Barely a month after Silverstone’s fog and rain provided the backdrop for a thrilling weekend of closely-fought on-track action, the teams and drivers are heading south, for the second race meeting of the season, with hopefully, this time, the added benefit of some sunshine ! This will be the eighth time that the FIA GT Championship has raced in Monza, and it remains to be seen which car will follow in the tread marks of the Chrysler Viper, Lister Storm, Ferrari 550 Maranello and Aston Martin DBR9 cars which have won there before.The first race of the season, as well as setting an initial hierarchy, also showed just how close this season is likely to be, with the top five GT1 cars finishing within eight seconds, including three different makes of car.  So will it be the home heroes – Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini – which emerge victorious after two hours round the challenging and extremely fast Monza circuit, or the challengers from Britain or America, the Aston Martin, Corvette and Saleen ?  The Jetalliance Aston Martin, as well as winning the first round of the season, dominated in Monza last year, so the Austrian team’s rivals will be keen to take their revenge. The GT2 battle was equally close in Silverstone, where the quality of the teams and drivers has reached unprecedented levels. The Ferrari 430 GT2 is currently the dominant force in the category, with nine cars up against three Porsches. But the Porsches were fast during the Monza test days, and the fight is likely to be extremely close.  In Monza, the Italian teams, such as AF Corse and BMS Scuderia Italia, will be looking for a home advantage over their rivals, including the British teams Scuderia Ecosse, CR Scuderia and Trackspeed, the Belgians from Prospeed Competition and the Swiss Kessel Racing.  Not forgetting G2, adding some extra variety to the grid, with the likes of the Gillet Vertigo and Mosler MT900. The FIA GT3 European Championship will also be in action in Monza, returning there for the second time.  Silverstone saw a double victory for Swiss team Matech GT Racing and the Ford GT of Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch.  The duo are now hoping to emulate 2007 winners Moser and Vannelet, who started with a double victory in the first round and emerged victorious with the title.  But Silverstone especially proved just how close the 2008 season is likely to be.  With ten makes and eleven cars represented this year, the first race saw nine different manufacturers finish in the top nine places.  An unprecedented show of success for this category, which is just starting its third year of existence…  Last year, the Corvettes dominated in Monza; it will be interesting to see how the hierarchy has changed since last summer. For the GT4 European Cup, Monza will be the first time that the teams and drivers try out the new race format for this season.  GT4 and Sports Light cars will take part in three races : two 25-minute sprints without pit stops, and one longer, 50-minute race, including a pit-stop for optional driver change.   The first round, in Silverstone, saw the Aston Martin N24 cars take the honours, shared between Jetalliance and Beechdean, while Reiter Engineering won in Sports Light, giving the KTM X-Bow its first racing victory.  For Monza, they should be joined by the Belgian Racing Gillet Vertigo. Michael Mallock, whose run of success with double pole in Britain was ended by a serious crash in race one, will be back with a new chassis and a determination to make up for his lack of points. The British F3 International Series will be making one of three trips to Europe to run alongside the FIA GT Championship, continuing in Spa and Bucharest.  British F3 is renowned for producing the single-seater stars of the future – as well as many future sportscar stars !  This year’s field is no exception, and Monza has proved a perfect backdrop for their on-track action in the past. The final series competing in this extremely busy meeting is the Superstars series, already seen in Adria last year.   Visit the On-line newsletter to read previews for the events, to download the entry lists and other practical information, to read a description of a lap of the Monza circuit from AF Corse’s Gianmaria Bruni, an interview with Jetalliance’s Karl Wendlinger, the ACA Argentina drivers meeting Motorsport greats Froilán González and Carlos Reutemann  or about Thomas Biagi’s fans ! Last but not least, this weekend sees three of the national GT Championships promoted by SRO in action.  Both the FFSA French GT Championship and the Belgian GT Championship MVD are racing at the French circuit of Dijon, while the ADAC GT Masters gets its 2008 season underway at Oschersleben.  Check out their sites for more information !  Furthermore, in Brazil, there was an extremely successful launch for the new season of the Brazilian GT3 Championship, now to be known as Telefonica Speedy GT3 Brasil. The launch took place with the presence of brothers Emerson and Wilson Fittipaldi, who spoke and tried out a new Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S.  Provisional entry lists are attached; the FIA will release the official entry lists for the FIA GT Championship and FIA GT3 European Championship next week. Any remaining requests for media accreditation for Monza should be sent to the Media Delegate as soon as possible.  Forms are available on the web site.

Jacquie Groom

Media Delegate, FIA GT Championship