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Jarama ELMS

Harlow Motorsport

20/05/2001

Harlow Motorsport

First Continental Race

Encouraged by an excellent win in Round 3 of the British GT Championship at Donington at the end of April, Harlow Motorsport made their international GT debut at Jarama last weekend in the second race in the 2001 European Le Mans Series.

In the end the team entered just one of their two Porsche 911 GT3-R race cars, with Terry Rymer and Stephen Watson doing the honours. The blue and white car was impressive throughout and did much to emphasise not only the standard achieved by the Essex outfit, but also the generally high level of competition in the British domestic series. Unfortunately a punt in the side from a lapped back-marker put paid to what could (and perhaps should) have been a “best privateer” result, but Harlow can be proud of their inaugural run outside the UK.

A good proportion of the team had been out in Spain for almost two weeks, acclimatising and preparing themselves for the race weekend. Under the circumstances you might have expected those with a sensitivity to local cooking to have got their digestive systems sorted out in good time, but not a bit of it. Team principal Adam Simmons, who normally co-drives with Terry Rymer, was taken ill on Thursday evening. “When I got to the circuit the next day I wasn’t fit to do anything,” he explained. “I spent most of the next two days in the hotel room, doubled up with stomach cramps. I was out of action for nearly 36 hours. I don’t know who poisoned me, but don’t eat the local food!”

After a sleepless night Adam had arrived at the circuit on the Friday morning at about eleven. His father, Harlow team manger Len Simmons, suggested he took an hour or so to decide what he wanted to do. My midday Adam had concluded that there was no way he was going to be able to drive. “I scrolled through the numbers on my mobile,” continued Len, “and Stephen’s name came up.” Stephen Watson had driven with Adam in the Cirtek car last season, so was familiar with the team and they with him. At two the following morning he arrived in Madrid.

Despite his years in the trade, this was Stephen’s first visit to Jarama. Recognising the need to allow him as much time in the car as possible, the team gave him the whole of qualifying to get a feel for the Porsche and the track. Under the circumstances his best of 1:37.585 – enough to place the #66 car sixth in GT – was little short of miraculous. Terry Rymer was amply satisfied. “It’s looking really good,” he said after qualifying. “There are four factory cars ahead of us – two BMWs and two Porsches, and we’re just behind the PK car. We’re quite happy with that.” Watson’s times were consistent, and in official warm-up on raceday morning the team was pleased to see him close to his best and fifth in class – this time in race trim. “We’ve worked hard to get a good set-up,” explained Rymer. “Stephen’s time in warm-up was with exactly the same set-up we’ll use in the race, which is very encouraging. I think we may do better this afternoon.”

The former world endurance bike champion was enjoying his first race on four-wheels outside the UK. “It’s been helpful to be at a track where you’re given plenty of testing and qualifying time. I’ve only been racing cars for just over a year, and I’d like to think that I’ll be good enough to make it to the top, but I’m out there now with some of the best GT drivers in the world. It’s been a big learning curve, but it’s great to be on the same track with the ‘big’ cars. It’s a very good experience for me.”

That ‘experience’ was to reach something of a climax for Terry the next day, when he lined up on the grid to take the start in the two and three-quarter hour race. Despite his admissions, both of awe with regard to the prototype guys out front, and the limitations of his own car-racing pedigree, there was no sign of nerves as the lights turned green. The ex-biker made a mature and calculated job of seeing himself and the car safely through the opening laps, tagging along very tightly to the tail of fellow Englishman Mike Youles in the leading PK Sport entry.

Running sixteenth overall, Rymer soon settled into a rhythm that saw him pass the yellow PK car on the third or fourth lap. The four works GT cars had rapidly established an advantage in the class, but Rymer was surprising a few onlookers by starting to narrow the gap. Lehto’s BMW was just ahead of Muller at this stage, with Pobst and Maassen in the two Alex Job Porsches three and four. “I felt I was doing really well at first;” said Rymer. “I got right up there with works cars and held on to them.” True enough, he did. What’s more, he was easing away from Youles at almost a second a lap.

Within quarter of an hour the leaders were well in among the tail-enders. As the Audis swept through the speed differential was enormous, but by the time Graf came by in the second of the Panoz LMP07s, Rymer appeared to slip in behind, and he kept the red car in sight for a surprising length of time. Inspired perhaps, he started to extend his advantage over Youles.

For the best part of an hour there was little change in GT, although Muller had swapped places with Lehto after twenty-five minutes or so. By the time the first hour was up, and 43 laps had been completed, Rymer was eleventh overall, fifth in GT, with the PK Porsche next up but several seconds behind him on the track. In the end it was Youles who took to the pitlane first, making his scheduled stop for fuel, tyres and the hand-over to Robin Liddell at the one-hour-twenty mark. Five minutes later, Rymer handed over to Stephen Watson. The gap to sixth had been some twenty seconds.

It was a close run thing, but Watson just managed to get back on track ahead of Liddell, now at the wheel of the #60 PK Porsche. The gap was down to about five seconds. Six laps later, however, Watson spun. "The green Italian Porsche entry had a big moment through turn 2. I was on his tail to lap him, with the PK car on my tail. I had to run wide onto the marbles and dirt to miss him and lost control on the brakes. There was simply no grip out there. I pitted to replace my (very flat spotted) tyres. I then pushed really hard to try and make up lost ground and closed on the second PK car at two seconds a lap, bringing the gap down from 28 seconds down to four. I went to pass the Seikel car to lap them for the third time and he blocked me for three corners. I dived down the inside into the second gear hairpin and the driver simple turned in on me. We hit quite hard and that was the end of my race. The contact was sufficient to damage the side radiator."

The villain of this incident was Tony Burgess. Although two laps down on the others, Burgess wasn’t going to let the Harlow car through without making a race of it - allegedly. Although the Seikel car was able to return to the race after a brief inspection, the damage to the Harlow car was terminal. With the front wheel rim damaged and one of the radiators holed there was no way it could continue.

“That was the longest stint I’ve ever done,” said Rymer after the race. “It was excellent and I really enjoyed it. It’s disappointing not to have finished, of course, but there is a positive side. To be so close to the two factory BMWs and the works Porsches at the beginning is not a bad run for our first ELMS race.”

Len Simmons was also able to see the plus points. “Initially we were very disappointed,” he said, “but that’s motor racing. We would have been delighted to get a result, but we really enjoyed the event all the same. We were very impressed with the way the whole thing was organised and the way they treat the competitors. After all, we were there as a knowledge-building exercise, a toe in the water, and we had no great expectations. I feel very sad for Steve,” continued Len. “I know he feels responsible in a way, but it was nothing of the kind. He did a great job at really short notice.”

It turns out that one of the highlights of the weekend for the Harlow team was when one of Stephen’s best mates from his F3000 days turned up. Now better known as a driver for Williams F1, Juan Pablo Montoya spent a lot of the weekend with the team. Now that everyone is back in the UK, the team appears to be nurturing these better memories of their first venture onto the international stage, and we are pleased to report that Adam Simmons has been making a steady recovery.

As for the future, Len confirms that next weekend’s British GT round at Croft is too soon to be included in their schedule, although he has not ruled out a return to the series later in the season. They are, however, planning further races in the ELMS, including the next round at Estoril in July. A class win there would ensure a Le Mans entry in 2002.........