FIA GT, San Luis – Preview
A Good Race In Prospect The 2008 FIA GT Championship wraps up tomorrow at what should be a sun-baked Lago Potrero de los Funes, with the GT1 title race having been condensed down to a straight fight between the #1 Vitaphone Maserati of Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini, and the #6 Phoenix Carsport Racing Corvette of Mike Hezemans and Fabrizio Gollin. In reality, it is unlikely to be a head-to-head battle, as the Vitaphone pairing have only to finish in the top six to take the title, while the Corvette drivers have to win and still hope for a poor result for their rivals. On form, there should be no reason why Bartels and Bertolini wouldn’t easily take the title, but the San Luis track is brand new – nobody will have had a chance to drive it before today (Saturday) – and so the potential for error is perhaps greater than would normally be the case. “I am really looking forward to the next round in Argentina,” said Bartels. “It’s a new track, in a new country - and the track looks exciting. We have done some simulations and I think that the top speed will be quite high. It looks a bit like a street circuit in some parts, and I like this – but it also means that mistakes can be very costly. I would have been happier if we could have closed the title fight in Zolder. On the other side, Hezemans and Gollin have 90 kg penalty weight, which will not be easy on a track like San Luis, with uphill and downhill sections. But we have to be focused!” But aside from the title chase, we still have the potential for a very good race. The Jetalliance Astons may not be present, but Allan Simonsen and Philipp Peter will still be smarting from Zolder – a race they could have won, had their car not been penalised ten grid spots after qualifying – and Gigawave Motorsport will be going all out to claim an Aston Martin win in Argentina. Local interest is very strong in this race, with not only two ACA Argentina Ferrari 550 Maranellos taking part, but also nine of the 46 drivers hailing from the country. Jose Maria Lopez, Martin Basso, Esteban Tuero and Gaston Mazzacane will be handling the GT1 Ferraris, while Christian Ledesma joins Belgian Maxime Soulet in the SRT Corvette and Ricardo Risatti replaces Jean-Denis Deletraz alongside Marcel Fässler in the #5 Corvette. It hasn’t been a good year for either of the Saleen entrants. Anthony Kumpen and Bert Longin will be keen to salvage a good result from a difficult season for the PK Carsport S7, while Larbre field two French drivers making their return to the FIA GT championships after lengthy absences, Frédéric Makowiecki and Roland Bervillé. Makowiecki has proven himself to be a very rapid peddler in FIA GT3, and also co-drove the S7 in the opening LMS race at Monza this year. In GT2, we have nine Ferrari F430s versus a trio of Porsche 997 RSRs. With only runner-up in the championship still to be determined, this should just be a race for glory; and also the last chance this season for teams to put one over on the dominant AF Corse outfit, who have taken six wins from nine races. Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni are by now carrying enough ballast to sink a battleship, but it doesn’t stop them from winning. CR Scuderia is out for revenge after Rob bell was taken out at the first corner at Zolder; an incident that inflicted major damage on the #56. “I really hope we can make it past the first corner this time,” said Andrew Kirkaldy. “Argentina is a very long way to go for something like that to happen again. Since Bucharest we have quite probably had the fastest car out there but for one reason or another we haven’t had the results and it’s very frustrating. The guys had to do an all-nighter after Zolder to get the car repaired in time for the freight deadline so I hope we can go out there and finish of the season with a good result for them.” The all-Argentine Ferrari pair of Matias Russo and José Manuel Balbiani will also be relishing the chance to show their home crowd what they can do in the #95 Advanced Engineering entry. Richard Westbrook is the only non-AF Corse driver to have tasted victory twice this season, and he will have every intention of clinching the runner-up spot with a third victory, as he again shares the ProSpeed Porsche with Emmanuel Collard. “Our ambition is that second place, not only as the pinnacle of the season but also because a ticket for Le Mans is linked to it," said ProSpeed's Rudi Penders. "Le Mans is and will always remain the Mecca when it comes to endurance racing and every team wants to be a part of it. The gap with BMS Scuderia Italia amounts to 7.5 points, with still 18 points to be shared out, so everything is possible. Following the collective performance in Zolder, which would have been even better had it not been for that underserved collision, I am convinced that we can make our ambition come true.” Trackspeed haven’t enjoyed the best of results with their RSR this season, but David Ashburn will have Tim Sugden alongside him on Sunday as they seek to have their day in the sun. The timetable for the weekend is as follows: Saturday 0900-1020 Free Practice
1205-1325 Pre-Qualifying
1715-1750 Qualifying Sunday 0900-0930 Warm Up
1315-1515 Race This link shows the TV coverage. | 
