Spa Francorchamps - 13/05/2001   Full Race Meeting Report   The internet should be able to provide all the news in a timely fashion, but sometimes - very rarely - the Editor finds he has other commitments and can't do more than post the race result on Sunday night. That other FIA Championship was taking place at Silverstone, and rightly or wrongly, that took precedence this weekend. Fine weather saw the Nielsen / Katoh Dome S101 take pole on Saturday. The provisional pole sitter, the GLV Brums Ferrari Judd, was disqualified from the top spot for being underweight, and therefore started from the back of the (SR1) grid. It was the first Dome pole. "We will take it of course," said John Nielsen, "and although it is not a great way to get our first pole, it is still pole and it will put us in an even better position for the race tomorrow." Giovanni Lavaggi's best (2:08.450) had been an amazing 2.3 seconds quicker than the rest of the field. A Ferrari Judd seems to be the car to have this year, following on from that remarkable Monza effort from GLV Brums. Mauro Baldi and Alex Caffi sat alongside Nielsen, despite concerns with overheating. "Our new engineer, Renato Moscati thinks that the new crash box structure on the nose of the car is affecting the air flow to the radiators," explained Caffi. After their disappointing reliability at Monza, the two two BMS Scuderia Italia Ferraris filled the second row, being qualified by father and son Angelo and Marco Zadra. Son was quicker by three tenths. Father had a run in with Werner Lupberger, the two cars rubbing wheels after Angelo blocked the South African. That left the Ascari in fifth: "It was a mega disappointment," said Lupberger, who felt he would have been in front of both Ferraris. The second Dome was sixth, the Dutch pair being baffled by a handling imbalance. Tyres, apparently, so that Le Mans form will have to wait until...Le Mans. Mark Smithson was a fraction slower in the Reynard, while the Kremer Lola was still suffering from that Monza misfire. "We think that it is an engine mapping problem and the guys from Roush are working flat out on it for the race," said Didier de Radigues. It didn't go out at all during Qualifying. The first four SR2s were in or below the 2:20s, and led by Martin O'Connell in the Ray Rowan Alpha Club Pilbeam on 2:18.399, only four seconds off the last of the SR1s to set a time. It was this car's first FIA SCC pole in only its second race. They expected a race challenge to come from the Swedish Lola and /or the BM Autosport Tampolli. The latter will now be known as the AB Motorsport team. Thed Bjork met a small electrical problem, which prevented him improving on third place on the SR2 grid; he was enjoying taking Eau Rouge flat in fifth. The Rapier 6 of Ian Flux / Mike Millard was struck down by an engine problem on its out lap. They hoped to fix it for the race....but it appears that they didn't. More fine weather on raceday saw an unexpected repeat of that Barcelona event, as BMS Scuderia Italia secured another 1-2, but this one was considerably more interesting. It had looked like a first Dome win (for Nielsen / Katoh), until some dreadful luck hit the Dane's team as a cracked shock absorber dropped them to tenth. Marco Zadra and Jean-Marc Gounon took the flag five seconds ahead of the Calderari / Bryner / Angelo Zadra car, which again seems to have found form that has eluded this group until the 2001 season. Marco Zadra now leads the SR1 Drivers Championship with two wins out of three; the series now takes a break until it heads to Brno in July. "The early stages of the race were very exciting when I was battling for third place with the Ascari because we touched wheels on a few occasions," said the Championship leader. Angelo Zadra, Enzo Calderari and Lilian Bryner are in an unlikely second place in the Championship after two second places and a retirement. The Domes are showing enormous potential, but the Ferraris are still doing it in terms of results. John Nielsen had led at the start, Hiroki Katoh building on the lead ahead of Gounon until the handling went wonky. "We had the legs of everyone today," reckoned team manager Karl Patman. The Dutch Dome secured another third place though, after its start from the back (Lammers stalled at the beginning of the formation lap). "We had some problems with the tyres picking up debris on the track towards the end of my stint and then I handed over to Val (Hillebrand), who I must say did a fantastic job today. There are not many 19 year olds who drive with that level of maturity in a race like this." The Ascari of Collins / Lupberger came home fourth, one lap down. Ben Collins: "I had to defend from Zadra in the opening stages and we had some good fights on the run down the straight from Blanchimont and in to the chicane. We touched on a couple of occasions but it was no problem, just good racing. We then had the front bodywork come loose and then I ran out of fuel entering the pits." A strong finish just off the podium adds to the feeling that it will all come right for Ascari very soon. Maybe at Le Mans? The 'lightweight' Brums Ferrari was fifth after losing time (and three laps) with a brake problem. Christian Vann had started for the first time, and was hanging onto the Ascari-Ferrari-Ferrari battle for third, until the brakes misbehaved. Ahead of the three 333s initially was the Baldi R&S, but he was pulled from the race after receiving a push start after a pit stop. Kremer and Redman Bright had more misfire and rear brake problems respectively. Massimo Monti was the star of SR2, leading the class from the off. Lucchinis came home second third and fourth, ahead of the SRTS Lola, which met more misfire problems and had to play the percentage game and just gather some points. The Rowan Racing Pilbeam was forced out of the race with a broken gear linkage, but this was less unsatisfactory that the outcome for the Team Swara Pilbeam, which Michael Mallock planted in the Eau Rouge barriers on the first lap. Roy Baker must have upset someone to bring such dreadful luck his way. But who? Renauer Motorsport bounced back from their Spanish disaster to produce a sixth place in class in their first start in the (brand new) yellow Tampolli. See the separate page link of John Brooks' full screen images. Images on this page by Harald Gallinis. Fourteen finishers from 20 starters was a good percentage, but Brno needs to see a leap in numbers when the FIA SCC reconvenes after Le Mans. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport