Barron Connor Racing

Encouraged by the success of the Maranello Ferrari decided to build a small series of GTs
using the F550 as a base, hence the 575 GTC, which made a winning debut at Estoril in
2003. Around ten cars were built during the winter including two for Barron Connor
Racing who intended entering them for the ELMS and the 24 Hours.
The 575 came second in its class at Sebring but seemed unable to match the speed of the
F550s in the FiA GT Championship and the ELMS at Monza. It had a new engine, which had
upped its pace, and aerodynamic modifications were made for the Le Mans 24 Hours race.
Sharing the cars with John Bosch were Thomas Biaggi and Danny Sullivan in the no. 61 and Mike
Hezemans, Ange Barde and Jean Denis Deletraz in the no. 62.

At the practice in April it was first time that the
Barron Connor racing's F575 Maranellos had
turned a wheel in Europe after a rather lack-
lustre performance at Sebring. The Ferraris did
not seem to had made a lot of progress and
Mike Hezemans could not get under the
4-minute barrier. His quickest lap was in 4m
00,780s and the two F575 GTCs were four
seconds down on the slowest F550 Maranello,
and over ten seconds behind the fastest
Corvette.
At the practice in June the F575s were still
struggling despite all the work supposed to
have been done in the six weeks since the
preliminary practice. Neither of the Barron

Connor cars was capable of breaking the 4-minute barrier. Mike Hezemans was again the
quickest driver in 4m 00,714s and to add to the team's woes the engine went on the no. 61 on
wednesday's session. Thus, on thursday only the no. 62 practised. Finally both lined up on row
14th. And this wasn't all - at the warm up the new engine on the no. 61 blew up and had to be
replaced with the used one fby no. 62 from the practice.
The two Barron Connor F575s together since the start of the race parted company when the
no. 62 began to fall back. The no. 61 then speeded up a little but as they were way off pace of
the Corvettes and the Prodrive F550s a waiting game was the only tactic. It did pay off as no.

61 got up in 3rd place of the GTS class where it
stayed for 3 hours 7 laps behind the leading
Corvette and 6 down on the quickest Maranello.
In the middle of the night the retirement for the
no. 61 was inevitable. During a pitstop the front
breaks caught fire and even though the fire was
quickly put out, the flames had inflicted terminal
damage destroying part of the electronics.
The second Barron Connor Racing Ferrari F575
driven by Deletraz, Hezemans and Barde retired
in the morning, when the car ran out of fuel!
Overall it was a pretty disappointing showing by
the young team in only its third outing and first
Le Mans. The F575s were the only cars not to
see the flag.

Hour by hour (#61):
Start - 31st
1h - 31st
2h - 27th
3h - 21st
4h - 19th
5h - 18th
6h - 15th
7h - 13th
8h - 15th
9h - 14th
10h - 15th
11h - 14th
12h - 13th
13h - 28th
14h - 32nd
15h - 33rd
16h - 34th
17h -
18h -
19h -
20h -
21h -
22h -
23h -
24h -

Hour by hour (#62):
Start - 27th
1h - 30th
2h - 23rd
3h - 17th
4h - 14th
5h - 13th
6h - 20th
7h - 32nd
8h - 34th
9h - 33rd
10h - 32nd
11h - 31st
12h - 29th
13h - 29th
14h - 28th
15h - 30th
16h - 30th
17h -
18h -
19h -
20h -
21h -
22h -
23h -
24h -