“That was easily our hardest race of the season,” said Team Principal Graham Schultz. “We had lots of issues to overcome, so taking third almost feels like a win.”

The team’s Ferrari 430 GT ran third for the early part of the race, but moved into the class lead and was heading LM GT2 at half distance. Jaime pitted from the lead on lap 107 to hand back over to Antonio, and the car continued to lap on the pace, class positions changing as the lead cars made their pit stops with the darkness settling over the circuit.

During his stint Antonio closed in on the leader halving the gap between the two Ferraris, pitting just a few seconds behind the race leader. A good stop from the team saw him rejoin third, but as the others ahead then made their stops, Antonio was now leading the class before making his final pit stop.

Leo was in the car for the run to the end of the race, with the other cars in the battle for GT2 leap-frogging the Team Modena Ferrari at the final pit stop and staying clear to the end, the chequered flag waving at just past one in the morning, local time. The Ferrari claimed 17th overall in the 35-car field.

“It was a very challenging race on what is a tough track – especially in the dark,” said Leo. “It was a good team performance, once again we showed our potential and it was good to get on the podium.”

www.teammodena.com

Team Modena conducted a successful two day test of their Ferrari 430 GT at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track in France on Sunday and Monday – running for the first time against some of the teams they will be racing against once the Le Mans Series kicks off in Spain next month. With drivers Antonio Garcia and Leo Mansell both in attendance, the team once more worked through a structured test programme with their new car prior to its race debut in Barcelona over the first weekend of next month.