September 6-7, Dijon (F)
THE SCENIC AND CHALLENGING 3.8KM DIJON-PRENOIS CIRCUIT IN FRANCE WAS THE VENUE FOR THE SIXTH ROUND OF THE 2008 LOTUS CUP EUROPE SERIES.
Not dissimilar to the much-vaunted Nordschleife Circuit at the Nurburgring, Dijon presented a tremendous combination of fast sweeping bends and tricky technical sections – ideal for the Lotus Cup paddock which descended upon this littleknown motorsport venue on Friday night.
Competitors awoke to heavy rain on Saturday, with some competitors getting a little more wet than others in Exiges but not as wet as most people expect.
Patrick Goblet explains this unusual physical phenomenon: ‘You get no physical feeling of rain with the 2-11! The front screen pushes the water over you and of course you get nothing on your visor, so it’s hard to tell if it’s raining; you have to look for the shiny bits of the circuit!’
Of course, this phenomenon was purposely designed by Lotus Design.
Regularity Training 1
Sunday was a stark contrast to the monsoon weather conditions present on Saturday. All competitors were relieved to get some dry track time.
Both regularity-training sessions were extended to one hour with the addition of the Caterham championship. All competitors were excited with this possibility as it increased their track time and provided some new competing to put their talent up against. Some of the Caterham owners expressed an interest in Lotus Cup Europe for 2009 with a view to changing their cars.
Thierry Verhiest posted the fastest training time with a 1:35:221 closely followed by 1:35:225 of Sebastian Dufour.
Regularity Training 2
Training 2 began in much the same conditions as training 1, though Sebastian and Thierry swapped positions with fastest laps. As usual the session developed into some hard charging drivers at the front and other regulars using the session to obtain their ideal lap time for the regularity race to come.
Free Practice 1
Christophe Lisandre in his 2-Eleven had a bad shunt in Free Practice 1. With the aid of Thierry Verhiest’s crew they restored the car intime for qualifying for the race, less than 45 minutes later. Unfortunately, though he made the qualifying session, he struggled keep the car on the circuit. Some handling issues were present.
The 100 Mile Race
Thierry led from the off, followed by Christophe Lisandre, Brian Cullen who started for the Cullen/Montgomery 2-11, Olivier Cunat, John Rasse, Greg Rasse, then Patrick Goblet a distance back and finally Yves Cooreman. No changes until lap three, with Cunat in his Cup car infront of Thierry Verhiest, Christophe Lisandre, John Rasse, Brian Cullen and Greg Rasse all very close to each other.
A short gap back was Patrick Goblet and Yves Cooreman. Oliver Cunat extended the gap between himself and Thierry Verhiest managing to place a Caterham 260 between them.
Thierry Verhiest slipped past Oliver Cunat on the home straight on Lap 5. Twenty minutes into the race Thierry Verhiest, Oliver Cunat, John Rasse and Christophe Lisandre were all running quite close. Brian Cullen and Greg Rasse got caught up in a pitched battle between each other a slowly began to fall back.
By the end of lap seven, Thierry Verhiest had started to really pull out a gap from Oliver Cunat, who had a small gap back to John Rasse, with Christophe Lisandre slipping back more and more. It was clearly evident that his car was not handling after his earlier shunt.
Two laps further in and Thierry Verhiest had put about seven cars between himself and Oliver Cunat, with Christophe Lisandre sitting in fourth on circuit, but second to Thierry Verhiest in the 2-11 class.
By the end of lap twelve, Thierry Verhiest had increased his lead top eight seconds to the next Lotus on circuit which was now John Rasse, who had overtaken Oliver Cunat for the lead in his class a lap earlier.
John Rasse’s lead lasted just a lap, who unfortunately was caught in a lot of traffic with a number Porsches, and no doubt Cunat took advantage of that because he soon regained his lead.
Brian Cullen and Greg Rasse maintain the race long battle (even though they were not in the same class).
On the run up to the pit window opening, Thierry Verhiest extended his lead to around twelve seconds from Oliver Cunat who was about three seconds ahead of John Rasse, who had a big lead over Brian Cullen, with a gap back to Greg Rasse, and another gap to Lisandre.
Pit order was Greg Rasse, John Rasse, Cooreman, Cunat, Cullen, Thierry Verhiest and Christophe Lisandre. Thierry Verhiest retained his lead post pit stops. Oliver Cunat sadly pitted with about 4 mins to go with a broken non OE exhaust.
All drivers were exstactic with the one hour race - Patrick Goblet particularly delighted to get second!
John Rasse, won Class 2, and said that Oliver Cunat “was super quick in a straight line but he shaded it in the corners!”
The Class 1 podium:
| Place | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thierry Verhiest | 45 |
| 2 | Patrick Goblet | 36 |
| 3 | Robert Montgomery | 30 |
The Class 2 podium:
| Place | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Rasse | 45 |
| 2 | Gregory Rasse | 36 |
| 3 | Oliver Cunat | 30 |
The Regularity Race
The regularity began with mostly Lotus’ on the grid, two Porsche 993 were also included in this race. The regularity race always develops into those who are racing and having battles with one another and those who try to win the regularity with consistency.
Most consistent of the competitors was Stephane Colonval who stayed out of trouble and maintain her pace of 1:45.40 nearly every lap. She accured only 3 penalty points when she set 1:44.40. Second place went to Thierry Verhiest with 26 penalty points but who reference lap was 134.60. Third went to Sebastian with 29 penalty points. Fourth, fifth and sixth went to David Bauden, Robert Montgomery and Patrick Goblet.
The Regularity podium:
| Place | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephane Colonval | 20 |
| 2 | Thierry Verhiest | 18 |
| 3 | Sebastian Dufour | 17 |
