FIA GT 2004: test start in from Monza

The same Monza Autodromo which closed the past GT season, will host on March 4-5 the first track tests of the new season, and will also give hospitality on March 27-28 to the first race of the FIA GT Championship 2004. The development tests made over the winter have given optimal sign to Pirelli, above all regarding Maserati. In fact Pirelli Competizioni started 2004 with great news: the technical development of the Maserati MC 12, the new racing car destined to the FIA GT races and others endurance races like the famous Le Mans 24 Hours. After the thrilling end of the 2003 Championship, with the four consecutive victories scored by Bertolini and De Simone at the wheel of their Ferrari-Pirelli, and after the great victory of Babini and Peter at Estoril with the debuting Ferrari 575-Pirelli, the FIA GT Championship 2004 will be opened on the Italian historical circuit and the surprises sure will not lack. Pirelli Competizioni will support teams and drivers on the track, with thousands of PZero Corsa tyres transported on circuits, is ready for the new challenge, and more determined that ever. As far as concerns Pirelli equipped GT teams and cars, a new Italian team is announced: GPC Squadra Corse, that will present on track the two dominators of Estoril 2003 event, the Pirelli-fitted Ferrari 575 GTC. In the same GT category another team with Pirelli tyres is expected to fight for the victory: Konrad Motorsport, whose Saleen S-7R showed top performances in the latest 2003 races. Regarding the new Maserati MC 12 PZero fitted, awaited in the GT category for the second half of 2004, it is necessary to emphasize the great development job carried out on car and tyres by the Maserati Racing unit together with the Pirelli technicians. Every part of the car has been put to hard test in order to obtain the maximum performances also in terms of duration, not to forget the strongest solicitations that the extraordinary performances of the new car imposes. The lap times scored by Andrea Bertolini and Fabio Babini on the Fiorano circuit and the thousands of kilometres covered without particular inconvenient, allows to dream a huge debut. Taking a turn to N-GT category, Pirelli will be present with the team GPC Squadra Corse and the Ferrari 360 Modena, an unbeatable car in the final of the past season thanks also to the introduction of the new compounds of the PZero tyres and to the new sequential gearbox. The new teams of Pirelli Competizioni, the new PZero tyres, already planned from the first race of the season, the new circuits (China and Dubai in the U.A.E.) and above all the arrival of the new Maserati MC 12 in late summer, will be the key points of the 2004 Championship.