Vita4One Team Italy head for their first ever round at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, hoping to turn their Avon Tyres British GT Championship form around.
The Italian team’s Ferrari 458 Italia had a difficult start to the season at Oulton Park, but Rockingham has been the scene of some strong Ferrari results, including a second place in 2012 and an impressive 1-2-3 result in 2011.
Vita4One driver Jay Palmer raced in the 2011 event, and is glad to be racing on the longer 2.56 mile Rockingham International layout.
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend,” said Palmer ahead of the first two-hour race of the season. “The car is well balanced and should be in a position to be very competitive and I’m confident of a good result. We learnt a lot from the first weekend, the team are very strong on pitstops and I need to be a bit more patient. Matteo [Bobbi, team manager and fellow driver] was super, and I have every confidence he will do a stellar job this weekend, we’ve just got to be sensible.”
Double FIA GT Champion, Bobbi, continues his education of British circuits, but proved himself a fast learner at Oulton Park and will be hoping to secure a strong result at Rockingham.
“We came here for two days after the first race,” explained Bobbi, “But the weather was very cold and the grip level was very low. We were able to learn from the test and come here well prepared. It should be a good race for us, the car is very reliable and I hope we come out on top.”
Free Practice and qualifying takes place on Sunday (5th May), with the race taking place on Bank Holiday Monday (6th May), starting at 1:05pm.
