Five Pirelli Cars In The First Six In The "Lottery" Of Brno

Brno, 26 June 2005 - The overall result shows three different cars - Maserati, Ferrari and Corvette - on Pirelli P Zero Racing tyres in the first four places and another two Maseratis in fifth and sixth, but rain showers half-way through the race disrupted the final placings, denying victory to Pirelli Competizioni drivers. In addition, misfortune further complicated the situation with an accident on the first lap that eliminated the Maserati MC12 driven by Fabio Babini and the Ferrari 575 GTC of Andrea Piccini, who were both racing on Pirelli and expected to be among the event's protagonists. And half an hour before the end, a technical problem during its last refuelling stop relegated Michael Bartels' Vitaphone Maserati to the fifth place when it was leading. But Maseratis are still at the top of the Constructors' championship on the eve of the most important race of the year, the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium at the end of July. Andrea Bertolini was one of the heroes of the day in a Team JMB Maserati. He was able to climb right back up the field to finish second in the seriously damaged MC12, which had gone off with Wendlinger at the wheel, and was a victim of an engine problem on Saturday, meaning the crew was relegated to the last place on the grid for the start of the race. " We are obviously pleased to have finished second in a weekend that had begun badly" , said Bertolini. " The intermediate Pirelli P Zeros contributed greatly to us achieving this result, which re-launches our championship". Jaime Melo, who came an excellent third in the GPC Corse Ferrari 575 GTC, said, " This result is a reward for all the effort Pirelli and Ferrari have made to improve the competitivity of the car. I believe, however, that I can confirm we deserved this podium finish: let's not forget that at Imola, where we also turned in an optimum performance, we had to retire on the last lap while we were among the leaders. I am very satisfied with the intermediate P Zero Racing fitted to the 575 GTC mid-race, as they gave me an ideal level of adhesion on a very slippery track due to the vast areas of dry alternating with sections that were really soaking". The high level of competitivity of the tyres supplied by Pirelli Competizioni was also confirmed in the GT2 class, where the GPC Corse Ferrari 360 GTC driven by Lemeret-Deman came second. Stphane Lemeret, who is also a journalist, said, " I had already noted the tremendous qualities of the Pirelli intermediates at the Spa's 1000 Kilometres , in which I competed in a Saleen. Bolstered by that experience, I wanted to exploit these excellent P Zero Racing intermediate tyres and I was right to do so. In fact, I was able to drive for almost two hours with the ideal level of grip". Brno Race FIA-GT 2005, final results: 1 Gardel-Lamy Ferrari 550 Maranello 83 laps in 3h01'39''652 2 Bertolini-Wendlinger Maserati MC12 +58''036 3 Melo-Belloc Ferrari 575 GTC +59''863 4 Kumpen-Longin-Hezemans Corvette C5R +1 lap 5 Bartels-Scheider Maserati MC12 +1 lap