PRODRIVE'S ITALIAN JOB; how The Le Mans GTS class got a wake-up call.(Racing)(Company Profile)

Byline: MATT DAVIS

Since 1984, Prodrive has been creating glorious noise in the peaceful English countryside from its Oxfordshire skunkworks in Banbury. The company is best known for teaming up with Subaru in the World Rally Championship (WRC). But Prodrive is also well known for its successes in the European and British Touring Car championships (ETCC and BTCC), where it ran two Volvo S60s against the dominating Alfas and BMWs. Less well known even in America is Prodrive and Subaru of America's domination of the 2001 SCCA U.S. Rally Championship in both the Open and Group N classes.

To be honest, though, these racing tie-ins still mean more to Europeans and Asians than they do to North Americans-anything except NASCAR signifying little to most 'Murkins. Which is a pity, but Prodrive is determined to do all it can to help crack that nut.

In the FIA GT class and American Le Mans Series, the Prodrive-engineered and managed CARE Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello helped inaugurate Prodrive's first involvement with pro sports car racing. At Le Mans in the GTS class, the lone 550 had to face really nasty competition from the two Corvette C5-Rs, four Viper GTS-Rs and three Saleen-Ford S7Rs. In the first few season events, including Sebring among others, the V12 Prodrive Ferrari had two wins but also gearbox and electrical troubles with small, twisty-filled courses working to the car's disadvantage. Le Mans, on the other hand, with its long and rapid straights, played right into the 550's strengths of high speed and fewer shifts. Following Le Mans qualifying, all GTS opponents asked responded that their chief worry was the Prodrive Ferrari that was outpacing all others by a significant margin, some five seconds per lap.

Prior to being forced out by a ruptured oil line that spewed crude all over the hot exhaust components a little after 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, the No. 58 Maranello driven by Rickard Rydell, Alain Menu and ...