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Lotus Cup Europe 2009 - Round 3

Hockenheim race report

20th - 21st June

 

Introduction

After a fantastic weekend at Zandvoort last time expectations for Hockenheim were low. Especially as this was the last round to be confirmed for 2009 and it came just one week after the Lotus Festival at Snetterton where 60’odd cars were racing.

How wrong we were! Hockenheim was another superb weekend, a great circuit, fantastic weather, brilliant organisation by AVD and even with a reduced grid some fabulous racing.

Practice and Qualifying

Unfortunately during testing on the Friday morning we lost the cars of Harvey and Requat with mechanical issues, the former having had to retire from Snetterton the previous week and working hard all week to make Hockenheim.

Organiser’s surprised drivers with an extra 20 minutes of Free Practice at lunch time on Friday, greatly appreciated by those who had made it to the circuit early. The remaining drivers then arrived for the evening’s free practice.

Saturday morning saw an early 8.00am start for qualifying in superb conditions, a slight breeze but already the temperature was rising off track to set up a very hot day. Twenty cars made it to qualifying with the Exige of Martin Roos not making it out so having to fill the 21st and last place on the grid for race 1.

Gavin Kirby followed up his pole at Zandvoort with a time of 1:57:865 in his 2-Eleven, over a second faster than second places Steve Williams in his Duratec powered Elise S1. Behind them in a surprising third was Austria’s Peter Entenfellner with Michael Damoiseaux back in fourth and over 2 seconds a lap slower than Kirby. It was great to see Belgium’s Thierry Verhiest back after his major crash at this circuit last year, the first time Verhiest had been back on a race track while he recovered and rebuilt his car.

Paul Quinn took pole position in Production just 0.3 seconds ahead of James ‘pinkie’ Knight. Denis van den Savel was the faster of the 2 Exiges, a number reduced after accidents at Zandvoort.

Race 1

With no chance of rain the mood in the paddock was one of optimism for a good race on Saturday afternoon.

In a change to the format race one would now be a rolling start, the sight and sound of what will be the smallest grid in 2009 was still spectacular as the 21 cars headed into the stadium complex and around Sudkurve to head over the start finish line, being lead by Kirby’s 211 and William’s yellow Elise S1. The front two soon lost the rest of the pack and had battled just inches off each other for the whole race. Kirby making the final over take with just seconds to spare. A hard thought victory for the man from the North East of England on his first visit to Hockenheim.

Thierry Verhiest came home in third and 2nd in the 211 class after what has been a long year since his crash here last year this was a superb result. Damoiseaux was 3rd in the 211 class and fourth over all, another great result after his accident at Zandvoort. Mark Gooday and Entenfellner finished just 0.3 seconds apart in 6th and 7th, although the battle between Gooday and French man Christophe Lisandre in another 211 was one of the race highlights with them side by side for much of the race.

Roos came from the back row to finish 5th and take Exige honours while James Knight put in another stunning drive to win production from David Skeggs, Paul Quinn was a clear 2nd before gremlins set in with just 1 lap to go this left the way open for Mark Wilson to take his first ever podium in 3rd, Nigel Ayres’ earlier mistake potentially costing him his first trophy.

All the drivers took time to go and support the 3 front drivers for the podium before heading back to the paddock. A full bill of health from all cars meant we’d have an evening off and another good grid on Sunday.

With an early finish on Saturday and a mid-day start on Sunday there was plenty of time in the evening for drivers to taste the local delicacies.

Race 2

The following day dawned with bright clear skies and a lunchtime start, racing conditions were excellent.

This time it was a standing start and the hope was that one of the other drivers, probably Verhiest would be able to stick with the front two. Well it turned out we did get a 3 car race but it was Michael Damoiseaux who was the one to mix it with Kirby and Williams. The 3 drivers were never more than a few inches apart for the full race with all 3 leading at some point. With just a lap to go Damoiseaux got past Williams and took the lead in what was a breathtaking race. Disaster struck however on the final corner when he came out of Sachs too fast, put a wheel into the dirt and span just on the entrance of the final corner, Sudkurve. Somehow Williams and Kirby both missed him as he rolled towards the barrier, both drivers were more or less stationary, luckily the green 211 of Damoiseaux stopped a meter shy of the barrier and Willaims and Kirby drove by to the line Williams winning by a meter or so from Kirby and a relieved Damoiseaux coming home in third.

After a stunning race the finish couldn’t have been more exciting and Michael will get his win this year we’re sure of that.

Yet again there was close racing all through the grid with Steegmans and Lisandre finishing on top of each other in 4th and 5th in the 211 class behind Verhiest in 3rd in class and 4th overall. Gooday was potentially regretting his late night a place behind. Martin Johnston reversed in to a wall on lap two, the only real damage in either of the races.

In Production Knight fell off on the hairpin for a much improved Quinn to get by and hold of old ‘pinkie’ to the line. Skeggs was distant in 3rd after a good tussle with Wilson and Ayres.

Van den Savel picked up the Exige class win in his immaculate 255 Cup car.

Summary

With expectations so low for Hockenheim this really was a great weekend. Thanks must go to Rudi Philipp and his AVD organisation and to Heinz Weber and his Stuttgart team for a superbly run event. Organisation was as good as it gets, the racing close and varied and every member of their team did a totally professional job. We’re back with Rudi at Dijon in September and are looking forward to it, maybe some drivers will double up and enter the AVD 100 mile race as well.

With the odds stacked against a decent grid it was great to see the efforts Michael went to for his 211 to be back on the grid just one month after his accident at Zandvoort. Also a major positive to have Thierry back after nearly a year out and although it was just one week after Snetterton good to see so many Brits make it to Hockenheim. It was also nice to see some other UK drivers make an effort to come out and support the series as spectators and a number of hopefully new drivers show a keen interest.

Also thanks to our stand in MSA scrutineer John Winder for giving up his weekend to ensure we’re all safe and could race.

We’ve a month off now before returning to the UK for round 4 at Donington Park 15th-16th August before moving on to Dijon in September, a round that will hopefully see a number of new drivers come on board for the first time.

 

Paul Golding

LoTRDC

 

Pictures courtesy of

Dominik Kalamus - dominik@kalamus.net

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