Pole position for the Ravasio-Alessi crew

With today's qualifying session (Saturday 1 April) disputed at Monza, the first round of the Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati Europa 2006 got underway. Pole position was taken by the Francesco Ravasio and Diego Alessi pairing in a time of 2'00"296. Sharing the front row of the grid is reigning champion Alberto Cerrai (2'00"750). He is followed by the VIP car with the French team of Jean (2'01"442) behind the wheel. Coulomb and Beltoise are making their first appearance in the Maserati Trofeo GranSport.
Battling it out for fourth spot towards the close of the hour long session were Andrea and Manuel Villa. In the end, Demegni, in 2'01"842, edged out Villa by just one one-hundredth of a second. Also making row three was Luigi Moccia and his partner, Stefania Grassetto (2'02"085).
Among the drivers making their debut, the young crew of Matteo Cambi and Nicolò Oddi did well to take a place on the fourth row with a time of 2'02"483.
On the starting grid of Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati there are also the ex-rally driver Jean Claude Andruet (from France), together with the Swiss Philippe Liechti, and the Governator of Curitiba (Brasil) Beto Richa.
For Ravasio-Alessi it was a repeat of past performances in the Trofeo Maserati when the two claimed pole on the fast Monza circuit.
The fifty-minute race will take place tomorrow (Sunday 2 April) at 13.25.

Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati Europa qualifying session
1. Ravasio-Alessi in 2'00"296
2. Cerrai in 2'00"750
3. Coulomb-Beltoise in 2'01"442
4. Demegni in 2'01"842
5. Villa in 2'01"958