FIA GT at Donington Park: pole position for Chrysler Viper - Pirelli, finished in (provisional) third place and another podium in N-GT with Porsche RWS
Donington Park, June 29th, 2003 - A week-end of satisfaction for Pirelli: concerning the qualifying sessions, after a perfect job done during the free practice on Friday with dry and wet conditions, the Chrysler Viper GTS - Pirelli set its first pole position of the season with Philippe Alliot, David Hallyday and Zacchia and finished the race in fourth position. After the race, the car n 18 Viper of Zwaan which had arrived second was excluded from the results, due to a breach of the Technical Regulations for GT cars. For this reason now the Viper - Pirelli of team Force One is virtually on the podium in third position. The result remains provisional at the moment, waiting for the final decision after the appeal. Good result for Pirelli also on the N-GT podium thanks to the second position of the RWS Porsche 996 - Pirelli of Johnny Mowlem and Stephane Daoudi.
The difficult track conditions during the qualifying session didn't put in difficulty car's set-up and tyres: it is to consider that the asphalt here at Donington offers low grip and on Friday a lot of rain completely "washed" the circuit surface. In any case the Viper fitted with Pirelli P Zero tyres had dominated in both the Saturday's qualifying sessions. In the first session the Viper n 4 arrived first with the best time of 1:29.361 and in the second it made the second time after n 5 Chrysler - Pirelli of Hezemans and Kumpen.
Concerning the race, the situation in GT category saw Force One Chrysler Viper - Pirelli which maintained the lead position for the firsts 20 laps, but nothing was possible against the engine's power of the Ferrari 550 of team BMS Scuderia Italia: The Viper n 4 arrived in fourth position. The fifth consecutive victory for Biagi and Bobbi is another big shot to the general classification. Ferrari 550 of Team JMB suffered mechanical problems but was able to finish the race with car n 9 of Babini and Peter.
In N-GT category the Porsche of Ortelli and Lieb took their second victory of the season, but it is to note the good result obtained by the Porsche 996 GTS-RS of team RWS Yukos Motorsport - Pirelli which took second position with Johnny Mowlem and Stephane Daoudi.
The circuit during the race was not so difficult for tyres because of the low grip and the normal asphalt temperature. The new compounds of Pirelli PZero tyres obtained excellent result in durability and grip, particularly on the Viper Force One which, after the pit stop at the thirtieth laps, were in perfect condition.
Next race: Spa Francorchamps, Belgium, July 26th - 27th