It was a weekend that Gilles Villeneuve would have been proud of, coming just two weeks before the venue of one of his greatest drives, two of his beloved T4 Ferrari's put in seasons best drives around the circuit that bears his name.
While the recent handicap changes had aided the drivers of the bright yellow, Scuderia Giallo Ferrari's, both drives were top draw but they were not the only story of the weekend.
With many of the Lotus drivers in Division 1 finding themselves with improved handicaps the new chassis of choice was a Brabham. Two BT49's lined up on the front row of the grid ahead of Jef Vannijlen's McLaren and the T4 Ferrari of Rick Stratton.
Four more Brabhams, a mix of 48's and 49's filled the next segment of the grid with Timo and Rik lining up in 5th and 6th. Bret and Mike Perray, now running without his beloved Turbo, next up.
The field made a good start and although a few cars locked up or overshot chicanes no noticeable contact was made. At the end of lap one Jef and Roberto were battling over second with Ales already a few cars lengths clear. Rick was in fourth with Rik Walker in close attendance.
Further back Tim Peltota had lost a few spots and was now behind Mike Perray, the two BT48's ahead would prove to be a headache over the next 35 laps. Paul Langford was the only eone with any trouble on the opening lap, locking up and spinning just beside the wall of champions.
Paul was soon all over the back of Fulvio, in 15th while up ahead Bret Metcalf made a mistake in T1 chicane and was lucky to only lose 3 places overall. Bret was aided by a minor off for Rouke just after passing him.
Over the next few laps Bret dropped back, partly due to the damage, and partly down to losing his Rythmn. Paul Langford was now making progress, aided by Marcus' retiring on lap 4, while Rik Walker was about to hit trouble. First on lap 5 a trip over the curbs cost him a few places, then in T1 on lap 8 he did a Bret. Unfortunately his impact was higher and he turned his no-Front wing BT48, into a no-Wing one.
On his way back to the pits a mixup delayed him further when the rapidly recovering Langford collided with the crippled Brabham and lost his wing. About the incident Paul said "It looks like your instinct to get off the racing line took over mate, just one of those things, a racing incident and with a puncture and a missing rear wing they can kick to one side unexpectedly, I should have lifted a bit."
Meanwhile up front Timo was starting to get very familiar with the design of the rear wing of the Brabham. First Rik had proved impassable, and now he had the same problem with Mike Perray. In a problem that would be familiar to those following Villeneuve in the 1981 Jarama race, Perray was able to use the Alfa's power to pull away on the straights only to have the BT49 all over him in the twisty stuff.
On lap 17 Denis, who had caught the battling pair up earlier, got inside Timo with what was possibly a slightly optimistic attempt. Fortunately Timo gave him room, and deliberatly drove off the track, or a collision would probably have been unavoidable.
Rattled, Tim would drop back from the battle and even damage his car, but finished 7th. Denis caught Mike and on lap 27 he was through. Mike made the smallest of mistakes in a chicane, lost a bit of grip and momentum and Denis was through.
By now Rick had really got into a Rhythm and, aided by Jef spinning in the last corner he was rapidly closing Berti and Jef down.
By Lap 32 he was all over the back of the Brabham, taking a look inside him when he could and generally putting pressure all over the 3rd placed car. By Lap 34 he pulled it off, outbraking Berti under the bridge and taking the place despite a small wobble.
Overall an smooth drive from Ales for a well deserved win, a strong drive from Jef netting him second and excellent consistency and racecraft giving Rick an excellent third.
In Div 2 once again the best start was made by a T4 Ferrari. They seem to be able to get their power down better than the Cosworth cars and Kat is regularly making up places off the start.
Like Rick, however, she had to back out but still gained a place as Eric to her right was baulked by Toxiri's Brabham. Cooper then outbraked himself into the CoW chicane and dropped two places before David Pym also dropped back after a chicane mistake.
So at the end of Lap 1, Simon Bagget, up from second was leading ahead of John Wallace and Corrado. Pym was 10th out of 12th after qualifying on pole and would have a race to forget.
Cooper was now to have plenty of time to become familiar with a Ferrari rear end as he started to pressure the yellow example ahead. At the back of the field there was a certain amount of banging and boring. Tallini seemed to make an optomistic pass attempt on Marot into the last turn. He spun and was lucky to rejoin with all wheels on his wagon.
Ivor Blackmore also went off and for a moment Frank would have been tearing his hair out as both of the FW07's were recovering in Tandem at the tail of the field. David Pym therefore started a recovery drive which for a while looked to be promising.
Eric tried to pass Marot on Lap 2 under the bridge but spun and had to return the place denting his challenge for a decent finish. Fulghum recovered but lost a place to his HMR teammate and almost lost a place to Pym who was also passing Ivor.
Marot became the first driver to crash heavily into the WoC, doing so on lap 3 and losing both wings and suffering a puncture in the process. He made his smokey way to the pits as another battle developed on the track.
We already had the lead pair, pulling away with Simon a touch quicker and thus building a gap. Kat was holding off Martin using her Ferrari power to good effect. These two were about 6 to 8s ahead of David Kadlcak who was the front running in a HMR sandwhich with David Pym, 7th, in the middle and Eric to the rear.
The two Davids were having a Battle Royale. Lap after Lap the McLaren, a car that seemed to suit this track, was putting pressure all over the back of the Brabham ahead. Like in the Div1 race, however, the Alfa seemed to make passing hard as it would pull away on the straights preventing Pym from passing under braking.
He finally got a better run on the BT48 through the WoC chicane and was able to slip through in the next one moving up to 6th but some way back from Cooper ahead.
Coopers Brabham seemed to lose out on the straights, the big Ferrari V12 pulling out quite a gap under acceleration only for him to close up in the twisty stuff, especially the corners that make the start of the current circuit.
Meanwhile Pym had a technical problem and dropped back before ultimately retiring after a promising and disappointing run.
The bit race now was for fourth, and this became third when two spins caused John Wallace to retire from the race.
For the next few laps the gap between Cooper and Scott fluctuated and by Lap 15 the battle was a trio. Fulghum now pressurizing Cooper as much as the Brabham was pressurizing Scott. On Lap 16 Scott's slightly cautious line through the first two chicanes caught the Pink Pig out and Cooper nudged the back of the Ferrari. Cooper spun, lost the place while Kat carried on apparently unaffected.
Fulghum now put Scott under intense pressure, time and again he tried to pass the Ferrari but never managed to get into a position to make a pass stick.
Meanwhile up from things were happening. Carrado suddenly realised Baggett seemed to be in trouble. The gap, that had been steadily climbing, suddenly stabilised. Corrado, who at the time was lapping slightly inside himself safe, as he was, in second, therefore started to push. By Lap 30 he was into the 1m36's and the gap was collapsing like a pack of cards.
By Lap 34 the gap was down to nothing and on the last lap, as Baggett's McLaren struggled to pick up the last dregs of fuel the Brabham was through.
Katier thus took second, as the fuel ran out two corners from home ahead of Cooper who had inherited third from Eric who had beached himself two laps from home.
Overall two excellent races with a lot of close racing.
No comments:
Post a Comment