Alfa
Romeo Klubas (Lithuanian Alfa Romeo Club)
expanded its racing stable to two cars for the Omnitel 1000 Km race, bringing in
a specially prepared Alfa GT Coupé which was lined up alongside its regular Alfa
155 on the 44 car grid for green light of the prestigious touring car endurance
race.
In the end technical problems
forced both these eye-catching cars, the GT Coupé 'Diavolo Rosso' (which had started from 19th on
the grid) and the 155 'Zazas Edition' (having qualified in 37th place), to retire
much earlier than expected from the 334 lap race which this year - its 12th edition -
lasted for 9 hours and 38 minutes.
However the new stunning
'Diavolo Rosso' managed to haul itself up the running order and get in amongst
the ten quickest cars of all the 44 starters which participated in the race.
This not only reveals good prospects in the future races - said the Alfa
Romeo Klubas afterwards - but, what is more important, gives smiles and
optimism to the team.
The Omnitel 1000 km, held in
Palanga, Lithuania, is considered the most prestigious race in the Baltic States
and each year attracts participants, this team teams travelled from Holland,
Belgium the UK and Russia to take part. This year the Alfa Romeo Klubas
participated in the 1000 km race fourth time was one of only two teams
representing the Italian brand in the event. Irrespective of the results
achieved, the beautiful club cars, immaculately finished in dazzling Alfa Romeo
racing colours, were amongst the most admired by the
spectators and were the star turns in the race as they proudly flew the Alfa
Romeo banner aloft.
Sponsorship in fact constituted only
minor part in the development of these two dazzling racing cars as devoted club members tuned
the glorious 3.2-lire V6 litre engines to deliver around 320 hp, while both weighed in,
almost identically, at 1150 kg.
The tough and demanding race was won by the the Neiluva/Martin Sport-entered Honda Type R which completed the 1000 km
distance in a
little under 10 hours. Making it a Latvian 1-2 was the second placed Rimo BMW
330D, which had started from the front row of the grid; it came home two laps adrift. The final podium
spot went to the Dutch-based Snoras Spyker Squadron's Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2,
the GT car had swept to pole position but was forced to battle back into race contention right from the
first hour and eventually the Dutch supercar claimed the final podium position,
albeit 5 laps down. The Spyker C8 was one of a handful of GT cars joining the
massed touring car ranks in the race, other sports cars taking part included a Ferrari
F430 Challenge, Lexus IS and Dodge Viper.
