Things seemed to be looking up when Johnny Mowlem managed to haul Acemco's chassis up to the front of the field, but his engine blew down the Mulsanne Straight. Neither of the remaining cars were a serious threat thereafter and the crack Alex Job / Petersen GT3 went on to win. Porsche's filled the top six positions whilst JMB and Risi eventually made it home in seventh and eighth respectively. Come November, the Ferrari's would get another chance of victory at la Sarthe. A 1000 kilometre race was organised around the permanent Bugatti circuit in preparation for a full calendar of events in 2004, the new Le Mans Endurance Series re-uniting prototypes and GT cars for 1000km races at famous venues. Two 360 GT's were entered, one for Cirtek Motorsport and the other Scuderia Ecosse, both cars making their competitive debuts at this event. Undoubtedly the most impressive performance of the weekend came from Cirtek, the British outfit running a brand new car on behalf of its owner, German artist, Klaus Engelhorn. Engelhorn had painted chassis 2038 in a stunning black and yellow livery and his car started the race from class pole, this after Andrea Montermini put in an amazing qualifying lap to the disbelief of several factory-assisted Porsche teams. However, PK Sport's GT3 led for most of the race and had a lap on the second place Cirtek Ferrari with just 15 minutes remaining. But a puncture in the closing few minutes forced the Porsche to make an unscheduled stop and through went Montermini to secure the 360 GT's maiden ACO class victory. Scuderia Ecosse wound up six places behind for a creditable 16th overall and sixth in the GT category. |
