Gollin heads BMS 1-2

Gollin emerged as the first of the three BMS Ferrari 550 Maranello machines that dominated the 87-lap race but it was reigning FIA GT champion Matteo Bobbi who took the lead at the first corner from second on the grid and led for much of the race.

A faulty radio connection between Bobbi's partner Gabriele Gardel and his pit crew just after half-distance was the turning point of the race for the No 1 car. It meant the Swiss pitted a lap too early, and had to do another tour before handing back to Bobbi.

The delay left Bobbi in fifth and one lap down on his his team-mates. The Italian began a stirring charge for the remaining hour and 35 minutes, which saw him climb all the way to second.

The hot pace he was setting meant he had to pit his car for a third time to take on new Michelin tyres late in the race. By the end, the reigning champ was lapping far quicker than Gollin, but the gap was too big to close down and he ended up 44.790s shy of the winner.

"We had a different strategy to the number one car," said Gollin, who was celebrating his second successive FIA GT victory at Monza. "We lost almost 30 seconds at he first stops because we took new tyres and they didn't. But after Gardel's mistake, it was very difficult for them to win. We were a little lucky."

Gardel, meanwhile, was gutted that his error had cost his car the win. "I had a problem with the radio, and couldn't talk to the team. I heard I had the green light to come in but when I did, I saw no-one. Instead of stopping and waiting for the team to come out, I preferred to lose less time and go round again."

The third BMS Ferrari 550 of Stefano Livio, Lilian Bryner and Enzo Calderari hassled Capellari during the middle part of the race, but dropped to fifth after the final pit-stops.

Third and fourth places fell to Ferrari too, but it was the new 575GTC machines of the GPC Squadra Corse that impressed against the Prodrive-developed 550s.

Philipp Peter and Fabio Babini took the final podium position, the only other car to finish on the same lap as Gollin. The sister 575GTC of Emanuele Naspetti and Mike Hezemans was fourth, a lap down.

It was expected that Ferrari's opposition would come from Saleen and Lister, but a myriad of problems put them all out of the running. Instead, it was left to the venerable Chrysler Viper GTS-R of former double FIA GT champion Christophe Bouchout, Marc Goosens and Rob van der Zwaan to be the first non-Ferrari car home in sixth.

The Konrad Motorsport Saleen S7R of Walter Lechner Jr, Karl Wendlinger and Toni Seiler was the first casualty. Lechner was tapped off the circuit by Lister pilot Tom Coronel at Lesmo 2 on the first lap.

The sister car of ex-DTM aces Uwe Alzen and Michael Bartels didn't last much longer, retiring with a serious water leak on lap 10. Until then, Alzen had been doing well to hold on to the Ferrari of Gollin.

The two RML Saleens both suffered rear tyre punctures. They could have been caused by debris on the track, but the team was mystified as to why no other cars picked up punctures. The Thomas Erdos/Mike Newton car also had a gearbox problem, and retired on lap 78, while the Chris Goodwin/Miguel Ramos machine was classified 10th.

The challenge from the two Listers also failed to materialise. The car of Coronel, Paul Knapfield and Patrick Pearce lasted 19 laps before its coolant system exploded. It was scant reward for the team, which had worked very hard to get the car on the grid after Pearce had a hefty shunt in morning practice.

Its sister car lasted just 10 laps more, Jamie Derbyshire's inexperience in the car showing when he spun on his second lap after taking over from marque favourite Jamie Campbell-Walter.

In the N-GT class, Team Freisinger got just one of its three new Porsche 996 RSRs home but, in the hands of Porsche stalwart Stephane Ortelli and Emmanuele Collard, it was comfortably in first. Frenchman Ortelli was even able to back off in the latter stages to protect the new machine.

"I made a good pass on one of the Ferraris," explained Ortelli. "Then I had pressure from [Freisinger team-mate Lucas] Luhr. I thought the way to make a gap was to let them fight, and I did. Then we had to really cool down and get to the end."

The car's biggest threat did come from Luhr, but he was struggling with bad brake balance and, on lap 49, he locked up and went clattering over the kerbs at Ascari, destroying the radiator in the process.

The Ferrari 360 Modena of Christian Pescatori and Giampiero Simone finished second in class, 20 seconds behind Ortelli.


Fabrizio Gollin/Luca Cappellari Ferrari 500 Maranello 2h39m50.695s
Matteo Bobbi/Gabriele Gardel Ferrari 550 Maranello 2h40m35.485s
Philipp Peter/Fabio Babini Ferrari 575GTC 2h41m16.516s
Emanuele Naspetti/Mike Hezemans Ferrari 575GTC 2h41m16.124s
Stefano Livio/Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari Ferrari 550 Maranello 2h40m09.639s
Christophe Bouchout/Emmanuele Collard/Rob van der Zwaan Chrysler Viper GTS-R 2h40m01.980s