PRESS INFORMATION 

Round 5 

Post Race Press Conference 

Vallelunga, Italy – Sunday 2^nd September 2001:  

Drivers Present –            LMP900          Gary Formato – Richard Dean
                                    GTS                 Chris Goodwin – Ian McKellar Jnr
                                    GT                   Magnus Wallinder – Terry Rymer 

Q.    Congratulations to Gary Formato, Richard Dean and the Lanesra Racing team on your victory here at Vallelunga.  Were there any problems during the race? 

Richard Dean – No, we didn’t have any problems I don’t think.  There was a plan, we were asked to do a pace and we did exactly that.  We made sure we didn’t throw it away really because with traffic it is easy to make a mistake.  Anyway I’ll put you onto Gary who did most of the work. 

Gary Formato – The car ran great, there was no hassles.  Apart from keeping a close eye on the traffic and not rushing through it.  I just had some fun, I quite enjoyed myself out there.  I’m happy for the team.  

Q. Turning to the second placed team, the winner of the GTS class.  Again congratulations, did you have any fears or problems? 

Chris Goodwin – Well I was watching at the beginning of the race, I’m always worried when I’m watching, but really Ian had it completely under control, he controlled the pace of the race and kept the gap to the other Saleen car perfectly until the first round of pitstops  which is when I took over. The other car elected just to do a fuel stop and no driver or tyre change so they left ahead of us.  I managed to claw back some of the time we lost and I think I put him under a bit of pressure he managed to have a spin and that was it.  We were able to take the lead, pull away, stay out of trouble the pressure was completely off us then, in fact the pressure was on them and they spun again.  We had a plan, we stuck to it, it worked.  They had a plan and it didn’t work. 

Terry Rymer – It was great to be third overall but the real achievement was in winning the GT category with such strong competition.  Dumas and Kaufmann were fast and Freisinger was also fast.  I was in the lead at the beginning, but Kaufmann caught me and passed and built up a few seconds lead.  I knew his teammate would be a little bit slower.  It wasn’t a drama, I closed the gap up at the end of my first stint.  Magnus went into the car and held our lead.  It was perfect, the Harlow Motorsport Team worked really well, the Dunlop tyres were good.  It was a tough race and very hot but I really enjoyed it.  It is my first international win in cars, so I’m rapped! 

- ENDS -