The start of race 2, in the dry for a change

Seale,Culver and Ward slide through the Bus Stop chicane

Smeeton and Bartholomew's O-class battle was quite physical at times

A win and a second in S-class made it a good weekend for Hetherington

Alan Cosby and one of the quick "guest" 355's tangle

One of the best races was between this lot, further down the field

David Grace came of age at Spa, drove well but threw it off

Slithering out of La Source: Swifty in his 308

Culver, Seale and Smeeton on the podium, but the trophies had disappeared

pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse and Daneels Bart

PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUNDS 3 & 4 : SPA FRANCORCHAMPS : 27-29 APRIL 2001

It was great for the PMFC to be back at the Spa Ferrari Days, having been banned from there for the past couple of seasons. The significant influx of newer tipos has made the whole series far more acceptable to the Ferrari hierarchy and everyone was very pleased to be sharing the bill with the high-profile 360 Challenge series as well as the Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge.

Spa is a long circuit and needs lots of cars to keep it interesting for spectators and therefore the PMFC grid was put together with the so-called "Class B" Ferraris, which were broadly similar to PMFC specifications but obviously not running for championship points. In total 36 cars qualified and of these 24 belonged to the PMFC series.

The weather that greeted everyone for free practice on Thursday and Friday was pretty wet but the keen ones thundered around this magnificent circuit as it seemed likely the wet weather would last the whole weekend. Qualifying took place on Saturday morning and it was little surprise to see the talented Gary Culver (355) head the time sheets, some three seconds ahead of John Seale (360/Ch) and Fred Moss, who was sharing Ben Orza's 355/Ch for the first of the two races. Ian Hetherington (360/Ch) was next, ahead of the quickest "O" class runner, David Ashburn in his 355GTS. Simon Bartholomew was pleased to be second in the "O" class, ahead of his rival Richard Smeeton, both in 360s.

Skid Carrera, in the Zest Testarossa, was an unfortunate non-starter after a barrier-thumping moment in free practice.

Round 3

As the time of the mid-afternoon race approached the track was still streaming wet but the rain had suddenly begun to ease off and temperatures were rising noticably. Everyone, however, was still on wet tyres. After the formation lap it became apparent that a dry line was beginning to appear in certain places but in the event only one car, an Italian-run 360/Ch which was not running for PMFC points, changed over to slicks at the last minute.

At the start Culver initially kept his lead from Moss, Hetherington and Alan Cosby (F512M). By the second lap, however, Moss was well out in the lead, ahead of Hetherington, Seale, Culver and, amazingly, Simon Bartholomew in his "O" class 360 which had already moved up from 8th on the grid.

On the increasingly dry track everyone except for the "O" class runners were now in tyre trouble. The "O"s were, of course, on road specification tyres which coped well with the changing circumstances. The wets fitted to the "S" and "C" class cars were, however, in considerable trouble as they over-heated and lost their grip.

Bartholomew was soon joined by the other "O" class 360 of Smeeton as, nose-to-tail, they picked off the wet-tyred cars in front. By lap six they had moved ahead of Culver, Seale and finally Hetherington to take over second and third places.

The Bartholomew/Smeeton battle was frantic and the cars banged wheels on several occasions as they fought for the class lead. Smeeton eventually spun and re-started way down the order, leaving a delighted Bartholomew to finish second overall behind the winning 355/Ch of Fred Moss, who had done well to preserve his wets for the duration.

Culver, Robin Ward (355/Ch), Hetherington and Seale finished in the next places. Alan Cosby had retired on the third lap with dire handling due to his wet tyres and Ashburn was also an early casualty when his 355's engine dropped a valve.

There were frenetic battles throughout the field. Amongst the most entertaining were Andrew Micheals (308GT4) and Andy Christopher (308GTB), who ran nose-to-tail and even over-shot the bus stop chicane together, whilst towards the back of the field Terry Esom (328GTB), Maurice Dantinne (308GT4), Duncan McKay (308GTB) and John Swift (308GTB) jostled for position.

Although the tyre situation was clearly unfortunate for most of the drivers, it certainly provided a wonderful race for the many spectators!

Round 4

The second race took place at 10.00 a.m. on Sunday morning and this time the track was dry and the clouds were even having to part for the occasional glimpse of the sun. Tyre choice was easy - everyone fitted their best dry weather covers. The winner of Saturday's race, Fred Moss, had returned the car to its owner, Ben Orza, who by contrast only qualified on the back row of the grid.

There was unfortunate drama in the warm-up lap as Simon Bartholomew dived back into the pits with his car running on only four cylinders. The problem could not be fixed and he became a non-starter.

This time the two 360/Chs of Seale and Hetherington were quick off the mark and led the field ahead of Culver, Cosby, David Grace (355/Ch) and Shaun Powell (355/Ch). Robin Ward had already thrown his 355/Ch into a gravel trap on the first lap and failed to come round again but now it was the other Damax 355/Ch of David Grace that was giving chase.

At the front Seale maintained a two second lead over Culver, who had passed Hetherington, and on the fifth lap Grace also passed Hetherington's 360/Ch for third place on the long drag out of Eau Rouge. This didn't last long, however, as on the very same lap Grace also spun and irretrievably beached the car in the gravel.

Culver continued his pursuit of the leading Seale but was unable to close the gap but behind him Hetherington and Cosby were now running one behind the other in an important battle for "S" class points. On the final lap they came across Ben Orza and in the ensuing lapping manoeuvre it looked as though Cosby might just have the power to beat Hetherington to the finish line. However, the latter covered the line well, taking final podium place behind Seale and Culver.

The "O" class without Bartholomew and Ashburn was a lonely race for Richard Smeeton, who cruised around to pick up maximum points.

Powell and Phil Nuttall (355/Ch) were separated by less than a second to finish second and third in the "C" class and there was yet another close tussle between Swift, Dantinne and McKay, who finished less than two seconds apart with frequent position changes.

It had not been as exciting a race as the Saturday affair but at least this time the lottery of tyre choice had not been a factor.

After four rounds of the championship Richard Smeeton has a handy lead in the "O" class and Gary Culver currently dominates "C" class. In the "S" category John Seale and Ian Hetherington, however, are only one point apart.

The next round takes place at Rockingham Raceway on 12/13 May 2001.

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