June 27-29, Hockenheim (D)

SATURDAY 28TH JUNE SAW LOTUS CUP EUROPE RETURN TO THE INFAMOUS HOCKENHEIM RING, WHICH IS SYNONYMOUS WITH LOTUS HISTORY.

On April 7th, 1968, at Hockenheim, Jim Clark was entered in a Formula 2 race in his Lotus 48; the car was again in the red and white Gold Leaf livery. Also entered in the race were a variety of notable drivers: Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo in Matra MS7’s, Piers Courage, Derek Bell, Picko Troberg, Chris Lambert, Kurt Ahrens, Jr., in Brabhams, Clark and Hill in the F2 Lotuses and a driver named Walter Habegger was running a 1966-vintage Lotus 41 F3 car. Interestingly, Max Mosley, now the President of the FIA, was also in a Brabham for what was to be his first Formula 2 race and thrilled to be on the same track with his heroes. Chris Amon and Jo Schlesser were also in this race.

Today, a Formula One driver would not be found competing in lesser formulas, but in those days it was quite common, as can be seen from the list of competitors. And the Lotus 48 Formula 2 car was a new car and it was important to Lotus that Clark should showcase it. Clark did have another race potentially available to him, the BOAC 500 Sports Car Race at Brands Hatch on that same Sunday, but ended up staying committed to Hockenheim.

It was a befitting Lotus Cup Europe that 61 Lotus’ attended the weekend out of a total of 416 cars entered in the various races over the weekend.

100 Mile Race

The blistering hot weather on Saturday evening saw first free practise of the 100mile race with six 2-Eleven’s and six Exige Cup’s, with five nationalities driving. One competitor returning to the Hockenhiem ring for his second time, only the first time he raced the circuit was on the ‘old’ circuit. That shows how long ago it was.

Out on grid were 29 cars for the 100 mile race free practise, with a gaggle of 2-Eleven’s at the top of the time sheets. Thierry Verhiest in his 2-Eleven recorded the fastest time of 1minute 59.949 seconds, closely followed by Christophe Lisandre and Thierry Rochat.

The end of the day was followed by a social barbeque provided by Thierry Verhiest amongst the Lotus competitors.

Sunday morning’s qualifying session saw fresh rubber for all the competitors and a quickening of pace. As per free practise time sheets were topped by Thierry Verhiest with a 1 minute 54.895 second lap recorded on his 14th of the 15 laps completed in qualifying. Christophe Lisandre and Thierry Rochat both set 1minute 56 second lap time with Harry Steegmans and Robert Montgomery snapping at their heels. A highly competitive and entertaining 100mile race started at 15:25. Most competitors were single driver entrants, only the Irish team of Montgomery and Cullen pursued a driver change in the mandatory 5minute pit stop. Brian Cullen started the race for the number #202 vehicle.

The Exige Cup and 2-Eleven of Yves Cooreman and Robert Montgomery misjudged the rolling start and dropped back at the start.

Thierry Verhiest led from the off, with Christophe Lisandre very close at the start. At the end of lap 1 Christophe Lisandre ran very wide at the exit of in his efforts to stay with Verhiest.

Thierry Verhiest soon pulled out a small lead, helped by a Lotus - Caterham – Lotus sandwich between him and Christophe Lisandre.

Christophe Lisandre #204 and Thierry Rochat #201 ran quite close in early laps – with the remaining field dropping off slightly.

Thirty minutes into the race, leader Thierry Verhiest spun and fell behind Christophe Lisandre and Thierry Rochat. With Verhiest determined he put in a sustained push and quickly regained his lead and pulled away at two seconds a lap and building up a 16 second lead at the 47 minute marker.

The close battle of Harry Steegmans and Christophe Rochat meant that they touched and damage occurred to the 270PS 2-Eleven of Steegmans, resulting in retirement. This also put him out of the following regularity race.

Brian Cullen spun but managed to pull himself back up and the car finished a very creditable 3rd.

Christophe Lisandre said “Thierry was just too quick today”.

The 100 Mile Race podium:

Place	Name	Points
1	Thierry Verhiest	30
2	Christophe Lisandre	24
3	Robert Montgomery	20

Rankings

The Regularity Race

After the excitement of the Race event, the Regularity runners couldn’t wait to take to the circuit.

Thierry Verhiest headed the field, after setting the quickest time in Training Two.

In traditional Lotus Regularity style, although the regulations reward consistent driving, many of the entrants are not averse to a little competitive track action along the way! After thirty minutes of flat-out action, the chequered flag was shown – and the timekeepers set to work comparing each driver’s subsequent laps to their ‘control’ lap.

First regularity free practise on Sunday morning saw 49 Lotus’ on the grid for the 25 minute session. Thierry Rochat posted the fastest time of the morning with a 1minute 59.962 second lap, followed by Thierry Verhiest with a 2minute 1.027 second, Christophe Lisandre 2minutes 2.399 seconds, Robert Montgomery 2minute 3.387 seconds and Oliver Cunat in his Exige Cup with a 2minute 4.650 seconds.

Overall Regularity honours went to Thierry Verhiest of Lotus Verhiest, with his 2-Eleven on 56 points. Second was Christophe Lisandre also in his 2-Eleven, on 64 points an entry also from Lotus Dealer Verhiest, with Francois Foulon taking third in his Exige on 97 points.

Rounding out the top ten in order were Herve Goesens (Lotus Exige), Yves Cooreman (Exige Cup) and Christophe Delbruyere (2-Eleven), Stephane Colonval (Exige S), Thierry Pauchet (Exige Cup) and Bernard Gonsette (Exige)

The Regularity podium:

Place	Name	Points
1	Thierry Verhiest	20
2	Christophe Lisandre	18
3	Francois Foulon	17

Rankings