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Vallelunga ELMS

02/09/2001

Race

Report

Gary Formato took the chequered flag in the Lanesra Racing Panoz LMP1 to settle the final race of the five round ELMS at Vallelunga. The reliability of the 14 starters was very good, the major surpise being the retirement of the Youles / Liddell pair with clutch slip. They did enough though.

Formato and Dean did lose the lead at one point - when Formato pitted before the RML Saleen, which briefly inhertited P1. Once #41 stopped, it was Dean and Formato again all the way. Gary Formato - "The car ran great, there were no hassles. Apart from keeping a close eye on the traffic and not rushing through it. I just had some fun, I quite enjoyed myself out there. I'm happy for the team." Not terribly satisfying though, Gary?

GTS saw a good fight between the Saleens, Franz Konrad not taking new tyres at the first pit stop, and therefore leading the class (second overall) in the middle period of the race - after starting from the back of the grid. But #26 threw away a potential win by visiting the gravel and losing 20 laps. "The other car elected just to do a fuel stop and no driver or tyre change so they left ahead of us," explained Chris Goodwin. "I managed to claw back some of the time we lost and I think I put him under a bit of pressure, he managed to have a spin and that was it."

So no race to the flag in the top two classes (how could there be in LMP 900?), and it was left to the GTs to provide the spills. The order became Kaufmann, Rymer and Dumas within 10 laps of the start, the German in more of a hurry than pole-sitting Terry Rymer in the lead Harlow Porsche - at this stage. Rymer and Dumas raced hard and long after that, with Championship leader Robin Liddell watching closely in fourth.

Orti took over from Kaufmann for the green car's middle stint, so Rymer led from Dumas and Liddell. The Scot then pitted with clutch trouble, but the team salvaged enough laps (10) after repairs (car or crew cooled by a giant fan?) to allow Mike Youles to get out and more or less seal the GT title for both he and Robin Liddell - before the car was left to sit until the end, when it crossed the line for a few more points. Paco Orti needs to race at the PLM and beat most of the factory GTs if he is overtake the British pair.

Dumas just about got ahead of Rymer before the stops, Cyrille Chateau taking over the saw-toothed Freisinger Porsche, Magnus Wallinder the Harlow car - on his debut for the team. First Seikel, now Harlow - the Swede is in demand.

Disaster struck the Paco Orti team when Orti came in to hand back to Kaufmann - an airgun broke forcing the team to change all four tyres with the one remaining gun. In their haste to get Kaufmann back out they left an airline across the pit and Kaufmann ran over it as he exited, resulting in a stop-go penalty. This ended their challenge, and left Wallinder to establish a comfortable one lap lead over the Freisinger Porsche. The win looked secure, and was apart from a clash with the Konrad Motorsport Saleen, forcing Wallinder off the track, and nearly ripping the rear bumper off. As the race drew to a close the officials debated whether to call the Harlow Motorsport car into the pits to remove the bumper, but decided that it was safe enough.

Wallinder took the flag well clear of Chateau, two laps ahead of the delayed Paco Orti 911. Adam Simmons / Gavin Pickering were next, more than making up for the disappointments of Round 4. Then came the two Cirtek Porsches, GT ahead of GTS. Stephen Stokoe was happy with runner-up in GTS: "We haven't been on the pace all weekend because the ELMS rules dictate that our 650bhp engine is virtually strangled of its power and there's not much we can do about it. Nonetheless we had to be there at the finish and that's what mattered today."

The surviving PK Porsche was next - and the rest were all delayed or retired, including the Atomic Kitten Corvette.

Terry Rymer - "I was in the lead at the beginning, but Kaufmann caught me and passed and built up a few seconds lead. I knew his teammate would be a little bit slower. It wasn't a drama, I closed the gap up at the end of my first stint. Magnus went into the car and held our lead. It was perfect, the Harlow Motorsport Team worked really well, the Dunlop tyres were good. It was a tough race and very hot but I really enjoyed it. It is my first international win in cars, so I'm rapped!"

As for the ELMS, that's wrapped up. Johansson, McKellar, Youles and Liddell are the significant Champions. Who can say what form the ELMS will take in 2002?