Race Report - Rounds 2 & 3 - 2003 Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge - Club Racing Series'

PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE

RACE REPORT: ROUNDS 2 & 3 : SPA FRANCORCHAMPS
26/27 APRIL 2003

Wet Days	click for Paddock Stories
	click for Results & Points

Rounds 2 and 3 of the PMFC went over to Spa Francorchamps as part of the Ferrari Days package. Whether the meeting would take place at all was uncertain, with everything being cancelled back in February after the withdrawal of a major sponsor but then apparently Ferrari themselves stepped in with financial assistance to put it all back on the map again.

Spa weather in April was bound to be changeable and the daunting circuit itself takes no prisoners under these conditions but quite a good entry of 21 Ferraris braved the trip. In addition five locals were invited to join in although they were not eligible for PMFC championship points. Louis Machiels had raced with us before in his F40, as had Maurice Dantinne in his 308GTB/4 and Ron Simons in his ex-PMFC 308GTB, but Vanina Ickx, daughter of ex-Ferrari star Jacky, in her 360/Ch was a new and very welcome addition, and the last of the guest runners was Ferrari employee Roberto Vagletti in another 360/Ch.

There was plenty of time for practice with a Friday morning session in brilliant sunshine and another one in late afternoon, by which time however the first drops of rain began to appear.

As Saturday dawned the heavens had opened and the midday qualifying session, which was to count for both races, was held in torrential rain. The boys were a little bit taken aback when it was seen that Vanina Ickx, a bit of a Spa specialist, had posted the quickest time ahead of the other 360/Chs of Lewis Carter, Marco Attard, Peter Sowerby, Chris Niarchos and Oliver Morley. Quickest of the "C" class runners was Graham Reeder, ahead of Chris Catt, Les Charneca and Henry Lawson.

Poor Swifty had a rear wheel fall off on the long trek up to Les Combes but managed to grind to a halt without hitting anything, and Marco Attard's 360/Ch had a suspected clutch failure which would necessitate a change before the afternoon race.

It was still chucking it down with rain as the cars went out on their formation lap in late Saturday afternoon. The Attard clutch change had been completed in the nick of time but Henry Lawson's 355/Ch pulled straight back in the pits with a broken fan belt and he became a non-starter.

Back on the grid the five second board was shown but then suddenly everything was stopped. It turned out that pole-sitter Vanina Ickx had stalled her car and it took her and her mechanics a while to get it back into life again.

During the delay Steve Farthing (Attard's team boss) leapt over the pit wall as he had just noticed a loose clip on the rear of the 360's bodywork. This would have ominous consequences later on.

The Ickx 360 finally fired up and the field was sent round for another formation lap but on returning to the grid Vanina was, quite correctly, sent to the back of the grid. This time the start worked and in a ball of spray the field shot down to Eau Rouge and out into the countryside.

Whilst Carter pulled out a commanding lead Ickx passed some ten cars on the first lap alone and set off in determined pursuit. At that stage Niarchos was second, Attard third, Morley fourth and Sowerby fifth. Graham Reeder was already safely at the head of the "C" class but poor Duncan McKay (355/Ch) was already stuck off the road after a coming-together with Witt Gamski (355/Ch). On lap three trouble started brewing for third placed man Marco Attard. He was given a stop/go penalty following Steve Farthing's intervention on the starting grid but failed to see it. He was then black flagged but also failed to see that, which would surely lead to his exclusion from the race.

At the front Carter had a comfortable lead from Niarchos but the latter was being rapidly caught by Ickx. Attard was still running in fourth place, with Morley beginning to trail behind.

Because of the extra formation lap the race itself had been shortened from eight to seven laps and Ickx flew past Niarchos and began to close on Carter. However there was not enough time left and thus Carter took the flag just five seconds ahead of Ickx, with another nine seconds back to Niarchos. Attard finished fourth (but with disqualification looming) and Sowerby just managed to squeeze past Morley on the line. Graham Reeder took an unchallenged win in the "C" class but Ted Reddick out-braked Les Charneca going into La Source for the final time to nab second place as the two of them crossed the line half a second apart.

Sure enough, Attard was excluded from the results but would be allowed to start the second race from the pit lane.

The rain continued incessantly into Sunday morning but suddenly it diminished and a brisk breeze began to give hope of a dryer second race, which was scheduled to start at 11.25 a.m. With a still wet track but no rain it came down to the usual dither over tyre choices. Most chose to go for slicks in the hope that the track would continue drying but the notable exceptions who kept their wets on were 360 runners Ickx, Carter, Niarchos, Sowerby and Attard. Morley chose slicks.....

On the formation lap we lost Terry Coleman, who parked up his 360/Ch with a suspected drive shaft failure. Everyone else made it back to the grid and this time it was a clean start, with the rain-tyred cars leading away.

Ickx was leading, followed by Carter, Sowerby and Niarchos, with the first of the slick-shod cars, Louis Machiels' F40, in fifth place followed by Burton (360/Ch), Morley and the class-leading Graham Reeder. Mark Cale (360/Ch) had a quick spin at the Bus Stop and David Back (F355/Ch) had a coming together with Charneca's 355. Niarchos dropped out of the running with a power steering failure, just as the track began to noticeably dry.

Machiels' F40 (on slicks) soon hauled in the cars in front and took the lead from Ickx on the penultimate lap. Carter (on wets) was still clinging on in third place but Morley (on slicks) had closed right up. On the very last lap Morley went past both Carter and Ickx and shot across the line to take second place to the thundering F40. Vanina Ickx finished just two seconds behind Morley but Carter had dropped his pace considerably as his tyres deteriorated. Graham Reeder, in fifth place and the leading "C" class man, was pulling him in at the rate of over four seconds per lap but the chequered flag intervened to secure Carter his fourth spot.

Sowerby (also on wets) finished sixth ahead of "C" class runner-up Lawson, and Burton, who was another one to suffer from his wet tyre decision. Catt finished third in the "C" class and in ninth place overall ahead of Mark Cale, who had recovered well from his first lap spin.

Of course the F40 and Vanina did not count for PMFC points so Morley took the maximum score with Carter second. Over the weekend Carter had earned himself 28 points to Morley's 25 and so consolidates his lead in the championship. In the "C" class Graham Reeder has now taken three maximum scores and leads handily from Ted Reddick.