Mika Salo and Thomas Biagi Win the Tourist Trophy at Silverstone
08 May 2007
Vitaphone Racing Team claimed its second consecutive win in The Royal
Automobile Club Tourist Trophy at Silverstone on Sunday, when Thomas
Biagi and Mika Salo drove their Maserati MC 12 to victory in the second
round of the 2007 FIA GT Championship.
They finished 7.4 seconds ahead
of the Chevrolet Corvette of Mike Hezemans and Jean-Denis Deletraz
to join the very exclusive club of Tourist Trophy winners, a group
that includes Stirling Moss, Denny Hulme, Graham Hill, Derek Bell and
Tazio Nuvolari.
The 102-year-old trophy was presented to the victorious
pairing by Tim Keown, Chairman of The Royal Automobile Club.
Mika Salo, who was standing in for the injured Michael Bartels, said: “The
team did a fantastic job with the car; my job was to keep on the track
and to maintain a good pace – Thomas (Biagi) did all the work.
I was looking at the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy - I’m
old, but this is very old! It’s nice to have our name amongst
these big names; there’s a load of famous people there.”
The
Tourist Trophy is the world’s oldest surviving motor race,
with the first race being held on September 14th 1905 on the Isle of
Man and was contested 52 times between 1905 and 1988.
The Royal Automobile
Club re-introduced the Tourist Trophy during its centenary year in
2005 for the FIA GT race at Silverstone, with Dutchman Peter Kox and
Portugal’s Pedro Lamy victorious in the
three hour race. Last year saw the names of Andrea Bertolini and Michael
Bartels added to the roll of honour and now Mika Salo and Thomas Biagi
will become the latest in a long line of racing heroes to have their
names engraved on motorsport’s most famous trophy.
Motion Works
 Related
Images:
FIA GT Championship,
Silverstone, 05-06 May 2007
Photography by and
Copyright of D.Stokes for Factor41Media
     
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See 2007 series calendar for FIA
GT Championship
Related Story 07.05.2007 - Ryan Hooker Makes Solid Start to FIA GT3 Campaign
