going okay, a lot better than in Barcelona two weeks' ago when we really struggled," said Baldi. "We've solved a small misfire, and the car seems well balanced. Ivan then got to grips with it well."

Next up was Sebastien Bourdais in the Pescarolo Sport Courage-Peugeot, ahead of Barcelona winners Christian Pescatori and Marco Zadra's BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP, in which they joined this weekend by Frenchman Jean-Marc Gounon.

Only two of the 11 SR1s failed to hit the track, as Jan Lammers' Dome-Judd and Conrero's Ford-powered Riley & Scott were still receiving final preparations, while Giovanni Lavaggi's Judd-powered Ferrari lost oil pressure on its out lap.

Missing from the expected entry list are Konrad Motorsport's Lola-Ford, the second Conrero R&S and Gianluca Giraudi's Ferrari 333SP.

The SR2 class' dryer hour-long session was topped by Italian Denny Zardo's works Lucchini ahead of the Swara Racing Pilbeam of Simon Wiseman, who is joined this weekend by National Supersports champion Michael Mallock, making his debut in international sportscars.


1 Smithson/Owen/Smith Redman Bright Reynard-Judd 01Q 1m47.157s
2 Baldi/Capelli R&M Riley & Scott-Judd MkIII 1m53.421s
3 Bourdais/Boullion/Redon Pescarolo Courage-Peugeot C60 1m54.806s
4 Pescatori/Gounon/Zadra M Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP 1m55.335s
5 De Radigues/Formato/Hancock Kremer Lola-Ford B98/10 1m55.765s
6 Nielsen/Katoh RN Motorsport Dome-Judd S101 1m56.322s
7 Calderari/Bryner/Zadra A Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP 1m56.654s
8 Lupberger/Collins Team Ascari Ascari-Judd A410 2m00.902s
9 Lavaggi/Vann GVL Ferrari-Judd 333SP no time
10 Lammers/Hillebrand Racing for Holland Dome-Judd S101 no time
11 Chiesa/Caffi/Lancelotti Conrero Riley & Scott-Ford MkIII no time


1 Zardo/Prospero Lucchini Eng. Lucchini-Alfa 1m51.962s
2 Wiseman/Mallock/McLoughlin Swara Pilbeam-Nissan 1m54.404s
3 Monti/Nobili BM Autosport Tampolli-Alfa 1m54.601s
4 Tonetti/Saccamanno Audisio Lucchini-Alfa 1m54.868s
5 Dickens/Bjork/Oberto Swedish Racing Lola-Nissan 1m55.333s