Scuderia Italia Ferraris take Spanish one-two

Pescatori gave Zadra Jr a huge lead at the change over on 48 laps and the 22-year-old Italian picked up his team mate's mantle and cruised to his first win in sportscars, despite virtually no brakes towards the end of the race.

"It was very difficult in the last few laps as I had virtually no brakes left, but we had given ourselves a good cushion to fall back on to." said the Italian.

Matching their third place in the corresponding race last year, the R&M Riley & Scott of Gary Formato and Mauro Baldi claimed the bottom rung of the podium, despite several problems afflicting their race.

"The car was almost impossible to drive and then the throttle started to stick" said South African Formato. "At one stage Mauro came on to the radio and we started to discuss the car as if we were in the pub. We have just lacked pace all weekend, but we'll most definitely take the 12 points after all the problems."

The only likely threat to the Ferrari stranglehold came from the Courage-Peugeot C60 of Sebastian Bourdais and 'Jules' Boullion. The French car, managed by sportscar legend Henri Pescarolo, held second place until an electrical problem ended its race on the one and a half-hour mark.

In a considerable race of attrition, the Den Bla Avis Dome of John Nielsen and Hiroki Katoh was the only other SR1 finisher, but down in sixth place after an early spin and new car teething problems cost them several laps. Team principal and driver, John Nielsen was still feeling the after effects of a large qualifying accident and his single stint was also spoilt by contact with the Riley & Scott, driven by 1994 Le Mans winner, Mauro Baldi at the time.

The second Dome failed to make the start after a fuel leak in the morning warm-up session.
Casualties in the SR1 category included the GLV Brums Ferrari-Judd, which retired on the second lap after running fourth with British racer Christian Vann, the Redman Bright Reynard that suffered a crank trigger failure and the Kremer Lola which went out with a chronic misfire, denying Sam Hancock his hope of finishing on his sportscar debut.

Team Ascari had been running third until their engine failed after 2 hours, leaving Werner Lupberger and Ben Collins pointless after a weekend that promised so much.

The SR2 points seemed to be going to the SportsRacing Team Sweden Lola of Thed Bjork and Larry Oberto. But within sight of the flag, Bjork lost the car while following one of the surviving SR1s and lost five minutes in a gravel trap. That gave a debut win to the Rowan Racing Pilbeam of Martin O'Connell and Warren Carway, who had trailed the Lola for the entire race.

"It's a great start for us in this championship," remarked a champagne soaked O'Connell after the race. "We just got on with our own race, and after all the problems we have had this weekend it was an added boost to pick up all the points after the Lola's off."

Bjork got going again and finished second, whilst the Italian Tonetti team brought their Lucchini Alfa home in third. The British Rapier 6 Nissan of Mike Millard and Ian Flux finished 5th.

The next round of the championship is the classic Monza 1000kms on April 22, when Ferrari will be looking to follow up its Spanish victory on home tarmac.





Christian Pescatori/Marco Zadra, BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP, 88 laps
Enzo Calderari/Angelo Zadra/Lilian Bryner, BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 333SP, +1m04.061s
Gary Formato/Mauro Baldi, R&M Racing Riley&Scott-Judd MkIII, +4 laps
Martin O'Connell/Warren Carway, Rowan Racing Pilbeam MP84 Nissan, +6 laps
Thed Bjork/Larry Oberto, SportsRacing Team Lola Nissan B2K/40, +6laps
John Nielsen/Hiroki Katoh, Den Bla Avis Dome S101 Judd, +7laps