FIA GT Championship, Adria – Practice Report
This Way and That Way

Buongiorno. Welcome to Adria and the third round of the 2008 FIA GT Championship. The circuit has a reputation as being a glorified karting track and that appellation is appropriate. The circuit length of 2.7 kilometers is not particularly short but apart from one set of banked turns, it is all contained within a section directly opposite the pit stands and a small set of tribunes. Indeed, I wasn’t even thinking of a kart circuit. Instead I was looking for little slots running along the length of the circuit and expecting the windows in the press center to have hand controls.

This is accomplished with a near constant pattern of switchbacks followed by short straights. The true front straight, the start / finish sector, is the longest, ending in a decreasing radius left-hander, Ramata. The return forms the outside of the circuit and this ends with a sweeping left, Cavanella. Then comes an infield straight, a 180-right, and the second infield straight. Only then do the cars disappear from view of those along the front.

The overall effect is of a constant stream of cars going in every possible direction. It should be more pronounced tomorrow, given that this is a night race. That also makes for an odd schedule. Today is near normal with a morning 80-minute free session, one of similar length later, followed by qualifying. By contrast, tomorrow will have only a midday warm-up and then the race. One odd twist to the venue is that the paddock is contained within an indoor arena. That’s fine for staying out of the sun, but becomes a din when engines are fired.

The typically hot conditions along the Adriatic coast dictate this schedule, but this has been an anomalous week in northern Italy. It rained furiously until Wednesday evening and Thursday was sunny but mild. Today promises to be more normal with temperatures edging into the higher 20s. Fortunately, it is not as humid as it normally is around here. That is a boon given that this lowland and somewhat swampy area can be an insect’s delight. The Adria circuit is located some 50 km south of Venice, that veritable pre-Renaissance theme park. The immediate coastal area of Adria is dotted with resorts that are the Italian version of Brighton, Blackpool, Atlantic City, etc.

The Adria race represents a bit of a contrast to Le Mans a mere week ago. A handful of drivers competed in France and depending upon one’s perspective, this 2-hour sprint will be either silly or a relief.

Certainly the happiest team here is Prospeed, having had their GT2 win reinstated; albeit it comes with a “reward” of 20 kilos of ballast. Then again, nearly all the runners in GT2 are carrying weight penalties of one sort or another, so they largely cancel each other out. On the other hand it is a shame as the nature of this circuit encourages the GT2s to run high overall, but the ballast situation may thwart that.

If you recall, the Prospeed team was disqualified at Monza for a refueling irregularity. The FIA court of appeals ruled in their favour yesterday.

Karl Wendlinger No. 33 Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 was the early leader in the first session. His time of 1:13 stood for about a half hour until being eclipsed by Marcel Fässler at 1:12.908. His No. 5 Phoenix Racing Corvette only took to the circuit a bit later in the session. Two of the three Saleens in the race had a bit of bother. The No. 7 Larbre entry was leaking fluid and No. 4 of Peka Racing returned to the pits after a very slow lap. There were no other dramas during the opening session apart from a raft of drivers being hand slapped for crossing the white lines, a hard to avoid trespass on this narrow and tight layout. The No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari led the GT2 cars for most of the session, ending with a 1:15.730.

No doubt that after Le Mans most have forgotten about the FIA GT, so here is a recap of the post Silverstone and Monza positions. Christophe Bouchut and Xavier Maassen (No. 3 SRT Corvette) lead GT1 by 3 points over three other teams, including Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp (Jetalliance), Andrea Bertolini / Michael Bartels (No. 1 Vitaphone Maserati), and Allan Simonsen / Philipp Peter in No. 10 Gigagwave Aston Martin. Vitaphone leads the teams’ title by a slightly wider margin over Jetalliance and SRT.

Following the appeal of Prospeed, the GT2 drivers’ championship is being led by Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni ((No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari), with Thomas Biagi and Christian Montanari a fair 6 points back in the team’s other car (No. 51). It does mean that AF Corse handily heads the GT2 teams over CR Scuderia (No. 55 and 56 Ferrari) and BMS Scuderia Italia (No. 77 and 78 Ferrari).

There are five cars here designated as “race-by-race entries” although all have thus far been regulars. These include the SRT Corvette, the similar Chevrolet product from AT Racing (which leads the Citation Cup), JMB’s No. 15 Maserati (Ben Aucott / Alain Ferte), Jetalliance’s second Aston Martin (No. 36, Lucas Lichtner-Hoyer / Alex Müller) and the Argentine Ferrari 550 for Esteban Tuero and Jose Maria Lopez.

Janos Wimpffen