2007 News

Musical Chairs!


By Lindsay Morle
Sep 5, 2007, 14:27


After a long summer break, the FIA GT teams are refreshed and ready to head out to Adria in Italy for round seven of the 2007 FIA GT Championship. The Scuderia Ecosse team has been busy playing ‘Musical Chairs’ and travels to Adria with an all-British driver line-up.

Ferrari no.62: Tim Mullen and Darren Turner
Ferrari no.62 will be driven as normal by Tim Mullen but neither of his Czech team-mates will be joining him this weekend. Jarek Janis is out of action for the next month due to his accident in the recent Spa 1000kms and Tomas Enge’s management have requested his release to take up a contract in the United States. Tim Mullen is a good driver but he can’t do it all by himself so Darren Turner got the call up and will race with Tim in Italy.

Tim Mullen:
“I think we’re on for a good weekend at Adria. We came here last year not really knowing what to expect; all we knew was that it was a short and tight circuit. The reality was that we had a great race with lots of overtaking and we won! It will be good to see Darren (Turner) again; I already know him well as he was one of my team-mates at Veloqx in 2003. He’s been racing a 430 in the States too so I think we’ll make a good team.”

Darren Turner:
“I’m really looking forward to driving for Scuderia Ecosse; judging by their past results they are a good team and I already know a few of the people there so it won’t be an alien environment for me. I know the car from doing a couple of ALMS races in a 430 and I know Pirelli well from 2006 with Aston Martin. Stewart (Roden) tells me Pirelli have made great progress this year so it will be good to see the difference from last year. I know Tim (Mullen) too from Veloqx a few years back so I know how rapid he is and I think we should be on for a good weekend at Adria.”

Ferrari no.63: Tim Sugden and Rob Bell
Chris Niarchos and Andrew Kirkaldy have other commitments this weekend so no.63 will be driven by Tim Sugden, who raced for the team in the Spa 24 Hours, and Rob Bell. Rob is well-used to racing a Ferrari as he is currently leading the GT2 class of the Le Mans Series in the Virgo 430.

Tim Sugden:
“I’m absolutely delighted to be asked to drive for Scuderia Ecosse again. I really enjoyed the experience at Spa and got on great with the whole team so I know we are going to have fun and we are going out there to win. Why else would we go?”

Robert Bell:
“I’m used to doing the longer six hour races so this will be a sprint race for me and I’m really looking forward to the challenge. I’ve not been to Adria before but I don’t expect that to be a disadvantage. I’ve worked with Lee (Lee Penn, Race Engineer for car 63) before and I know all the other drivers so I think we’re on for a good one.”

Stewart Roden, Team Principal:
“All this playing ‘Musical Chairs’ with the drivers certainly keeps things interesting. From what I’ve seen of Darren he does well in everything he races so I think he’ll do a great job for us. I saw him win the two races at Knockhill last weekend and I was very impressed! In the other car I know Tim will do a great job, as he did at Spa, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about Robert too so I think we have an exciting weekend of racing ahead of us.”

The FIA GT Championship visited Adria for the first time last year. The circuit is short, narrow and twisty, which makes for a tough qualifying session, as all the cars fight for clear track space. Drivers have to concentrate hard to get into a rhythm at this stop-start track but the Ferraris are nimble and perform well there.

The GT cars will take to the track at Adria on Friday 7 September at 0920hrs. A second 80-minute session follows at lunchtime before qualifying kicks off at 1745hrs. The Adria race takes place on Saturday evening from 1945hrs until 2145hrs, running into the darkness.




© Copyright 2007 by Scuderia Ecosse. All rights reserved.
www.scuderiaecosse.com