The 2004 season will be hectic for Matteo Bobbi - the world FIA GTchampion has just finished a 2 day collective test session in Monza onboard the Scuderia Italia’s Ferrari 550 Maranello .

This isn’t the only thing that he has on his agenda: the race car driverfrom Milan is going to the United States on Sunday to participate ina 3 day test session in Houston in view of the 12 Hours of Sebring.Matteo Bobbi will in fact be part of the first race of the ALMSchampionship. The American Le Mans Series championship willstart on March 20th and Matteo will be behind the wheel of the RisiTeam’s Ferrari 360.Anthony Lazzaro and Ralf Kelleners will be Matteo’s team mates.About a month ago, they raced together for the 24 hours of Daytonaas well.

Matteo Bobbi“In Monza we managed to complete our program.Together with myteam mate Gabriele Gardel, we concentrated on race simulation andon the tyres. Therefore, we didn’t try to get the best performance butinstead we worked on the car’s reliability. Notwithstanding this, we still managed to set optimal times (4th overall) which proves our potential and that of the Scuderia Italia.

On Sunday, I’m off to Houston: the Risi Team has asked me again tobe a part of their team for a new adventure : the 12 hours of sebring.I’m very proud that the team has showed a renewed interest in me andhas given me the possibility to compete in the United States.This way ,I’ll be able to experience something new and stimulating . I will also beable to compete with other drivers who have more experience withraces of long duration. I hope that the new season that will begin soon,will be just as successful as the previous one. I know that I’m going tohave to work hard to repeat what I had last year but this doesn’tfrighten me.

To win is difficult. To win again is even more so.”