The new season of the FIA GT Championship got underway this morning with the official test session held at Monza, and with Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini all represented, Italian interest will be even higher this year. 

The two-day test session, which concludes tomorrow, includes a press conference, official photo sessions and guest laps around the track for a number of lucky journalists. Twenty three cars are due to take part in the track sessions on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Topping the timesheets early on with a fastest lap of 1:46.951 was the no 10 Vitaphone Maserati MC 12, less than five hundredths ahead of the Prodrive-built Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello.

The first day of testing for the 2005 series was to give an excellent initial impression of what promises to be an extremely close and exciting season. The FIA GT cars had got two hours and forty five minutes of testing time under their belts today, around the 5.79 km Monza circuit, by the time the final session came to a close.

After the two Vitaphone Maserati MC12 cars led the first two sessions, the best time of the day was eventually set by the no 17 Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello, with a lap of 1:45.187.

The quickest of the Vitaphone Maserati MC 12 cars, the no 10 example, was one tenth slower, with a time of 1:45.288, while the Team Menx Ferrari 550 Maranello set the fourth fastest time of the day, with a time of 1:45.619.
 

The times were extremely close, with the top five all being split by less than seven tenths of a second in both the second and third sessions.

The Reiter Engineering run Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT set some excellent times, with a best time of 1:47.240, putting it sixth fastest, just behind newcomer Loris Kessel Racing which were running a 2005-specification Ferrari 575 GTC, a car which has undergone extensive aerodynamic revisions since last year.

"We knew it would be difficult here at Monza," commented Lamborghini pilot Norman Simon, who has experience of the R-GT gained last year when he ran selected Japanese GT Championship races for Amprex Motorsports. "This is not our favourite circuit. But we are looking forward to the rest of the season."