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A1-Ring

26/08/2001

Friday

Report

Very interesting - in both classes.

The morning session, held under clear skies and warm temperatures, saw Jamie Campbell-Walter fastest, over half a second clear of the Prodrive Ferrari, which apparently has had to have smaller restrictors fitted because of some problem over translation of regulations from French to English.

In N-GT, quickest man on the track was Tim Sugden in the EMKA Porsche, two tenths ahead of Luca Riccitelli. These two swapped over in the afternoon, much less than a tenth apart now. Lister Storm Racing were 1 - 2 by the end of the afternoon, but with the Prodrive Ferrari within one- and three-tenths of the Storms.

JC-W: "The car is really good, but everything is quite hot - the engine, the gearbox and the driver! But we've improved a lot around this track since last season. Of course we were then struggling with 100 kg penalty, and now we've got only 10, but we've also found a lot of extra time out of the hairpin, so we're quite pleased."

Perhaps with a hint of looking over your shoulder, Jamie, wondering what the Prodrive Ferrari is going to do next?

Julian Bailey was equally positive about his car - and partner. "Nicolaus is going well here, and he has picked up a lot of speed since his testing at Dijon - it's quite impressive. We're really looking in good shape for a result."

The Larbre Viper - carrying the full 100 kg - was 1.3 seconds behind JC-W, in sixth in the afternoon list, behind the two Carsport Vipers. The sole Rafanelli Ferrari was seventh, with Belmondo, Racing Box and Belmondo Vipers next up. "Of course, we know that the 100 kg penalty weight will handicap us," commented Christophe Bouchut.

"Realistically, we have a shot at pole and winning the race," surmised Rickard Rydell of Prodrive's prospects.

The third Lister? That was five seconds off the pace after one or two problems - a spin for Jarier, a clear-out of the rads., then a hint of a fire, preventing Lafon getting a lap in.

Tim Sugden was bubbling away at the speed he and the EMKA Porsche were showing. "Luca and I are....a second quicker than anyone else in the class. It would be lovely to have pole tomorrow, so obviously I'll be going as quick as possible." We know, you always do. That stiffer 996 chassis is really coming into its own now.

Stephane Ortelli was fourth fastest, and puzzled as to why the Freisinger Porsche is relatively so much quicker in the 24 hour races. He was black flagged for fixing his throttle cable at the side of the track - presumably after doing so successfully. Ni Amorim joins him for this race. Third in N-GT was the JVG Racing Porsche of Jurgen von Gartzen / Bruno Eichmann.

The 360 Ferraris? Nowhere, so far. Terrien and Pescatori were 28th out of 29 in the afternoon, 25th out of 30 in the morning. "We seem to have an engine problem," suspected David Terrien. Yes, you do. "At least now we know - they are changing it overnight.

So Lister, Prodrive, EMKA and RWS so far, with Larbre lurking with their Viper, and JMB looking to get to the front in Qualifying. Very interesting. My money is on another Coronel win here, with JC-W doing the bulk of the work....unless Mike Hezemans gets up to more of his Hungaroring race-winning antics.