PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
REPORT : ROUND 5 : ROCKINGHAM : 25/26 MAY 2002

The Ferraris returned to Rockingham for the second year to find that the building site which greeted us last time had been vastly improved. But whilst the pit garages are splendid in themselves, the remainder of the paddock was still insufficient for a club meeting with many entries in different races and classes.

Overall, there is something wrong with Rockingham because we only attracted an entry of ten cars, which is the lowest we have ever had in our series. Added to this was a grim weather forecast and the weekend promised not a lot of fun.

Serial race winner Gary Culver (360/Ch) inevitably took pole position following the dry practice session, over three seconds ahead of team-mate Richard Stevens (355/Ch), followed by two further 355/Chs of Alan Newton and Witt Gamski. Fifth on the grid was a welcome return of the Hetherington 550 Maranello, which has had a number of brake system changes since its first outing at the Castle Combe opening round. John Taylor (360 Modena) was the quickest of the "O" class runners but less than a second behind was Richard Allen's 328GTB.

Race day was atrocious. Heavy rain washed mud across the track and by the time the Ferraris lined up for the rolling start the meeting was already running over an hour behind.

After the pace car pulled into the pits and the lights went green Culver moved straight into an oppositionless lead. Behind him, however, Stevens was unable to get away from Newton, who gamely hung on to his back end. The latter, in particular, looked very good on the teeming wet track, and these two provided the only close racing in the vast arena.

Behind the first three, Les Charneca ran a lonely race in fourth position, with Witt Gamski gradually losing contact. He was the last of the unlapped runners.

And what of the 550? Having already had several spins in practice, Hetherington found the car undrivable in the difficult conditions and pulled in after just one lap to retire. This allowed Duncan McKay (F355/Ch) to finish sixth, ahead of the three "O" class runners in the order Taylor-Furness-Allen.

Truly not one of the best races we have ever had and for the competitors as well as their soaking mechanics the finish cannot have come soon enough.

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Qualifying at least was dry, here Newton leads Stevens   Culver leads away at the start and was never headed The conditions remained atrocious Charneca had to fend off Gamski at first 328s on the banking: Allen leads Furness at this stage Taylor continues to dominate the O-class   pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse