Ferrari 360 GT images

2003 saw more teams than ever run Ferrari's in the FIA GT series and the threat posed by 360 stalwarts JMB Racing was backed up by the arrival of Maranello Concessionaires. Both would run two cars at every race whilst solitary 360's were entered by Auto Palace and Menx, the Ferrari crews as always being countered by twice as many Porsche GT3's. The season got underway at Barcelona where Maranello Concessionaires made a successful return to international racing, the British Ferrari importers Veloqx-run car of Turner securing N-GT pole.


However, forced to start from the back of the grid after Burt hit Franz Konrad's Saleen when it was being attended to by a tow truck, the pair nevertheless did a spectacular job to be leading after the final round of pit stops. A late puncture cruelly dropped them back to third in class, but 360's did go on to fill the first four places after the Freisinger and RWS Porsche's suffered uncharacteristically problematic race's. At Magny Cours, Burt and Turner thought they had taken Maranello Concessionaires first international victory in over thirty years, but their number 89 Ferrari was later excluded for having an over-sized fuel tank, promoting the Davies / Mullen sister car up from second. Enna meanwhile marked Porsche's first FIA win of 2003, a thrilling end to the race seeing EMKA's Porsche emerge victorious after De Simone spun his JMB Ferrari during a frantic last lap tussle. At Brno, Ortelli and Lieb brushed the entire N-GT field aside to take their first win of the year, the Freisinger Porsche dominating in a similar fashion to which it became accustomed in 2002. JMB drivers Bertolini and De Simone secured a comfortable second ahead of the Davies / Mullen Maranello Concessionaires entry, but both British-run Ferarri's were hampered by gearbox problems. Whilst Davies and Mullen were able to recover for third, Burt and Turner were delayed by five-laps to fix their linkage. Donington then saw the Freisinger drivers secure back-to-back victories and in doing so, close the gap in the drivers championship.



2032, Brno 3 Hours
It was a bad day for the Ferrari's, standings leaders Mullen and Davies looking good for second until a wheel worked loose, the Burt / Turner 360 being forced out with a repeat of the transmission maladies that had cost them any chance of victory in several previous rounds. Spa's epic 24 Hour race took the FIA teams into the second half of the season, but it was another disappointing race as Freisinger took an amazing outright victory in Belgium to finish eight laps ahead of BMS Italia's GT class Ferrari 550, thus establishing a clear lead in the Team standings.


Czech team Menx ended up with the highest placed 360 at Spa Francorchamps, Janis, Pergl and Schroeder finishing in seventh overall, this good enough for third in the N-GT class - their best result of the year. At Anderstorp, the EMKA GT3 once again emerged victorious for Porsche's fifth successive win, Collard and Sugden finishing a lap clear of the more-fancied Ortelli / Lieb entry. Another disappointing result for the Ferrari's saw the number 88 Maranello Concessionaires entry putting in the best performance of the day to finish third, but after five consecutive defeats and Porsche announcing plans for a heavily revised RSR, the 360's really needed a change of luck. They got it in the form of an all-Ferrari podium at Oschersleben, Bertolini and De Simone dominating the race after starting from pole and leading the two Maranello Concessionaires cars home for a formation finish. JMB then went to Estoril and got an even better result when the French team achieved the rare feat of claiming victory in both GT and N-GT categories. Bertolini and De Simone again started from pole, but despite a problem re-starting the #52 360 after their second pit stop (which resulted in a ten-second stop and go penalty for a push start), they managed to recover to win the race. Eventually winding up 22 seconds ahead of the Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari of Jamie Davies and Darren Turner, JMB also won the penultimate round outright with their brand new factory-built 575 GTC.



2004, Estoril 3 Hours
The Monza finale saw Porsche's fill five of the top six positions, but it was JMB that took their third consecutive win after a relatively easy run. The most serious threat had come from EMKA's Porsche until Collard got beached in a gravel trap. Freisinger's fancied GT3 and the Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari's both encountered problems, but while the German outfit recovered to second, another unlucky race dropped the British squad to third in the team standings. JMB claimed second spot, but with a new Porsche RSR for 2004, Ferrari needed the 360 GTC.

Ferrari 360 GT pic
Ferrari 360 GT photo
Ferrari 360 GT image
Ferrari 360 GT 2010
Ferrari 360 GT