A fine grid had been assembled for the second event on the Group C Racing 2014 calendar, the Spa Classic, with some exciting new arrivals bolstering the field that had put on such a great show in Barcelona in April.
Kriton Lendoudis was making his Group C debut in his recently acquired Rothmans Porsche 956C, as were brothers Max and Moritz Werner in their Charge-liveried Mazda 767B, Frank Lyons in his Gebhardt C91 (driving solo as a result of son Michael being on ELMS duty at Imola the same weekend), and Shaun Lynn in his Mercedes C11.
Sadly not making the trip was Paul Stubber and his Lola T711; the popular Australian having to curtail his journey to Belgium and return home as a result of a family emergency.
Bitter cold and even a dusting of snow had greeted the Classic field in 2013, with heavy rain following on race day. Happily, things would be a lot sunnier and drier this time around, even if the persistent breeze acted to keep temperatures on the cool side.
With this being a one-hour race, Barcelona Race 2 winner Bob Berridge would be sharing the Chamberlain Synergy C11 with reigning champion Gareth Evans, while Race 1 winner Katsu Kubota was reunited with his Barcelona teammate Joaquin Folch in the #25 Nissan R90CK. The final two-driver entries were the #14 Leyton House Porsche 962 of Tommy Dreelan – the Irishman returning to the series for his first race since the surgery that prevented him from racing in Spain – and the #45 Alpha Porsche 962C of father/son duo Pierre-Alain and Erwin France.
Qualifying
There would be two 45-minute qualifying sessions on the seven kilometre Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with the first taking place on the Friday afternoon.
All cars took part in the session, which was reasonably unremarkable for the first half-hour. With several drivers new to both car and track, it was perhaps understandable that any evidence of heroics was minimal. Christophe D’Ansembourg led the way in the #17 Jägermeister Porsche 962 on 2:17.864 and the only car to find trouble in the opening 30 minutes was Tommy Dreelan’s 962, which suffered a minor rear-suspension issue.
Things heated up in the final 15 minutes, but Paul Whight’s Aston Martin AMR1 was destined to play no further part in the meeting after gearbox issues stranded the Class 1 car at Eau Rouge on its 11th lap; its exit being a major disappointment.
Gareth Evans had been behind the wheel of the #31 Mercedes for the first half of the session, but Bob Berridge was now installed in the driver’s seat…and if there’s one thing we now about Bob, it’s that he doesn’t like to pootle around. The car had been gradually improving its pace and was into the 2:18s as the final 10 minutes arrived. But two visits to the pitlane in succession suggested that things were being readied for a proper qualifying effort, and this proved to be the case; the Silver Arrows lopping a full seven seconds off its previous best to set provisional pole at 2:11.291, and then hammering things home with a 2:10.198 on its next lap. This must have been a bit galling for Shaun Lynn, who five minutes earlier had bettered D’Ansembourg’s time to go P1 on 2:16.442.
Mike Donovan was fourth overall and top in Class 2, with a 2:20.012 in the #111 Listerine spice SE88, with the Kubota/Folch Nissan fifth and Eric Rickenbacher sixth in the #60 Cheetah G606. Richard Eyre was 12th quickest overall and first in Class 3, with a 2:26.893 in the #3 Jaguar XJR16.
The second session early on Saturday afternoon was a rather more fractured affair, with no fewer than three red flags both interrupting the flow of proceedings and also accounting for 18 of the 45 minutes available. The first had come very early in the session when Kent Abrahamsson’s R90CK shed bodywork on its first lap, while the second was caused by the #2 Mercedes spinning and blocking the pit entrance. The final caution was triggered by the other Nissan stopping on track in a place of danger after seemingly running out of fuel.
In between these interruptions, several cars did manage to make improvements. The #111 Spice improved on the #17 Porsche’s Q1 time by seven thousandths of a second to go third in the combined standings, while the #25 Nissan improved its pace by more than three seconds but remained fifth on the grid. It was joined by the #45 Porsche, which improved from ninth to sixth. the #3 Jaguar found almost two seconds to move to 10th, while the biggest improvement came from the Mazda – the Werner brothers improving by 14 seconds and five grid spots by the time the chequered flag flew. The Cheetah suffered a crown and pinion issue at the start of the session and was unable to complete a lap, although it would be okay for the race and would start from the fourth row.
Race
The crews of those cars that found trouble on Saturday surely welcomed the 26 hours that separated the end of qualifying from the start of the race and – while several of the drivers got stuck into racing their other cars elsewhere on the busy Classic schedule – they did not squander the opportunity, as evidenced by the fact that all 19 surviving cars were assembled on the grid late on Sunday afternoon. The 60-minute event was the penultimate race of the meeting and conditions were perfect as the pace car pulled away.
Gareth Evans was probably expecting the initial threat to come from Shaun Lynn in the other Mercedes C11, but as the lights turned green and the run down towards the La Source hairpin began, Erwin France made an audacious move on the lead on the outside of the track; the black Alpha Porsche only narrowly failing in its attempt but gaining four places to lie second. Christophe D’Ansembourg was also ready for the start and was by Lynn for third as the field streamed towards Eau Rouge.
Lynn now found himself defending fourth place from the Nissan of Joaquin Folch and this allowed the top three to pull away over the course of the first lap.
1.425s covered first to third them as Lap 2 began, with the gap from first to second being just two-tenths.
Mike Donovan found himself behind both R90CKs after the opening lap as he lost out to the more powerful Class 1 cars, but he was clinging on to Kent Abrahamsson’s coattails in seventh. Henrik Lindberg, meanwhile, had gone from 11th to eighth on the first lap, but alas was in the pits at the end of Lap 2; the engine on the #33 Tic Tac Porsche having lost all of its water. Richard Eyre remained in ninth to lead Class 3 in the Jaguar.
At the head of the field, Evans found himself unable to shake off his pursuers and indeed France pressed home his attack. The gap dropped to 0.111s over the course of the second lap, but D’Ansembourg had lapped quicker still and had reduced his deficit by 0.4s; and, while all three leading cars dropped into the 2:20s on Lap 3, it was the #17 962 that was quickest again and the gap from first to third came down to just 0.888s.
But just as things were shaping up very nicely, D’Ansembourg’s race came to an abrupt end in a most unexpected manner, as the door of the Porsche suddenly came loose and smashed into the windscreen. This understandably caused its started driver to spin, and while no further damage had been incurred, the Porsche pitted at the end of the lap and would take no further part.
But while the leader had lost one of his pursuers, the second was still very much there and still just a quarter of a second behind. On Lap 5, France once more closed the gap to 0.162s and it looked as though the young Frenchman was about to make a move for the lead. But no. When the #31 Mercedes exited the Bus Stop on Lap 6, there was only clear air behind him; the 962 having slowed and pulled off. Thus ended a fine, if brief, race for the lead.
Evans now led by 10 seconds from Folch in the #25 Nissan, who was himself 11 seconds clear of Mike Donovan in the #111 Spice. After losing ground on the opening lap, Donovan had got back on to terms with Abrahamsson’s Nissan and the two cars had been locked together for the opening six laps; the Spice finally able to take what was now third on Lap 6. Shaun Lynn had similarly been fending off Folch, but a spin on Lap 5 cost the #2 C11 30 seconds and dropped it from third to seventh.
But Abrahamsson hadn’t given up and on Lap 7 retook the place from Donovan. The duel continued for a further two laps before the positions were reversed once more, and this time traffic allowed the Spice to gain a foothold and pull out a gap on the Nissan.
It turned out that battles were raging throughout the field. Max Werner had made a great start in the Mazda 767B, going from 13th to 10th on the opening lap. Things hadn’t gone so well for Eric Rickenbacher, though, with the Cheetah dropping from seventh to 13th over the same distance. The Swiss racer quickly recovered his composure and began to make ground, passing Tommy Dreelan’s Porsche 962 and Russell Kempnich’s 956C before catching and passing the Mazda on Lap 5. But Werner was enjoying himself in his new toy and retook the place on Lap 7.
The green Cheetah came back again on Lap 8 and retook the place, and Kempnich also saw his chance to follow through and push the Mazda down to ninth on Lap 9.
Further back still, the #5 Porsche 962 of Peter Harburg and the #9 956C of Kriton Lendoudis had also been swapping places; the Greek driver gaining ground on Lap 2, but losing it again to the Australian on Lap 4.
By the end of Lap 10, the order was 31 (Evans), 25 (Folch), 111 (Donovan), 28 (Abrahamsson), 2 (Lynn), 3 (Eyre), 60 (Rickenbacher), 12 (Kempnich), 77 (Werner), 107 (Dozin), 7 (Garrod), 29 (Lyons), 5 (Harburg), 9 (Lendoudis) and 14 (Scott).
Folch had by this point reduced Evans’ lead to 3.355s and would close again on Lap 11, but the pitstops were fast approaching and the #31 still led as Evans handed over to Bob Berridge on Lap 12. Tommy Dreelan had been the first to make the mandatory stop, handing his 962 over to Aaron Scott on Lap 9, but contact with Richard Eyre’s Jaguar on the opening lap had bent the Porsche’s exhaust and caused the ECU to shut down, resulting in an unscheduled stop on Lap 2; “We’ve seen the footage and it was simply a racing incident,” said Scott afterwards. “It was only slight damage, but enough to cost us 90 seconds in the pit. A shame as the car ran superbly after that.”
As more and more cars made their stops, Mike Donovan found himself briefly holding the lead, before his own stop promoted Kent Abrahamsson to P1; the Swede being the last pitter on Lap 15.
Crucially, the well-practiced Chamberlain Synergy team had managed to turn around the leading Mercedes a full 30-seconds quicker than the #25 Nissan managed and, as a result, Berridge now led by 36 seconds from Katsu Kubota. Mike Donovan had also had one of the better stops and was now just 11 seconds behind the Japanese in third. There was then a big gap back to Shaun Lynn in fourth and another sizeable gap back to Richard Eyre – enjoying a fine run in the Class 3-leading Jaguar – in fifth.
Eric Rickenbacher rounded out the top six on Lap 15, but he had ended the lap in the pits as gearbox issues once more reared their head. One more lap was attempted, but it was clear that the issues could not be overcome and the car was retired. Kent Abrahamsson’s race would also come to an end on Lap 18, following contact with the barriers at Turn 5.
With no immediate opposition, Berridge simply put his foot down and had fun in the #31 Mercedes, setting fastest lap after fastest lap as the time wound down and his lead got ever bigger. His fastest time came on Lap 23 – 2:14.360 – before he backed off for the final lap; the Silver Arrows taking its second win of the season by an impressive 95 seconds.
“Once again, the Mercedes was brilliant,” said Gareth Evans. “Great fun racing with the two Porsches for the opening laps and a bit of a shame that didn’t carry on for longer. To race that car around Spa is such a privilege and it was a great weekend – even the sun managed to shine!”
Mike Donovan had done his best to close the gap to Kubota in second, and had indeed reduced the gap to under 10 seconds by Lap 20, but the Nissan was 15 seconds clear of the Spice by the time the flag fell.
“Qualifying went well but I knew that I would be mugged on Lap 1 on the run up the long Kemmel straight by the much more powerful Class 1s,” said Mike. “I had a great run to gradually catch them back and then lead through the pitstops – some big scrap for many laps with Kent, before getting ahead. After the stops, I was trying to catch Kubota, but traffic got in the way. Very happy with third overall and the class win!”
Thomas Dozin finished second in Class 2 in his #107 Spice SE88C, ninth overall.
Shaun Lynn ended his first Group C race in fourth – third in Class 1 – in the #2 Mercedes and was the final runner on the lead lap.
“Spa Classic was the first time I’ve raced the Mercedes C11 and I was blown away by the pace of the car and just how advanced these cars were back in the 90s,” enthused Shaun. “It’s really a testament to how Mercedes and Sauber built their car – engineering at its best. It was a privilege to drive something that the likes of Schumacher and Mass have competed in and I can’t wait for Le Mans!”
Richard Eyre took a deserved Class 3 win, fifth overall, in the #3 Jaguar XJR16, with Frank Lyons taking second in class on his debut in the Gebhardt C91.
“Its such a privilege to drive these cars around the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit and reminds me just how lucky we are to attend such great circuits,” said Richard. “The car is running well and we are now looking forward to the greatest race of all, Le Mans!”
“I really enjoyed the race and the atmosphere of Group C and am thoroughly looking forward to Le Mans and the rest of the season now I’ve got my head around the car,” said Frank.
Peter Garrod had looked set to take that spot in his Intrepid, but a late fuel scare prompted an unscheduled stop and the RM1 driver had to be content with third.
Russell Kempnich finished sixth overall in the #12 Porsche 956C, just eight seconds ahead of the #77 Mazda of Moritz Werner. Aaron Scott was eighth in the #14 Porsche 962. Kriton Lendoudis brought the Rothmans Porsche home in 11th, while Peter Harburg was the final finisher.
“I have to say that it was very enjoyable,” said Kriton. “The weather was very good as well as the organization of the event and lots of people attended. Personally, I’m happy with my performance, considering that this was the first time I’ve raced the car and it was also my first time at Spa.
“The car performed faultlessly, especially considering it was its first race in some twenty five years or so. So, all in all, very positive and I’m looking forward to Le Mans now!”
Race result – here
And it is to La Sarthe that the Group C Racing series heads next (Spa-Francorchamps acting as the rehearsal stage for both the FIA WEC and Group C), with a one-hour race in support of the 24 Hours on June 14th. A large and varied grid is expected and a huge and enthusiastic crowd will be on hand to witness it. Let’s just hope that the weather is somewhat kinder this time around!
MH
All images ©Stephane Sasso/Sassography
