Race Report - Rounds 7 & 8 - 2002 Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge - Club Racing Series'

PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUNDS 7 & 8 : MAGNY COURS : 28-30 JUNE 2002

The second foreign event of the PMFC took everyone way down into France to the F1-grade Magny Cours circuit. Well, not quite everyone because a disappointingly small entry of just 14 Ferraris made the trip. Whilst a number of contenders had specific problems to deal with and just couldn't make it, for others it must have been the distance and the amount of time necessary to get there and back.

With Gary Culver still absent following his hospitalisation to fix a back problem, Oliver Morley (360/Ch) was again everyone's favourite for the win in this double-header but just like the previous round at Castle Combe this was not to be and he never even made it as far as qualifying. His car developed a mysterious problem in its F1 selector mechanism and despite massive efforts the SCS team were unable to find and rectify the problem.

It was therefore Richard Smeeton (360/Ch) who took pole position almost two seconds clear of the leading "C" class contender, Robin Ward (355/Ch), who in turn was a couple of seconds ahead of Graham Reeder (355/Ch).

Closely behind, however, came Mark Cale in the SF Motorsports-run 360/Ch, with Chris Catt, Les Charneca and Duncan McKay following in their 355/Chs. In the "O" class Mike Edmonds (355) was quickest followed by John Taylor (360).

The sweltering heat from Saturday's qualifying carried straight through into Sunday's two races with air temperatures hitting 30°c and track temperatures rising above 50°c.

Following the formation lap all the cars were required to stop their engines on the grid and this brought disaster for pole-sitter Smeeton. His 360 simply refused to fire up again and the rest of the field was waved off on its green flag lap. Well after everyone else had disappeared the 360 burst into life and Smeeton set off but as he arrived back on the grid the officials refused him his pole position place and put him to the back of the grid. With all this manoeuvring his engine stalled and again refused to fire up. He was duly pushed into the pit lane.

Robin Ward therefore had the front row all to himself and he led away at the start when the lights went to green. There was plenty of action behind as Charneca, Reddick (355/Ch),McKay and Mike Reeder (355/Ch) all got themselves into a tangle and there was various contact with Reeder seeming to come off the worst. At the same time Edmonds had his throttles jam open on his O-class 355 and he retired on the spot.

For the first half of the race Graham Reeder sat doggedly on Ward's tail with Cale dropping slightly back and in fourth spot there was a tidy battle between Catt and McKay.

And Smeeton? Steve Farthing and his lads managed to get the car started in the pit lane just after the rest of the grid had disappeared into the distance and he set off in hot pursuit trying at least to gain some points if not a win out of the situation. He set the best "S" class lap time by some three seconds but by the chequered flag he was only able to move up to 8th place overall but still second in class with 13 valuable points.

For the second half, the race remained relatively static. Ward began to edge away from Graham Reeder, who in turn had pulled out a good lead from Cale, Catt and McKay. In the "O" class John Taylor ran a lonely race following the demise of Edmonds to collect maximum points and consolidate his already impregnable position at the top of the "O" class championship.

The second race was at 4.00 in the afternoon, immediately after the FIA World Sportscar Championship round.

Bang on the dot the Ferraris were called to the grid and this time Smeeton's 360/Ch fired up perfectly, having had its starter motor changed during the interval.

Smeeton shot away from its pole position ahead of Ward, Cale and G. Reeder. They were followed by Catt, Edmonds (in the "O" class car!), Charneca, Reddick and McKay.

Reeder was clearly trying to get past Cale but the latter did not give him an awful lot of room. The two cars eventually touched and this dropped Cale two places down the order, although he was able to haul himself past Catt again to claim fourth place.

By the time of the chequered flag Smeeton had pulled out an eight second lead over double "C" class winner Ward, with G. Reeder, Cale, Catt and Reddick bringing up the next positions.

This time Edmonds kept it all together in his "O" class car to take the win ahead of Taylor's 360.

The podium cermony was great fun and in true continental fashion there were flowers and champagne in addition to the trophies. The drivers made like they had seen on telly and sprayed the stuff all over the place, but no doubt saved the much better Veuve Clicquot from the London Wine Company for better purposes.