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Silverstone

Eurosport Super Racing Weekends

13/05/2001

Race Report

Last year’s Silverstone FIA GT race was left looking a very poor relation to the ALMS round that had taken place the previous evening. This time around, however, honour was restored, a terrific three hour race at a hot and sunny Silverstone kept the (albeit small) crowd on the edge of their seats throughout.

From the start, the #3 Carsport Holland Chrysler Viper powered ahead of Jamie Campell-Walter’s #1 Lister Storm. The second #2 Lister, started by an injured Julian Bailey, gained a place from its grid position up to fouth, right on the bootlid of the #10 Belmondo Racing Viper started by 2000 Belcar star Anthony Kumpen.

Behind this squabbling pack the second Belmondo Viper #11 was fending off Mimmo Schiattarella in #5, the first of the Rafanelli Ferrari 550s. Making up for a poor qualifying slot and belying its 100kgs of success ballast, the #7 Larbre Viper had already stormed through the six super-pole N-GT cars to lie seventh. Mark Duez followed him through to lie eighth at the end of lap 1 in the second #6 Rafanelli Ferrari.

A Lister 2-4 would become 1-3 by lap 3 as the leading #3 Viper pulled off at Club corner, a broken alternator leaving the unfortunate Mike Hezemans with a long walk back for the early bath. Bailey might have been injured but it didn’t show as he snapped at Kumpen’s heels. The Belgian wasn’t going to give in easily though and ducked and weaved in front of the charging Lister.

The second Belmondo Viper, in the hands of Emmanuel Clerico, was showing early signs of a problem that would bring trouble later as its bonnet started flapping on one side of the car

Bouchut had made his way past Schiattarella and was soon followed by the Rafanelli driver’s team mate Duez.

For the moment, Clerico’s bodywork dramas weren’t slowing him down as he held the Larbre Viper and then began to pull away. Duez was beginning to close on this pair by lap 5, having pulled clear of the #6 Ferrari by a couple of seconds.

Laps 6 and 7 though were all about Lister. First Jamie Campbell Walter set the fastest lap of the race - a 1:49.625 - and then Bailey finally made a pass stick on Kumpen with a gutsy move into Becketts. His team mate seemed surprised to see the #2 car emerge from the complex in second place - was JC-W watching his mirrors when he left his braking VERY late into Stowe? So it was Lister 1-2, Belmondo Vipers 3-4 and then the Larbre Viper spoiling the team formation run before the Rafanelli Ferraris came through in 6th and 7th.

By lap 10, Duez was right on the tail of the #7 Viper with Schiattarella holding off a charging Boris Derichebourg in the third #12 Belmondo Viper.

The Listers were by now pulling clear, 5 seconds ahead of Kumpen by lap 13 and Duez too was still charging, now up to fifth and closing in on Clerico.

Lap 17 and the challenge from Boris Derichebourg was over for now. The #12 Viper pitted to have a lawn’s worth of grass removed from the front end of the car, his pursuit of the #6 Ferrari had been a trifle too enthusiastic! The team took the opportunity to change drivers, Vincent Vosse rejoined down in 14th place.

By Lap 21 the Listers were lapping the N-GT leading #62 JMB Giesse Ferrari 360 and were still pulling clear of an increasingly close battle for third, fourth and fifth. Eager to settle the matter, Duez took a big look up the inside of both Vipers into Stowe and in the sort-out that followed, Clerico took third.

The second Rafanelli car was in trouble however, a huge blowout on the #5 car left most of its right front tyre on the racing line at Becketts and left Schiattarella to crawl round to pit and hand over the car to Emmanuele Naspetti. The repairs would leave the Ferrari two laps down in 20th place.

Worse still though was the delay for the #11 Viper. Its flapping bonnet needed attention, Clerico handed the car over to Didier Defourny but a long stop left the car back in 23rd.

Now the Listers really but the hammer down, their charge was helped by a gripping battle between Duez and Kumpen. These two squabbled for lap after lap before Duez finally got by on lap 27. By then the Listers were almost 30 seconds down the road.

Bouchut (above) was still back in fifth almost 20 seconds down on the third / fourth battle, with Sebastian Bleekemolen a further 17 seconds back in sixth.

Meanwhile the #11 Viper came by on lap 28 with its bonnet now fully open, whatever the team had fastened it down with was no match for the airflow on the Hangar Straight. All credit to Defourny, it didn’t slow him down at all but after two laps the stewards had seen enough and the black and orange flag signalled a further pit stop for the unfortunate #11 car.

Duez was followed in for his first stop by Kumpen, the front of the #5 Ferrari betrayed a grassy moment and more was removed to be added to the Silverstone compost heap. The Listers pitted next, in formation and both crews changed drivers. Tom Coronel was back out after a very quick stop in the #1 car to retain a 60 second lead, but Nicolaus Springer’s race was to last just a couple of metres. The starter motor ills which caused the #2 car problems in qualifying had returned to finish its race as one hour was up.

Jamie Campbell-Walter was pleased with his first stint but scathing about the driving standards of some of the N-GT Porsche drivers. “Some of them were driving like Grannies out there!” said a pumped up JC-W, who had been baulked several times by slower cars.

It was good news / bad news for Ferrari fans. Mark Duez’s #5 Rafanelli car was suddenly crawling, smoking heavily. Glum looks from the team as it pitted told the story and an overheated 550 Maranello was pushed back into the garage. His team mate though was charging. Naspetti was up to 10th in the #6 car.

40 laps in and the Lister now led by 80 seconds from Jean-Philippe Belloc in the #7 Larbre Viper who was holding the gap to Vincent Vosse’s #12 Viper at around six seconds. Claude-Yves Gosselin in #10 failed to fend off Michael Bleekemolen in the #4 Carsport Holland Viper for fourth. That wouldn’t be enough for the flying Dutchman though as he closed in on Vosse too.

At the halfway point Coronel was still slowly stretching his lead, with Belloc now 35 seconds clear of Bleekemolen – the #12 Vosse car having pitted for a routine stop, now out of sequence as a result of the earlier off-road excursion. Fourth was Gosselin, now 11 seconds back in the #10 Belmondo Viper with a rapidly recovering Naspetti having taken Tamas Illes in the #21 GLPK Viper for fifth.

Of the other GT runners at halfway, Vosse was now in seventh, Jean Pierre Jarier was back in 10th in the colourful #9 Team ART Viper, just ahead of the #24 Racing Box Viper. The #8 Proton Competion Porsche GT2 was running a slow but steady 15th but was being rapidly overhauled by the recovering #11 Belmondo Viper, now back in the hands of Emmanuel Clerico.

The #1 Lister’s trouble free run, and its 90 second lead, was about to come to an end however. As the car came in to Luffield on its 52nd lap, #59, the slowest of the Freisinger Racing Porsche 911GT3 Rs which had run wide, seemingly to allow Coronel to pass on the inside, suddenly turned in, hitting the Lister on the right front wheel. The immediate consequences were a spin for #59 and a trip to the infield for #1. Coronel pitted immediately and fuel, and tyres were dealt with as the Lister pit crew attended to the bent body work around the front wing with a deftly wielded hammer. Something was clearly amiss with the car and by the time Coronel rejoined he was down to third, trailing both Belloc and Bleekemolen with Naspetti’s Ferrari only eight seconds behind in fourth.

Several laps with the Lister running in the 1:56s, 3-4 seconds slower than the leading car, was further proof that the clash had damaged more than bodywork on #1. In fact it was a bent steering arm and the car was understeering badly. It was taking Coronel valuable time to adapt to the ill-handling car. His times were edging downwards though and with one hour to go and the other leading runners coming in for their routine stops he was back up to second place, way behind Belloc, the only leading runner yet to stop a second time.

The leader finally stopped on Lap 64 to hand over the #7 car to Bouchut. Coronel inherited a slim lead and set about trying to keep it with laps in the 1:53s.

After bad luck for the Lister, things started to look up, first the hard charging #5 Ferrari pitted early from third after a right front puncture, both right hand tyres were changed and the car rejoined but down to 8th. Then the second placed Larbre car pitted once more after only five laps in pursuit of Coronel. A swift change of rear tyres indicated a puncture for this car too. Bouchut rejoined in third but was back in second when Vosse brought the #12 Viper in for its final routine stop.

With 40 minutes to run the Lister’s lead looked comfortable at 72 seconds (although the #1 car would have to stop for fuel again). The #7 Larbre Viper was holding a seven second advantage over Bleekemolen the Younger (Sebastiaan) who was, in turn, 23 seconds up on Anthony Kumpen, now back in the #10 Belmondo Viper. He led his Belmondo Racing team mate Boris Derichebourg by a comfortable 25 seconds whilst way behind, the battle for sixth was in full sway between Illes in #21 and a fast charging (again!) Schiattarella in #5.

Lap 77 and the inevitable Lister pit stop. Fuel, no tyres but a driver change. Jamie Campbell-Walter back into the fray. He rejoined with a lead the length of the pit straight and next time round, with half an hour to go, led Bouchut by 8.1 seconds. The gap came down quickly over the next two laps before JC-W started to hold the deficit at around six seconds. Once again though, the fickle finger of fate appeared to favour the Lister as the chasing Bouchut was held up for more than half a lap by Jean Pierre Jarier's #9 Viper, running three laps down. Bouchut finally muscled his way by the errant ex F1 racer into Stowe on Lap 82 and showed his feelings using the medium of international sign language!

Also on a charge by this time were Schiattarella, now up to sixth and a fast recovering Clerico who, having dropped to the very back of the field following his bonnet woes was now storming up the order up to 10th with 15 minutes to go. All three Belmondo Vipers were now back in the top 10.

The gap at the front rose and fell with traffic but slowly Bouchut was hauling the Lister in. Behind the leading pair Bleekemolen was driving quickly and steadily but Kumpen was driving even more quickly and was bearing down on #4.

10 minutes to go and the gaps from 1st to 2nd and from 3rd to 4th were both down to less than 4 seconds. Not for long though as luck finally deserted the Lister squad, the #1 car was slowing, smoking heavily at Becketts as Bouchut shot by to take the lead.

JC-W struggled back to the pits, new tyres were fitted to the smokey Lister and the car was sent out again. Not for long though, #1 was back in next time around, the bent steering arm had finally sheared and with five minutes left to run the Lister’s race was run.

The order on the podium was still in doubt though. Whilst Bouchut’s place on the top step looked assured, the two behind were still battling hard for second. Kumpen was trying hard to find a gap everywhere and Bleekemolen (below) was trying even harder not to present him with one.

At the flag, Bouchut led by 23 seconds but the #4 Carsport Holland Viper only just managed to clinch second spot with Kumpen following Bleekemolen home only 0.5 seconds back. Derichebourg was a distant fourth and Schiattarella’s efforts were rewarded with a hard won fifth. The final points placing went, amazingly, to the third Belmondo car. Clerico’s recovery drive had taken him by the N-GT leading #62 Ferrari on the very last lap and with the #21 GLPK Viper throwing sixth away in the Luffield gravel trap in the closing stages a fine effort from the #11 squad was rewarded with a single championship point.

Second placed Sebastiaan Bleekemolen was delighted but relieved. “I misheard my radio and thought that Anthony (Kumpen) was 20 seconds ahead. It was only when I saw him closing in my mirrors that I realised my mistake and spent the rest of the race keeping him back”.

Christophe Bouchut was reflective in victory. “I am delighted to win and to retake the lead in the championship but we were lucky. Our Viper is not quick enough to beat the Lister, particularly with 100kgs of ballast”.

The story of the race however was that of Luckless Lister.

Jamie Campbell-Walter was understandably “Gutted!” and scathing of the incident that had undoubtedly cost the home team the race. “After the Porsche hit Tom, the steering was p***ed and we had loads of understeer. It cost us the lead and then at least a couple of seconds a lap from then onwards”. From a likely 10 points with 10 minutes to go to none at the race,s end, a bitter pill indeed! A big Lister boot confirmed that the right front wheel wasn't steering any more.

JC-W came out of the race with enormous credit though. He'd looked assured of beating Bouchut despite the damage, and had got to grips with his mount in ways that Tom Coronel hadn't. Without the Lister damage, it was looking like a repeat home victory; with it, we had a very good race, almost to the bitter end. Kumpen was another star of the day and the meeting, Hezemans might have been in real contention, while Belmondo ended having a very good day, and Hezemans' team managed second place. This was a very good FIA GT race for almost everyone except car numbers 1, 2 and 3.

Graham Goodwin