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Nurburgring

09/09/2001

Race

Report

The poor weather comtinued, cold and damp with occasional showers – one of which fell while the cars were on the grid, so it was officially a wet race.

The results showed a third 2001 win for Lister Storm Racing, and a debut FIA GT win for Mike Jordan. He drove the middle stint, so JC-W brought the Lister home 16 seconds ahead of the #3 Viper and well clear of the Prodrive Ferrari.

Philipp Peter and Marco Werner took the N-GT win, but it was a close run thing: Robin Liddell - on his FIA debut - was closing in for Freisinger, and was only two seconds behind at the flag.

Of the top two teams, only RWS scored (one point), so Luca Riccitelli now leads Terrien and Pescatori by five. Larbre sealed the GT Teams Title – without scoring, for the first time this year.

The track was half dry first thing on race morning, matched by the sun on one side of the hills, dark clouds on the other. Fastest in the Warm-up were Peter and Werner (Porsche #69), followed by the #1 Lister. Second and third in the N-GT were the two JMB Ferraris, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see them again doing very well during the race.

The Carsport Vipers had wildly differing starts, Hezeman leading in #3, but Sebastiaan Bleekemolen spinning off on the warm up lap in #4. He was out of the race.

Hezemans led until caught and passed by Rydell in the Prodrive Ferrari, and as the track dried, some stopped for slicks. This was unfortunate, as the rain came down again. Jarier, the Larbre Viper and the #2 Lister Storm all had to pit again for wets. Jarier was briefly the fastest man on the track.

Hezemans and Rydell fought mightily in the rain, with JC-W right in contention in third. The race was between these three cars. The #1 Lister overtook the Dutch Viper just before the first round of stops, putting Mike Jordan in the lead of his first FIA event. He lost out (on his wets) to a charging Peter Kox, but the Ferrari stayed out too long on its wets, and then later on Rydell crossed the white line at the end of the pit straight. He was awarded a ten-second stop and go penalty, that dropped the V12 out of contention for the win, and into third place.

So it became Bleekemolen J. (a long middle stint) and Campbell-Walter racing for the win, on slicks on a dry track. The Lister team had a fright as JC-W had to take to the gravel to miss a spinning Viper, but thereafter he was in control, reeling in the Carsport GTS-R and securing a long awaited win. With 25 minutes to go, #1 and #3 came in for their last stops. This briefly put the Ferrari back in second, only 15 seconds behind the Lister and six seconds in front of the Dutch Viper - but Rydell had to splash and dash.

The Belmondo Vipers were fourth and fifth, ahead of the second Lister. Anthony Kumpen drove the bulk of the race in the fifth placed car, even leading just after the hour mark.

Luca Riccitelli took an early lead in N-GT, from Michel Neugarten and Stephane Ortelli, but the drying track suited the Pirelli intermediates on Marco Werner’s Porsche. As the track dried, he gained ground.

Riccitelli made the mistake of changing wets for slicks just before the rain fell again, as did the #62 Ferrari. The order at half way was Werner, Neugarten, Sugden, Pompidou, Ortelli - with the #69 car a minute clear on those Pirelli intermediates. The changing conditions (but at least some wet weather) made one stop possible for all - at least in fuel terms.

Werner led through the rain, and the car stayed on inters. when Philipp Peter took over. He had to pit again for slicks, leaving a fight between Peter and Robin Liddell. The Scot closed in - 10 seconds, five seconds, but he was two seconds away from what would have been another debut win.

“Coming to the FIA Championship was a fantastic experience for me,” said Liddell. “When I got into the car, I did the best job that I could...unfortunately, just not enough.” Never mind, the former GT40 driver, his father Eric, will have been proud of him. Stephane Ortelli certainly was, being reminded of the last Scot he partnered, one Allan McNish..

Perspective were in the hunt all race, Thierry Perrier bringing their car home third: "The weather was bad at the beginning," explained Michel Neugarten. "But I took a good start and drove for one hour and thirty minutes. I was really happy when I passed Stephane Ortelli, after having a good fight with him. He was quite hard with me, he didn’t give me any gifts this weekend. The team did a very good job, and I handed over to Thierry in second place."

Riccitelli and Quester were sixth, while Terrien and Pescatori were eighth after no less than four pit stops for (the wrong type of) tyres. They also received a penalty like Rydell’s, so it was a poor day for the Ferraris.
Terrien: “We lost the race because of our strategy. But basically we lost because we are two seconds off the pace, and what is worse is that we don’t know why. We haven’t lost the Championship yet...”

It had been a fascinating race, marked by good and bad strategies, good and bad luck, different tyres for different conditions, the balance swaying to and fro throughout. Pirelli, Michelin, Dunlop and Yokohama runners all had their moments in N-GT.