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Most ELMS

05/08/2001

Brief

Race Report

More on the ELMS race in the Czech Republic tomorrow: for now, just a quick overview of what happened, from a distant viewpoint.

One theme so far this weekend has been the unusual number of sportscar events - Spa 24 Hours, Portland ALMS, Most ELMS, Trois Rivieres Grand Am...and we've been covering a BTCC Night Race too. What different characters each of these events has. Which bodies chose this weekend for their event first? Can you argue that Most suffered because it was on the same weekend as the Spa 24 Hours? I would suggest not. Not one of the Spa enntrants was a potential runner at Most.

With the Atomic Kitten Corvette and Brookspeed Viper not going to Most because of apparent carnet problems, the GT class simply lacked variety, while GTS was hardly a race, as the RML Saleen took on a Konrad rent-a-driver 911 GT2. RML cantered home to the win, while Stefan Johansson and Patrick Lemarie had it almost as easy in LMP 900. Almost. An alternative theme this weekend is the successful return of the Panoz Roadster S, on both sides of the Atlantic. Panoz Motor Sports were happy after Sears Point, even happier after David Brabham set pole at Portland yesterday.

In the Czech Republic, Tomas Enge and Jaroslav Janis provided robust opposition for the Gulf R8, Lemarie losing ground in traffic - what traffic (good playacting)? - as the determined Enge showed a less cautious approach to sportscar racing. The Czechs had nothing to lose, while Johansson had to win. Which he did of course, his first of the season - and first and last in Europe, this year. Janis wasn't on Enge's pace, but a stop and go for the Audi brought him closer in the middle stint - and then something became detached at the back, losing Lanesra at least three laps.

In the closing stages, Enge paced Johansson to the flag, four laps and a hundred or two metres back - no Estoril repeat here. Johansson and the Gulf team have an unassailable lead in the LMP900 drivers' and teams points standings.

The ROC Reynard showed more Le Mans-type form to wrap up the 675 class, the Debora not on the pace and not reliable either.

So that left the GT class. It wasn't the standard of the Estoril entry, but there were still a good number of real racers in the cars. How about Dean, Lister, Kaufmann and Youles at the start? "We could have won the race," reckoned Wolfgang Kaufmann, who set the fastest lap of the GT afternoon early on in the Paco Orti Porsche - then collected a puncture, the tyre exploded, and he had to crawl round to the pits. Chance for the win gone in an instant. Mike Youles and Richard Dean were racing hard, Geoff Lister too. Terry Rymer was looking strong in the lead Harlow Porsche, until Piers Masarati slid into his door with the second PK GT3. Rymer was in the gravel for a lap, and retired anyway with smoke from one exhaust. #61 was excluded from the results.

The serene perormances were from the #60 PK Sport / Ricardo Porsche and the Sebah entry. Haden and Earle were just a lap down on Robin Liddell at the end, the Scot taking he and Youles' first international win as a PK pair. The top four were spread over four laps, so with Johansson and Lemarie winning by four, there's another theme.

It looked to be a good crowd, and they must have enjoyed Enge's efforts, but as an international sportscar race, it lacked more than a little something. The challenge now for the watching Don Panoz is to make the ELMS a series of genuine stature next year.