Round 5

Post Qualifying Press Conference

Vallelunga, Italy - Saturday 1st September 2001:

Drivers Present –

LMP900 - Gary Formato
LMP675 - Francois Jackubowski
GTS - Chris Goodwin
GT - Magnus Wallinder

Q. Congratulations firstly to Gary Formato and the Lansera Racing Team.  Gary, is this your first time at Vallelunga?

Gary Formato - No, I have raced here before and it has improved since my last time here.

Q. You improved your time in the last two laps, did you make any changes to the car or did you get a clear track at the end of the session?

Gary Formato - It is quite difficult with the traffic, especially in some of the faster corners with the down force of this car you catch some of the Porsche's really quickly, so traffic holds you up quite a lot.  It would be nice to have another car to compare with ourselves, but I think we've done a decent enough job.  I'm just getting used to the car, this is the first time I have driven this car and I hope to do Petit Le Mans with the team at the next round.  We are using this race as a little more practice and do everything as perfect as we can in preparations for that.

Q. Chris Goodwin, the Saleen is a beautiful car, congratulations on your position.  Why did you wait so long to get out on the track?

Chris Goodwin - We decided to let the others go and do their thing.  We just focused on getting pole position in our class and watched the Konrad cars lap times.  I then went out for two laps to make sure we went a bit faster.  We did the bare minimum because our focus is on the race tomorrow and I am here to help Ian (McKellar) and the RML team win their respective championships.  Every effort is being made just to make sure we finish the race tomorrow and just a bit quicker than the Konrad car.

Q. Is this your first time at Vallelunga?

Chris Goodwin - It's my first time at Vallelunga.  I've raced and tested cars at other circuits in Italy, I love the place, I would race here all the time if I could.

Q. Francois turning to you, you seemed to keep improving as the session progressed.  What is the objective for the team this weekend?

Francois Jackubowski - This is the first time for me in the car and my first time at Vallelunga.  This is also my first race this year and we are improving lap by lap.  The car is very new and we don't want to take risks with it.  The objective for the team is to finish the race to help develop the car.  We just want to last the distance, that will be our race.

Q. Magnus Wallinder, congratulations on your lap time.  It was a lot harder in GT Class, it was very close.  Was it that your car was set up better or was it your knowledge of the track?

Magnus Wallinder - I don't know, it was a great fight between the GT boys.  Like Chris (Goodwin) we waited to go out.  I am very pleased to be on the front row, also thank you to the team for giving me this drive.

Q. Have you driven here before?

Magnus Wallinder -I was here in '98 driving in the Gold Cup, we actually won the GT3 class.