SRO GT Barcelona race summary

Spanish win for BMS Scuderia Italia.

Bright sunshine and packed grandstands saw BMS Scuderia Italia finish the 2002 season in fine form, when the Italian team won the final round of the Spanish GT Championship in Barcelona last weekend.

One of the teams which had travelled to the Spanish circuit for a combination of racing and testing for the first round of the 2003 season, the BMS Ferrari 550 Maranello, driven by Jean-Denis Deletraz and Frédéric Dor, won the 60-lap race. Deletraz, who took four wins in the FIA GT Championship this season, finished 6 seconds ahead of the Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen Ford SR7 of Pedro Chaves and Miguel Ramos. The Meycom Sport Marcos LM600 was third, driven by Tomas Saldaña (a regular in the FIA GT Championship in 1997) and Ni Amorim, who drove for both Freisinger Motorsport and Paul Belmondo Racing this season. The JMB Competition Ferrari 360 Modena of Andrea Garbagnati and Andrea Bertolini was fifth, ahead of Dominique Dupuy's Chrysler Viper GTS-R.

Two SRO Sprint races also took place during the weekend. Open to an exciting mix of N-GT and Lamborghini Diablo cars, the event constituted the final rounds in the 2002 Lamborghini GTR Supertrophy. The first race was won by a JVG Racing Porsche 996 GT3 Cup, driven by Ian Khan and Nigel Smith, ahead of the JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena of Garbagnati and Bertolini. The first Lamborghini was the MIG Power car of Luigi Moccia and Franco Groppi, which finished third after leading for the first half of the 50-minute race.

The second sprint race saw victory go to the Bertolini/Garbagnati Ferrari 360 Modena, ahead of Moccia and Groppi. The 2002 Lamborghini Championship title was awarded to the CORONA Team Diablo driven by Franck Sevin (F) and Jean Marc Gounon (F) with 93 points, followed by the AUTOVITESSE team of Alex Frei (CH) and David Velay (F) with 59 points and Lee Cunningham, third overall in the REITER car, with a total of 51 points. The Gentleman Drivers ' category was won by Frenchman Gérard Larrousse, who scored 101 points, ahead of Stephane Lacroix-Wasover (60 pts) and Cédric Lorent (57 pts).

The weekend continued with a day of testing at the Barcelona circuit, which will host the first round of the 2003 LG Super Racing Weekend series, including the FIA GT Championship, the FIA European Touring Car Championship, the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, Renault Sport Clio Trophy and Renault Sport International Clio Cup.

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