Pirelli Dominates In Imola With Four Cars In The Top Five

Imola, 29 May 2005 - The Pirelli - shod Corvette C5R concluded an exceptional weekend in the best way possible at Imola, home of the fourth round in the 2005 FIA-GT Championship. After having dominated qualifying, the yellow American coupe literally came out on top in the race, too, dictating the pace over the 500-kilometre event. The performance of the Belgian-Dutch crew of Hezemans-Longin-Kumpen assumes even greater importance, considering that the Corvette competed in the event on P Zero Racing tyres with extremely soft compounds, which guaranteed an optimum and constant level of grip on a circuit made really slippery by the excessive heat (asphalt 50 degrees C). Mike Hezemans, who took pole position and set the race's fastest lap, was able to build up a really substantial lead between the American car of Team GLPK-Carsport and the opposition during his stint at the wheel. He said, "The constant yield of the tyres supplied by Pirelli Competizioni for the C5R did show the slightest sign of going off, despite the exceptional heat of the day, and they always adapted well to our set-ups. With this result, we not only re-launch ourselves in the championship, we also confirm the outstanding synergy of the Corvette - Pirelli duo, a synergy only at the beginning - but one that has immediately produced excellent results". The P Zero Racing tyres' qualities were also underlined by the best Maserati driver in the Imola race, Fabio Babini, who said, " The roadholding of the Italian tyres was excellent in conditions on the limit like those of today, especially considering that the Pirellis enabled us to cover two driving stints without changing the fronts at all, even though we carried 80 kilos of ballast" . Babini-Biagi and their Vitaphone Maserati MC12 are now on their own at the top of the provisional drivers' championship table. Pierluigi De Cancellis, Pirelli Competizioni's Circuit Manager, was clearly satisfied with the Imola result, saying, " The Corvette's victory confirms the good qualities of our P Zero Racings in severe heat conditions, which will probably be repeated during the next three or four races. We should also underline the optimum performance of the Ferrari 575 GTC of Belloc-Melo, who were forced to stop three minutes from the finish while in third place, but confirmed they are in manifest recovery of their competitiveness on a demanding circuit like Imola" , concluded De Cancellis. Final results - Imola FIA-GT 2005:

1.	Hezemans-Kumpen-Longin	Corvette C5R	97 laps in 3h 01'40''505
2.	Gardel-Gollin	Ferrari 550 Maranello	+19''264
3.	Babini-Biagi	Maserati MC12	+24''005
4.	Bertolini-Wendlinger	Maserati MC12	+53''757
5.	Peter-Buncombe-Rusinov	Maserati MC12	+1 lap