www.QV500.com - Ferrari F40 Part 13: F40 GTE - 1996 BPR GT Championship
 

90001, Paul Ricard		 Round 1 of the 1996 BPR GT Championship took place at Paul Ricard. Two freshly enhanced '96-spec GTE's were run under Luciano della Noce's Ennea banner and looked quick from the outset. Securing the front row of the grid, Gounon, Bernard and Belmondo started the 4 Hour race from pole in chassis 82404, della Noce and Olofsson second in 90001. Despite Olofsson also setting fastest lap, Gulf Racing's new McLaren F1 GTR '96 eventually took victory, the Ferrari's nevertheless running reliably to the finish and rounding out the podium positions.
   
Monza was not to be such a happy hunting ground for the GTE's, the two '96-spec F40's being joined by a third car, chassis 88779, that was predominantly in '95 trim albeit with the latest aero mods. All three cars failed to finish whilst the McLaren's took first and second, Gounon going out after 49 laps having started from pole, Olofsson starting third but only managing 35 while Drudi, Nappi and Martini qualified eighth in the red car but retired after 115 laps. Jarama's 4 Hour race saw Gounon, Bernard and Belmondo start from and finish third behind a pair of Gulf Oil F1's, Gounon again setting the fastest race lap. Olofsson and della Noce were not so fortunate, 90001 retiring 13 laps before the end having qualified eighth. Meanwhile, Drudi, Nappi and Martini failed to break their duck, qualifying 11th but dropping out after 41 laps. Round 4 meant heading to Britain for the Silverstone 4 Hours where Gounon was again mixing it with the McLaren's at the sharp end of the grid, eventually qualifying 82404 in second whilst Olofsson and della Noce were further back than they would have liked in eighth. Nappi and Angelelli were starting down in 13th and despite being classified 36th after four hours of racing, they finished 30 laps down on the winning Mach One McLaren. Both della Noce's Igol-backed cars made the chequered flag, the team owner and Olofsson coming home in seventh, Gounon, Bernard and Belmondo fifth.
 

82404, Anderstorp 4 Hours		 At the Nurburgring, 88779 had its best result of the year, Nappi, Angelelli and Konig taking a fifth in the red car having started 13th. They were one place behind Gounon, Bernard and Belmondo who had qualified fourth while della Noce and Olofsson failed to finish after starting seventh. Next up, Anderstorp in Sweden had seen the only Ferrari victory of 1995 so the Ennea team were hoping to record a good result. In qualifying, Gounon secured pole with 82404, Olofsson starting third in 90001. A dominant race performance followed and the GTE took its first BPR victory for two years.
   
After 82404 retired from P1 with 117 laps gone, Olofsson and della Noce inherited the lead and that's where they remained until the four hours were up. Nappi and Angelelli had had another good qualifying session to put 88779 in sixth, but gearbox woes sidelined their challenge after 23 laps. Round 7 saw the BPR series head off to the Far East for Suzuka's 1000km race, the last time three Ennea GTE's would run together. Fittingly, they all qualified in the top six for the second race in succession. Another quality result was on the cards, Olofsson and della Noce fulfilling the F40's promise in Japan by starting and finishing second. Gounon, Belmondo and Bernard weren't quite so lucky although they did make it home seventh having begun in fourth. 88779 retired early on. The Brands Hatch 4 Hours featured only della Noce and Olofsson who qualified sixth and recorded another good finish by placing fifth. Spa Francorchamps saw the second Igol-backed GTE return for Gounon, Belmondo and Bernard although more notable was the arrival of Porsche's crack-built 993 GT1 that despite sand-bagging all weekend, absolutely blitzed the entire field. Ennea's Ferrari's qualified as best of the rest, della Noce and Olofsson starting second and finishing fourth while the French trio came in sixth. For the penultimate round of the year at Nogaro, 82404 was back on pole but retired just nine laps before the end with gearbox problems, della Noce and Oloffson having a difficult time in qualifying to start ninth.
 

88779, Suzuka 1000km		 By the end of the race they had worked their way back up to finish a creditable fourth. Porsche's GT1 returned for the Zhuhai street race in China so there was no hope of pole for the F40's, 82404 starting third and finishing second whilst 90001 had qualified in sixth and eventually placed eighth. However, despite having given an excellent account of itself throughout 1996, the writing was on the wall for the ageing F40, specialist machinery like the Porsche GT1 and forthcoming Mercedes CLK GTR all but eliminating any chance of it remaining competitive into 1997.
   
Rd. Race Drivers Team Result Chassis
1 Paul Ricard 4 Hours Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 2nd 90001
Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 3rd 82404
2 Monza 4 Hours Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea DNF 82404
Olofsson / della Noce Ennea DNF 90001
Drudi / Nappi / Martini Ennea DNF 88779
3 Jarama 4 Hours Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 3rd 82404
Olofsson / della Noce Ennea DNF 90001
Drudi / Nappi / Martini Ennea DNF 88779
4 Silverstone 4 Hours Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 5th 82404
Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 7th 90001
Nappi / Angelelli Ennea 36th 88779
5 Nurburgring 4 Hours Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 4th 82404
Nappi / Angelelli / Konig Ennea 5th 88779
Olofsson / della Noce Ennea DNF 90001
6 Anderstorp 4 Hours Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 1st 90001
Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea DNF 82404
Nappi / Angelelli Ennea DNF 88779
7 Suzuka 1000km Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 2nd 90001
Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 7th 82404
Angelelli / Ota Ennea DNF 88779
8 Brands Hatch 4 Hours Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 5th 90001
9 Spa 4 Hours Olofsson / della Noce / Angelelli Ennea 4th 90001
Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 6th 82404
10 Nogaro 4 Hours Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 4th 90001
Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea DNF 82404
11 Zhuhai 4 Hours Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo Ennea 2nd 82404
Olofsson / della Noce Ennea 8th 90001
 

82404 leading 90001. Monza 4 Hours