Monza ETCC Tests Eurosport 08/03/2001   Monza Test And Media Days Thursday   The Nordauto Alfa Romeos have been consistently quickest in the Super Touring Class at the Monza Tests. Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Giovanardi have dominated the times in both sessions, only Gabriele Tarquini getting between them in the dry yesterday in the JAS Honda. Romana Bernadoni (left) is in the third Nordauto Alfa. “Of course being the only girl within the Championship doesn’t help me to have a direct term of evaluation, but being part of this team gives me the best parameters of all.” Take that to mean that Larini and Giovanardi are her favourites for the Super Touring Class. Larini is seen at the exit of the Variante Ascari yesterday. At the other end of the time sheets – for now – are the Edenbridge BMWs in the Super Production class. James Hanson is seen just after this morning’s session. Tom Ferrier is in the other car. Peter Briggs, Team Manger at Edenbridge, explained how his plans for the year have changed in recent weeks. “Last October, the plan was to run in the BTCC with the junior Vauxhall team, running Tom Ferrier and Vincent Raedermacker. But Vauxhall had to cut back the budgets and the support that might have been available to us was stopped. “I went to Macau last year working with Barry Bland, and realized just how good the BMWs are. That was it, we bought two cars from Gabriele Rafanelli, and even in January the plan was to run them in the BTCC. But BMW suggested it might be better for us to run in the European series, with some support. We’d signed James Hanson to do the British series, but he was happy to change to the European. Tom Ferrier was due to sign for Vauxhall, but there was a clash of sponsors, so we grabbed him. They’ll both do a good job this year. But it’s learny, learny for now. With the likes of Kox and Huisman and Morbidelli, the targets are there. But at the moment, our cars are not to the latest spec. Kox and Morbidelli have got the latest gearboxes, but we’re still waiting for them. We’re looking at finishing races and making progress during the year. Neither of these two has raced at Monza before, but at lest we’ve got an extra day of testing here, before the first meeting. “These two are good. I’m always pushing people to support young drivers in Touring cars and GT cars. It’s not all about single seaters. These guys need help too. They both bring money, and the Championship is set up to be as economical as possible, but it’s still difficult to put young drivers in cars.” Hanson and Ferrier were only just outside the times of Huisman and Morbidelli yesterday, and unless it’s wet for the race here, rain on the second day was the last thing they wanted. As this is written, it’s pouring down for the second GT session (only 11 cars out, most of them N-GTs), and more rain looks inevitable for the last Touring sessions at the end of the afternoon. Learny, learny indeed for the two Edenbridge BMW drivers. More ETCC news on Friday, in a round-up of all the latest. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport