TWO WEEKS TO THE WTCC RACE OF ITALY

TWO WEEKS TO THE WTCC RACE OF ITALY
After Belgium hosted the first European race meeting of the season at Zolder, the World Touring Car Championship will resume in two weeks at Monza, for rounds 5 and 6 of 24.
The Italian event will take place on May 14^th and 15^th, but it will be preceded by a one-day test on Thursday, May 12^th.
In a tentative schedule, WTCC competitors are due to have five sessions of one hour each at their disposal, between 9.00 and 18.00. This will be especially important for Polestar Racing and SUNRED Engineering that have both planned to benefit from the day for completing the first proper test with their new 1.6L turbo engines.
Another important aspect of the event in Monza is that the compensation weight system will be applied for the first time this season in order to balance performance on the track. The weight list for the different model cars - based on the lap times set in the two previous events at Curitiba and Zolder - will be communicated soon by the FIA.

The WTCC will resume in two weeks at Italy's Autodromo di Monza

IBRAHIM OKYAY COMES BACK IN MONZA
Multiple Turkish touring car champion Ibrahim Okyay will return to WTCC on the occasion of the series' next event at Monza.
Okyay will be at the wheel of a BMW 320si car run by the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport.
The 41-year old from Istanbul claimed five national touring car titles (1999, 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2010) and was a regular competitor in the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship (best result 10^th at Macau) and the 2010 FIA European Touring Car Cup (4^th in the Super 2000 Class).
"Although we managed to achieve brilliant results in the ETCC and in Turkey, we are aware of how difficult is to be successful in the WTCC. I don't think that the BMW 320si may be competitive against the 1.6 turbo cars. But it's good to be back in the World Championship, because our plan is to compete in the whole season in 2012 and the races in Monza will help us to understand where we are," Okyay said.

Turkish touring car champion Ibrahim Okyay is ready for WTCC comeback

YOKOHAMA TROPHY PROVIDES THRILLING SHOW Competitors of the Yokohama Trophy are providing a thrilling show inside the WTCC show. In Zolder both races were decided by extremely close battles. In the first one, Kristian Poulsen claimed his second victory of the season, beating newcomer Norbert Michelisz by a tight margin; after the 15-lap race the best five drivers - Poulsen, Michelisz, Michel Nykjær, Javier Villa, Darryl O'Young and Pepe Oriola - were all covered by less than five seconds. In the second race, with Poulsen eliminated by a contact with Tiago Monteiro, O'Young grabbed his first win in the new Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T. The high level of the competition in the trophy was clearly proved by O'Young and Nykjær who were classified in fourth and fifth positions overall, very close to the podium finishers, and by Villa who posted the fastest lap of the race. The trophy classification is also very close, with Poulsen leading by only three points ahead of the Villa- Nykjær duo. Info and Fotos: WTCC.com /Fabio Ravaioli./for acreditated and autorized media press.

Blancpain Endurance Series: AutOrlando Porsche Wins On Home Soil

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17/04/2011 AutOrlando Porsche Wins On Home Soil

The first ever Blancpain Endurance Series race at Monza was a huge success with Italian team AutOrlando Sport, driven by Paolo Rubeti, taking the chequered flag in front of their home crowd. The Porsche only had to complete two stops, the their nearest rivals three, and this gave the team the advantage and Ruberti was joined by Gianluca Roda and Raffaele Gianmaria on the top step of the podium. THe second placed car was the nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 LMS of Stephane Ortelli, Bert Longin and Filipe Albuquerqe finished 58 second behind the Porsche but led the race before the splash and dash pitstop 10 laps from home. An early puncture also delayed the Audi but they fought back to claim a podium place in the first race of the season. The Marc VDS Ford GT of Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin and Markus Palttala was third.

The class winners were Marc A Hayek and Peter Kox in the Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini (GT3 Pro-Am Cup), with Hayek bringing the car home in 4th overall. Georges Cabannes and Gregory Guilvert were the GT3 Citiation Cup winners in the Ruffier Racing Lamborghini Gallardo and the GT4 Cup was won by the Lotus Italia team with Edoardo Piscopo, Leo Mansell and Greg Mansell holding off the challenge of the RJN Motorsport Nissan to claim the first GT4 Class win of the new series.

FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW SHORTLY

CLICK HERE for Result from Round 1 of the Blancpain Endurance Series

Blancpain Endurance Series.com/.
Foto: © JohnBrooksPhoto.com

Ferrari Lead the Way in First Practice Sessions in Italy

Round 1 Monza 16 April 2011 Free Practice and Pre Qualifying

Ferrari Lead the Way in First Practice Sessions in Italy

FREE PRACTICE The nr50 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Matt Griffin and Jack Gerber was the fastest car at Monza in the first ever session of the Blancpain Endurance Series. Ireland’s Griffin recorded a time of 1:49.603 in the Pro-Am Cup entry, 0.886s faster than the nearest car, the Pro Cup Class AutOrlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 R of Paolo Ruberti, Gianluca Roda and Raffaele Gianmaria and a further 0.265 ahead of the Pro-Am Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini of Peter Kox and Marc A. Hayek. The fastest car in the GT3 Citation Cup was the Lamborghini of Gregory Guilvert and Georges Cabennes in 18th overall and 5.452 seconds behind the AF Corse Ferrari and 2.3 seconds and 2 places ahead of their nearest class rival, the Sport Garage Ferrari 430 of Philip Shearer, Armande Foulard and Lionel Comole. The GT4 class was headed by the nr70 Lotus Evora of Eduardo Piscopo, Leo Mansell and Greg Mansell, 0.7 seconds ahead of the RJN Motorsport Nissan 370Z of Jordan Tresson, Chris Ward and Alex Buncombe. CLICK HERE for the result from Free Practice PRE QUALIFYING In the afternoons Pre Qualifying session the Black Bull Swiss Racing Ferrari 430 of Tommaso Maino, Andrea Invernizzi and Mirko Venturi was 0.5 seconds faster than the other 32 cars on track with a time of 1:49.910. The Pro-Am Cup entry finished the 60-minute session ahead of the De Lorenzi Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R of Gianluca De Lorenzi, Alessandro Bonetti and Stefano Borghi. The top Pro Cup Class car was the Hexis AMR Aston Martin DBRS9 of Henri Moser, Giles Vannelet and Frederic Makowiecki in 3rd overall, three hundredths of a second ahead of the Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 of Bert Longin, Stephane Ortelli and Felipe Alburquerque. The George Cabannes Lamborghini Gallardo was the fastest GT3 Citation Cup entry in 19th overall and the Eduardo Piscopo (Lotus Italia) Lotus Evora was the fastest GT4 entry thanks to a lap of 1:59.771 posted by Greg Mansell. CLICK HERE for the result from Pre Qualifying Qualifying will take place at 9:40am (CET) tomorrow morning and Round of 1 of the Blancpain Endurance Series will get underway at 2pm. The sessions can be seen live at www.blancpain-endurance-series.com Info: Blancpain Endurance Series/Acreditated press media. Fotos: JohnBrooksPhoto.com

Follow the Blancpain Endurance Series/Qualifying from Monza-Italy.

Follow the Blancpain Endurance Series/Qualifying from Monza-Italy.

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