First race, first win

Barcelona, April 6th, 2003 - Under a sunny sky and with ideal track conditions the first race of the 2003 FIA GT Championship took place at Barcelona's Montmelo circuit. Thirty seven cars took part in this three hours/500 km race, eighteen competing in the GT category and nineteen in the N-GT category.

It was in the N-GT category that Pirelli scored it's opening victory with the JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena of De Simone/Bertolini fitted with Pirelli P Zero tyres. In fact, in the warm conditions and on an abrasive track surface it was clearly a victory for Pirelli's tyre performance, the consistency of grip over the full race distance carrying the Pirelli shod Ferrari ahead of similar cars mounted on competitor tyres.

In the GT category the Pirelli shod teams' efforts were thwarted by mechanical dramas with neither the Carsport Holland Vipers nor the JMB 550 Ferraris arriving on the podium. The Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550's, benefitting from their longer development than the brand new JMB 550s dominated the GT podium, making an all Ferrari podium for the first time in the Championships history.

Next race: Magny Cours circuit, France, April 26 - 27

GT Podium:
1st Biagi/Bobbi Ferrari 550 Maranello 3:00:37.819 150.79 kph
2nd Cappellari/Gollin Ferrari 550 Maranello 3:00:53.482 150.57 kph
3rd Bryner/Calderari/Livio Ferrari 550 Maranello 3:00:48.939 149.06 kph

N-GT Podium:
1st Bertolini/De Simone Ferrari 360 Modena 3:02:01.596 144.95 kph
2nd Davies/Mullen Ferrari 360 Modena 3:00:45.222 144.40 kph
3rd Burt/Turner Ferrari 360 Modena 3:01:33.384 143.77 kph