The competitors in the V de V endurance fields found the Lausitz EuroSpeedway track an exceptional venue. There was no lack of words in praise of it, both from the drivers, who had to adapt to and understand a highly technical and impressive track, and from the teams who appreciated this grandiose site.
The « Lausitz EuroSpeedway 6 Hours » VHC and GT/Tourisme
CHALLENGE ENDURANCE VHC and CHALLENGE ENDURANCE GT/TOURISME
« A successful mix »
To add a little more verve to this event, it was decided to mix the GT/Tourisme field with that of the VHC field in the same six-hour race. The mix turned out to be just right, with the fair play of the competitors contributing to the success, in a race in which there were only three Safety Cars which did not interfere with the race. It was even thought for a moment that a VHC, either one of the two Chevron B16s or the Elva MK8, was going to take the third step on the podium.
The apprehension of the competitors in the Challenge Endurance VHC of competing alongside the modern cars was palpable right from Friday morning, but the first practice sessions were to open up the road to some great sporting confrontations. In fact, the balance was perfect and some even took a wicked pleasure in giving their descendants a run for their money.
Straight from the Czech GT Championship, a superb Pagani Zonda took pole position in the hands of Antonin Herbeck, Michael Vorba and Greg Caton, in charge of development. But they were nevertheless only less than two seconds ahead of the Renault Mégane Trophy of Guillaume Rousseau and Christophe Lemée particularly rapid on this track, new to everyone. Unfortunately, both cars finished the practice session with engine problems and were not able to line up at the start.
Looking to defend their third place in the Challenge, Rousseau and Lemée obtained the OK from the race directors, after the agreement of all the competitors, to start from the back of the grid in the Z3 M of ASP Compétition, available for this event. Dogged by power steering problems, they could do no better than ninth, but did pocket eighteen points.
On lights out, the Porsche battle began and the first corner saw a bit of a jousting between Philippe Nozière and Philippe Baudinière. Both Porsches spun and the others dived through and forged on. The Chevron B16 of the second-placed in the Challenge VHC, Hal Catherwood and Geoff McConville, crept up to the middle of the leading pack, followed by the Scemama brothers and Yann Le Calvez at the wheel of the agile Elva MK8 he was sharing with Sylvain Guanzini.
The Porsche 996 RSR of Manuel Ferreira and Ludovic Bour went first into the lead ahead of the 997 Cup S of Philippe Greisch and Christian Kelders before having trouble which meant only taking sixth place at the chequered flag.
The English Chevron also had its first problem and needed to change a faulty battery twice while the Swiss team had to change a suspension ball-joint. Yann Le Calvez was also left behind during his first stint when the Elva's gear lever broke, immobilising the car on the track resulting in a tow back and a long job to do. British drivers Catherwood and McConville put this to advantage to take first place, followed by the Scemama brothers.
Thierry Perrier, providing support to Jean-Paul Pagny and Pierre Benoist in the Visiom Ferrari F430, rapidly took over the race lead up to the refuelling stop when the First Motorsport Porsche 997 Cup S took over. The Belgians took advantage of Pierre Benoist going off the track and losing four laps and then to take back the lead and hold on to it up to the chequered flag, to notch up a win. In his last two-hour ten-minute stint, Thierry Perrier moved back up the field and finished in second place one lap down on the Belgians who were then leading in the Challenge provisional overall classification.
Provisional leaders in the Challenge VHC, Patrick Biehler and Marc De Siebenthal, ran a discrete race, ready to pounce to snatch top spot.
In the historic pack, the Lotus Seven driven superbly by Lionel Deslandes, Pierre Petitgas and Bernard Tironneau, finished a superb sixth at the flag, just behind the 2-litre Porsche 911 of Eric Belooussoff, Alain Rueda and Benoît Lusseaud. These three drove a perfect race with only seven minutes of the whole 6 hours spent in the pits. They quickly moved into first place in the GTS11 category while the German team, up until now being the faster on the track with Achim Peitzmeier at the wheel of the 2-litre Porsche 911 of his team-mate Andreas Kunert, had their engine decide to give up the ghost.
Philippe Burel and Patrick Brossard were not expecting this, and were teamed up for this race with rookie Christophe Profit in the 2-litre Porsche 911 of the V de V Organisation. Thanks to their second place, they will be lining up as leader in the very fast GTS11 category at Lédenon.
Behind the GT/Tourisme leading pack, there were some hot scraps between the different claimants to the podium and positions changed regularly. Driving a perfect race and teamed up for the occasion with Lionel Robert, Rémy Brouard and Philippe Nozière finally notched up third place with their Porsche 997 Cup, theoretically slower than the RSRs. This bolstered its second place in the Challenge GT/Tourisme while Rémy Brouard moved up to sixth.
Eric Vincenot and Jean-Marc Bachelier did very well again, placed fifth just behind the Porsche 996 RS of Baudinière, Vicaire and Brigand. In a long dual with the 993 RSR, the Touring Cup of Eric Van de Vyver and Guillaume Maillard was particularly at ease on this circuit and was lying fifth at the start of the third hour, after being side by side since the start of the race with the Scemama family Chevron B16. A broken transmission put an end to this superb performance.
The VHC landscape also thinned out with the Swiss team Chevron B16 abandoning. A piece of rocker lube pipe jammed the timing of their new engine, rebuilt since Magny-Cours, another piece of bad luck for the Scemama brothers this season, which they would surely like to forget. An hour later, two hours from the finish, it was the other Chevron which was showing signs of weakness with a faulty water pump. The overheating engine finally damaged the head gasket. Hal Catherwood and Geoff McConville nevertheless picked up a few points by managing to finish.
Patrick Bielher and Marc De Siebenthal finally finished third, strengthening their lead in the Challenge VHC at two events from the end of season. Sylvain Guanzini clung on to the second step of the podium, by six seconds in-extremis, by passing the chequered flag in first gear and cranking the start motor after coming to a stop metres from the line.
For a long time in the lead of the GTV4 Modern category, the Maserati of Didier Van Straaten and Gérard Tremblay slowed down and finally abandoned. Particularly full of verve this weekend, Eric Havette moved into second place in the GTV4 category in the Porsche Cayman S of LD Racing which he shared with his son Guillaume and Grégory Tougnaud, just ahead of the Renault Clio RS3 of René Vaysse and Pierre Pelosi, over the moon to have been able to drive this fantastic track, as were all the drivers.
Finally and above all, driving a perfect race and thanks to a very good strategy, a perfectly prepared car and a well-matched team, the Porsche 2.7 RS of LD Racing, only spent a little over seven minutes in the pits during the six hours of racing. Driven by Eric Havette, Gilles Fabre and Joël Bozetti, it scored an amazing win on scratch in VHC. « This win is totally unexpected », said Eric at the finish. « That's the magic of Endurance, anything can happen! ». For his first participation with Havette and Fabre, Joël Bozetti was so pleased to have been able to shake off the bad luck which had dogged #22 since the start of season. The team of Jean-Luc Le Duigou celebrated the win suitably with the team after a difficult start of season.
Race: 1. Christian Kelders/Philippe Greisch, Porsche 997 Cup S, 1st GT/Tourisme, in 6h01’02’’116, 2. Jean-Paul Pagny/Pierre Benoist/Thierry Perrier, Ferrari F430, 2nd GT/Tourisme, at 1 lap, 3. Rémy Brouard/Philippe Nozière/Lionel Robert, Porsche 997 Cup, 3rd GT/Tourisme, at 3 laps, 4. Philippe Baudinière/Joël Vicaire/Emmanuel Brigand, Porsche 996 RS, 4th GT/Tourisme, at 4 laps, 5. Eric Vincenot/Jean-Marc Bachelier, Porsche 993 RSR, 5th GT/Tourisme, at 10 laps, 6. Manuel Ferreira/Ludovic Bour, Porsche 996 RSR, 6th GT/Tourisme, at 14 laps, 7. Eric Havette/Guillaume Havette/Gregory Tougnaud, Porsche Cayman S, 8th GT/Tourisme, at 18 laps, 8. Eric Havette/Gilles Fabre/Joël Bozetti, Porsche 911 2.7 RS, 1st VHC, in 6h02’22’’560, at 22 laps, 9. René Vaysse/Pierre Pelosi, Renault Clio RS3, 8th GT/Tourisme, at 28 laps, 10. Yann Le Calvez/Sylvain Guanzini, Elva MK8, 2nd VHC, at 29 laps, 11. Patrick Biehler/Marc De Siebenthal, Porsche 911 3,0 RSR, 3rd VHC, at 30 laps, 12. Eric Belooussoff/Alain Rueda/Benoît Lusseaud, Porsche 911 2 litres, 4th VHC at 31 laps, 13. Lionel Deslandes/Pierre Petitgas/Bernard Tironneau, Lotus Seven, 5th VHC, at 38 laps, etc…
Fastest lap GT/Tourisme : Jean-Paul Pagny/Pierre Benoist/Thierry Perrier, Ferrari F430 in 1’49’’881 (148.546 km/h).
Fastest lap VHC : Catherwood/McConville, Chevron B16 in 1’57’’028 (139.474 km/h).
Classification Challenge Endurance GT/Tourisme : 1. Kelders/Greisch, 122 pts, 2. Nozière, 115 pts, 3. Pagny/Benoist, 107 pts, 4. Perrier, 103 pts, 5. Rousseau/Lemée, 99 pts, 6. Brouard, 90 pts, 7. Baudinière/Vicaire, 88 pts, 8. Moreau/Langin, 83 pts, 9. Bachelier, 81 pts, 10. Ferreira/Bour, 70 pts, etc…
Classification Challenge Endurance VHC : 1. Biehler/De Siebenthal M., 212 pts, 2. Mc Conville/Catherwood, 188,5 pts, 3. Bozetti, 166.5 pts, 4. Le Calvez/Guanzini, 165.5 pts, 5. Luco/Ancelet, 136 pts, 6. Clairay, 131.5 pts, 7. Petitgas/Tironneau, 122 pts, 8. Burel/Brossard, 107 pts, 9. De Sebienthal O. 104 pts, 10. Kolher/Depagneux 103 pts, etc…
Classification Challenge Compobat : 1. Eric Van de Vyver, 85 pts, 2. Damien Kolher, 75 pts, 3. Serge Kriknoff, 54.5 pts, 4. Séverine Moreau-Langin, 48 pts, 5. Benoît Lusseaud, 32.5 pts, etc…