Heavy traffic on the Imola circuit!

Throughout most of Europe, holiday departures cause hundreds of kilometers of traffic jams. Around Imola, the cars head for the Rimini beaches at a snail's pace. At the circuit the traffic is also a major talking point.

Red looks like it will be the predominant colour in the grandstands because of Ferrari. And on the track too because of the heavy traffic!

At midday on Sunday, 49 cars will be unleashed on the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit. In a perfect world there would be 100 metres separating each one. In comparison, the Le Mans 24-Hours circuit provides a 243-metre gap between each driver.

With the quickest car, the no. 7 Peugeot 908, and the slowest, the no. 62 Ferrari F 430 GT, separated by 18 seconds in the first free practice session, it looks there will be a lot of overtaking – and quite a few traffic jams!

Marcel Fässler in the no. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 TDI, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours with the German make, underlines the problems: “The playing field here is very different to Le Mans. The race is much shorter but it raises another type of challenge with the traffic. We'll be overtaking nonstop!”

Giancarlo Fisichella, who set the quickest time in LM GTE Pro in the no. 51 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia, admits this factor changes his approach: “The traffic is a real problem. At Le Mans we saw it was a cause of accidents. In our position we have to pay attention to this parameter to avoid any problems.”

“The traffic will have to be taken into account on this track,” adds Emmanuel Collard in the no. 16 Pescarolo Team Pescarolo-Judd. “The circuit doesn't have many overtaking zones or heavy braking points.”