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Lotus Cup Europe 2009 - Round 2

Zandvoort race report

23-24 May

 

Introduction

Just three weeks after the opening round at Brands Hatch, England, the series crossed the channel to the mainland, setting up camp at the Dutch seaside resort of Zandvoort.  Like the previous location, this was once the venue for Grand Prix, indeed this was where Jim Clark scored a famous debut victory for the Lotus 49.  Over 40 years on, the configuration has changed but it remains a firm favourite with drivers.

A full grid featuring Lotuses of many configurations filled a fine and varied entry list, the event organising club HARC putting on an excellent meeting.

Practice and Qualifying

Being the first cars out for the weekend, the temperature was still climbing but with the ever present dunes providing fresh sand for the track surface, conditions would be challenging.  Making the most of these would be Luc de Cock, the Belgian driver setting the only time under the one minute 57 barrier.  His fellow countryman and 2-Eleven driver Michael Damoiseaux had a good try though and ended up only 5 hundredths slower.

Over a second back and fastest of the UK runners was Steve Williams in his modified Elise series one, only just ahead of Jan van der Kooi, who posted the fastest Exige time.  These four were the only drivers completing their laps in under two minutes.

Scott Cruickshank, unfamiliar with the circuit and competing in his first race out of the UK, posted the fifth fastest time, from Elise Trophy regular Tom Chatterway, then we had Harry Steegmans, Elise Trophy production class leader Mark Speller, followed by Peter Entenfellner and Martin Johnston.

The session was not so great for Paul Barrois, the local driver putting his Exige into the Armco.  Barrois was fine but with the car looking very much the worse for wear, he took no further part in the weekend’s events.

Qualifying took place at noon and the sun, mercifully for the drivers, was interrupted by patchy cloud.  If practice was to be an indicator of form, the absence of Elise Trophy regular Gavin Kirby certainly caused an upset, the 2-Eleven driver taking pole position, nearly a second quicker than the fastest time from the earlier session.  Only Michael Damoiseaux could get close, his 2-Eleven under one minute 57 but over half a second back, with Luc de Cock a similar amount behind.

Steve Williams found nearly a second in time but could only maintain his place behind this pair, with Scott Cruickshank almost matching Williams’ pace from practice to line up 5th.  The next three places were taken by Jan van der Kooi, Harry Steegmans and John Rasse a couple of seconds apart, most of this gap between the latter two.  Rounding up the top ten were Martin Johnston heading team boss and top production runner Mark Speller.

With varying times in the session, it was clear that many of the drivers were still learning this tricky circuit.  Race one was to be awaited with some trepidation...

Race 1

The clouds from qualifying continued to gather and by the time of the late afternoon race start the drivers faced overcast skies and breezy conditions; added to this oil had been dropped on the run up to the first corner, Tarzan.  Gavin Kirby avoided this to lead from Luc de Cock and Michael Damoiseaux as the field all made it through the hairpin cleanly.  However, Kirby went wide soon after and de Cock capitalised on this.  He then proceeded to assert his authority on the race, commanding a large lead by the time the cars crossed the line to start the second lap.  Meanwhile Damoiseaux worked on Kirby’s second place and next time round was challenging hard.  Behind them Steve Williams was keeping a watching brief, ready to pick up the pieces if it all went wrong.

It couldn’t last for Kirby and Damoiseaux assumed second place.  He then set off after de Cock, the gap starting to fall but after a few laps we appeared to have a stalemate.  For several laps the gap to second would look insurmountable on one lap, yet on the next there were hopes of a good finish.

While all this was happening, Steve Williams had overtaken Kirby, who spent several laps behind the modified class car, lapping in close company.  At three-quarters distance Kirby passed Williams and soon found Damoiseaux exiting a gravel trap, narrowly avoiding the neat gravel patch placed on the track by the recovering car.  Entering the final lap he took the place going into Tarzan but on the following kink had to fall in line behind Damoiseaux, who held second to the flag.

Kirby finished third on the road but was given a 20 second penalty for not wearing driving gloves, which demoted him to sixth place.  This was behind leading Exige driver Jan van der Kooi; the cars following fourth were spreading out during the course of events, the focus of attention clearly the 2-Elevens up front.  John Rasse was the second-placed Exige Cup runner, finishing after Tom Chatterway and Martin Johnston, Olivier Cunat placing third in class and fourteenth overall.

In the production class, Mark Speller lapped amongst the 2-Elevens, placing tenth overall, whilst the real scrap was for second, Paul Quinn dropping this to Malcom Edeson who was coming under increasing pressure from James Knight, who then decided he preferred third in class.  Lap after lap the three of them would squabble, with Knight either closer to Edeson or Quinn depending on whichever corner they were exiting.  However coming up to the final lap and Knight assumed second, Edeson trying as much as he could to reverse this state of affairs.  He couldn’t and had to settle for third, behind Knight and Speller, the clear class winner.

Race 2

The following day dawned bright with cloudless skies and with a lunchtime start, we were set for excellent racing conditions. With yesterday’s winner Luc de Cock not entered for the second encounter, he’s back at Zandvoort next weekend with Dutch Super Car, the remaining top 8 cars from qualifying were reversed for the grid. This meant that Elise Trophy 2-Eleven regular Martin Johnston would be on pole, from John Rasse in his Exige, then Harry Steegmans, Jan van der Kooi, Scott Cruickshank, Steve Williams, Michael Damoiseaux and Gavin Kirby. In production race 1 winner Mark Speller was given 50KG of ballast as a test by organisers.

Johnston got off the line well but John Rasse attacked at Tarzan, with Cruickshank following him through to demote Martin to third.  Harry Steegmans fell into line to hold fourth place from Damoiseaux, Van der Kooi, Williams and Kirby.  The latter two went into the first corner together, with Kirby winning out entering the next section, only for Williams to come back at him.  Cruickshank then took the lead and proceeded to pull out a gap, completing lap one some way ahead of Steegmans, who had found a way past John Rasse.

Over in Production, Mark Speller, Paul Quinn and Malcolm Edeson battled hard in the opening laps, whilst Quinn worked on Speller, Edeson was keeping them in check from the chasing Michael Edwards and Gary Broad.  It was already over for James Knight, however, retiring early on in the race.

Back to the front and Williams set to work on John Rasse, getting past at Tarzan.  Kirby tried to follow through but to no avail and had Damoiseaux on his tail.  With the early placings hard-fought, John Rasse and Damoiseaux’s races both ended with heavy contact, the Exige T-boning the 2-Eleven after Damoiseaux made a mistake and was left stranded in the track leaving Rasse nowhere to go.  This incident brought out the safety car and wiped out a huge lead for Cruickshank, with Williams leading the chase.

The race now neutralised, the running order stood with Cruickshank heading Williams, Steegmans, Kirby, Johnston, van der Kooi, Tom Chatterway, Gregory Rasse, Speller, Quinn and Edeson.  However the aftermath of the accident meant that LCE organisers asked for a red flag so that the medical and track teams could work without cars passing, they also wanted to inform drivers that both drivers were ok, especially Gregory Rasse who was driving past his brother. The cars lined up on the grid in race order, with a two-part race to be decided on aggregate times.

Several minutes later the safety car led the field round for a rolling start.  Cruickshank set off in the hope of defending his place, the big story on the restart being Quinn attempting to pass Speller on the outside of Tarzan.  The move was completed by the following kink.

Cruickshank couldn’t hold off a determined Williams, the modified class driver hoping to pull out enough of a gap to take the win.  Kirby followed Cruickshank and on the following lap made a successful overtaking manoeuvre into Tarzan.  From here he took off after Williams in the hope for at least second place.  Whilst this was going on, behind them Johnston was fighting back and took a fine fourth place from van der Kooi.

Quinn had lost time in the production battle as well as the lead to Speller, with Edwards and Broad getting ready to punish him. However Quinn’s race was soon over, another victim of the circuit’s tricky bends.

So Williams took the win on the road from Kirby and Cruickshank but would it be enough?  We then had Johnston, Chatterway, van der Kooi, Gregory Rasse, Speller, Steegmans, Broad, Edwards and Edeson.  When the numbers had all been worked out, Williams had done enough, but by less than half a second, to finish ahead of Cruickshank, Kirby posting a net third place, from Johnston, Chatterway and van der Kooi.  Steegmans finished ahead of Gregory Rasse, then we had the production top three of Speller, Edeson and Broad.

Summary

The 2009 season continues to provide the excitement promised by the opening round, with the curtailed second race containing almost as much action as the first.  We now turn our attention to the Hockenheim circuit in Germany on the 20th and 21st June.

Thanks must be given to event organiser HARC (Historische Auto Ren Club) for putting on an excellent weekend. Saturday evenings entertainment with live music and a superb BBQ was a lesson that could be learnt at other circuits. Michael the CoC and his team did a very professional job in keeping everyone safe as well as ensuring maximum track time for drivers. Some thanks also to the large team of volunteers who helped including MSA scrutineer Chris Mount, Race TV and the team of volunteer ‘Lotus enthusiast camera crew’ who are hoping to put together a TV programme from Zandvoort.

Also thanks to the our round sponsors http://www.vanderkooisportscars.nl/

 

Kevin Ritson

LoTRDC

Pictures courtesy of

www.racefotos.nl and Racepics International

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