Oschersleben, 20th July 2003
Britain’s Andy Wallace and Japanese teen sensation Hayanari Shimoda stormed
to outright victory in round 4 of the FIA Sportscar Championship at the tight and
narrow Oschersleben circuit in Germany.
Driving the DBA4-03 Zytek the Anglo-Japanese pairing had qualified fastest
yesterday and were determined to use the light weight and excellent handling of
their LMP675 SR1 car to full advantage.
As the grid got the green flag on lap1 there was a furious drag race between the
veteran Racing for Holland pilot, Beppe Gabbiani and the young Japanese in the
DBA who only had his 19th birthday 3 days ago. In the end it was the superior
straight line speed of the Dome that allowed Gabbiani to take first place into the
turn 1. The duo then pulled out a substantial lead over the chasing pack with Jan
Lammers struggling to hang on to their coat tails carrying 60kg in success ballast.
Everyone was trying hard to make some distance between themselves and the
next man and soon unforced errors began to appear; Massimo Saccomanno
out-braked himself coming into the final corner on lap 5 and ran off into the gravel,
re-joining the circuit with nothing more than bruised pride and then Gabbiani
fighting for his life to keep Shimoda at bay missed a gear and the fast improving
Shimoda whipped past him to take 1st and proceeded to scuttle off into the
distance.
Gabbiani soon recovered only to find team mate Lammers knocking on the door
to come through.
Over the next 20 laps Lammers weight penalty saw him gradually dropping away
again and into the clutches for the Pescarolo Sport Courage Peugeot, which was
running Goodyear’s for the first time this weekend, a decision that seemed good
as the tyres improved during the race whilst the Dunlop’s on Lammers Dome
went off.
Meanwhile Michele Rugolo in the Durango Judd made an unscheduled pit stop to
attend to the roll hoop on the car which was coming away as Eric Helary continued
to pile the pressure on Jan Lammers for 3rd place.
Eventually it all paid off when Lammers and Helary pitted within a lap of each other
and lightening work by the Pescarolo Sport crew got the car back out on track
ahead of the Lammers Dome and into 3rd place.
In SR2 the Lucchini Engineering works car was streaking ahead with Mirco
Savoldi at the controls and only Sam Hignett in the Jota Pilbeam Nissan able to
stay within striking distance of the blue and white car. Marc Rostan may have been
hot in the blistering 36 degree heat but at least the car hadn’t caught fire as at
Monza and he was busily engaged in a battle with GP Racing’s Massimo
Saccomanno for 3rd spot in SR2.
Also streaking ahead was Hayanari Shimoda, Eric Helary soon had him in his
sights but unfortunately a full lap ahead as the DBA continued to pound around
Oschersleben, the clock registering a full hour racing completed without the DBA
coming in for a fuel stop. Bang on the hour mark Saccomanno brought the
Lucchini Alfa into the garage with gearbox problems thereby promoting PiR
Competition to 3rd in class.
Durango too were having trouble as their scheduled pit stop turned into a
nightmare and problems with the alternator meant the car was stranded in the box
and sent only it’s way again with the aid of a push start. Sadly for the Italian team
they were hit with a 60 second stop and go penalty for doing so which put them
way back down the field and out of the running in SR1.
Finally after 70 minutes Hayanari Shimoda, his fuel all but spent, came in to hand
over to Andy Wallace. It was a good move on the part of RN Motorsports to have as
much as 80 seconds in hand over their nearest rivals as Wallace immediately
thought he had a problem after leaving pit lane. The car began to squirm and slide
on his out-lap and he pitted again soon after thinking he had picked up a
puncture. Luckily the problem turned out to be nothing more than dirt and marbles
picked up on the tyres and he continued on his way, now chasing Eric Helary in
the Courage who had inherited 1st place following Wallace’s extra pit stop.
With 1 ½ hours of racing completed, Helary led Lammers by 55 seconds with
Gabbiani in the second Dome at 1 lap back and Andy Wallace on a charge from
4th place, less than a second behind Gabbiani.
Within 2 minutes Wallace forced his way past the Italian at the Shell Esses and
shot off after Lammers. His job was made easier when the Dutchman pitted and
allowed Wallace to move up to 2nd overall and then into 1st place as Helary came
in to hand over to fellow Frenchman Nicolas Minassian.
It seemed that Pescarolo were determined to take the fight to RN in the closing
stages of the race but with 45 minutes to go Minassian limped into pit lane, the
clutch in the Courage slipping and for the first time in 2 years clutch failure hit the
car and spelled the end of the race and possibly the championship challenge for
the French team.
With just 30 minutes remaining Wallace led John Bosch in the no.1 Dome S101,
followed by Ortiz in the second Dome lying in third overall.
Team Jota having chased so hard now seemed to be suffering their own starting
problems during a visit to the pits and wary of the penalty suffered by Durango for
push starting pulled the Pilbeam back into the garage and thence the paddock to
attempt a push start. Sadly the stewards could not agree with them and they too
were slapped with a 60 second stop and go penalty. They could no longer catch
Lucchini but were still comfortably ahead for PiR Competition.
Meanwhile GP Racing had cured their gearbox problems and re-entered the race,
way off a podium but at least running once again.
In the end it was a dominant victory for Wallace and Shimoda, a first for both them
and for an LMP675 car, comfortably ahead of Bosch and Lammers, with Gabbiani
and Ortiz taking third.
In SR2 Lucchini Engineering once again ran out comfortable victors followed by
Stack and Hignett in the Pilbeam Nissan and the steady Bruneau and Rostan
coming in third for PiR Competition.
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