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Racereport 2003 / 02 Zolder


Warmenius/Turebrand give a lesson on bookkeeping

 

Bo Warmenius (S) is ambitious, fast and clever. For many years he is one of the best historic racers, especially in tin tops and GTs. Last year he lost the championship in the final countdown in Imola. In the second event of the FIA Challenge for Historic Touring Cars 2003 on the traditional touring car track of Zolder (B) he underlined his skills together with Gunnar Turebrand, his racing partner in the Ford Lotus Cortina (1963) since last season.

 

In practice the Swede lost the pole being tiny 0,05 seconds slower than Chris Sanders (GB), the Zolder winner of last year with his pre-series Ford Lotus Cortina (1962). Bo Warmenius opens his books: „We always practice with second hand tyres and a full tank. That makes us some tenth of a second slower“. But the Warmenius way is successful. „One hour is a very long distance for our old cars“.

 

But the 22 teams showed a clondse competition for the places in the grid. The five fastest cars were within one second. The two Ford Lotus Cortina teams Walker/Wolfe (GB) and „Junior Senior“ Gustavsson (S) in the second row were followed by the German GTAs of Oertz/Theil and Furiani/Werner. Fastest Mini Cooper S was the swimmingpool-coloured car of Claude Boissy and Alan Miran. The French, second in the FIA Cup 2001, were the ninthfastest overall in practice.

 

By preparing the car for the race Warmenius needed a weld. But he didn’t have his own with him. So he looked for one in the paddock and found it at the team of pole-setter Chris Sanders (GB). „Without our help because maybe he wouldn’t have competed“. But Warmenius knows that he can count on his tin-top-neighbours: „It is normal that we help each other“.

 

After the start Sanders feels the pressure of Warmenius right behind him. „It was a good fight, very close and a good fun“, Warmenius said after the race. „But I think Sanders became nervous when he got problems with his tyres“. Warmenius passed Sanders, who had to change the tactics drove into the earlier than he had planned. „I don’t know what happened to the left front tyre exactely, but we had to change it at our mandatory pit stop“. So Colin Blower entered the car earlier than usual. „It is his first season in this kind of car“, said Sanders. „He is used to slicks-and-wings“.

 

The polesetter fell down to the fourth position. In the third position were „Sandro“ Furiani and Max Werner in the fastest Alfa Romeo GTA. But the German Alfa specialists had no chance to get closer to the leading Lotus Cortinas. „My brakes were not okay“, described the 21-year-old Max Werner. „Sometimes they didn’t work. Additional something broke and there was a loud noise everytime I changed a gear“. The son of classic car dealer and historic racer Klaus Werner handled the GTA with care and was passed by the Gustavsson Cortina.

 

Mikael and Carl Gustavsson did a good job. In the final laps they became quicker and quicker. The family team marked the fastest lap of the race. After the distance of one hour they were only 10,6 seconds behind the winners Warmenius/Turebrand. On the pit wall the winner team directed Gunnar Turebrand to a controlled win. „We showed him the seconds he was ahead“, described Warmenius. „You have always to realize that the danger, to overdrive the car and to overheat the tyres. You have to drive very carefully, not as fast as possible“.

 

Behind the Swedish teams Furiani and Max Werner secured as third the last two Dunlop caps for the successful teams of the weekend. The fastest Mini Cooper team was Ian Cox / Allen Tice because Alan Miran got problems with the clutch. In the dramatic final laps his goal was to finish the race to collect the points for the second place in the class.

 

Jim Chapman (GB) had to retire in the first half of the race, because the V8 of his Mustang showed the blue flag by losing oil. Ellinger/Heschl-Gillespie (A) in the only BMW 1800 and Oertz/Theil in the GTA had to end the race early, too. Graham Churchill and Peter Baldwin (both GB) managed to finish the race, also they had a lot of trouble with their Mini Cooper S 1071, the first model of the works tuned Cooper S presented 40 years ago. Also in 1963 the European Touring Car Championship was established. From the beginning there was a race in Austria, not on the Österreichring, the predecessor of the A1-Ring in Styria but in the hillclimb at the Timmelsjoch.

 

 

 

Dirk Johae


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