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Rapport 2003 / 04 Dijon


Super-Bo challenged V8 Goliaths

 

In his first start in the FiA-GTC this year Allen Lloyd (GB) turned his Ford GT40 (1965) into the victory lane after both FiA-GTC races on the former Formula One track famous for the struggle between Rene Arnoux in the Renault and Gilles Villeneuve in the Ferrari for the second position in 1979. Villeneuve managed to keep the cavallino rampante in front with two tenth ahead and saw the chequer behind Jean-Pierre Jabouille, the Renault teammate of Arnoux.

 

In the first race Lloyd celebrated a lights-to-flag win ahead of championship leader Bo Warmenius (S) in the Lotus Elan S1 (1963). But Warmenius had a tough fight with Claus Damgaard (DK) in another Elan. After 30 minutes the Svede was only one tenth faster than the Danish driver. After the first three overall the quickest French Armand Bailly crossed the line in a Lotus Elan 26R.

 

Charles Allison (GB) won the 2,5 litres-class in his Marcos 1800GT (1964) in front of Philipp Nelson (GB) in another Marcos and Mark Hales (GB) in the Turner Mk II-Ford. Dr. Armin Zumtobel (A) follwoed in the fourth position of the class in the fastest Porsche 911. Fastest car in the period E classement was Oliver Heschl-Gillespie (A) in the Jag E-Type (1961). But he had a fantastic struggle with Michel Reitz in the Big Healey and managed to win with a 0,4 seconds lead.

 

Lloyd tried from the start of the second race to built up again a cushion between his GT40 and the rest of the 36 GT cars. In the second lap he achieved the fastest lap of the FiA-GTC race with an average speed of 143 km/h and was 2 seconds faster than Thomas Bailly (F) in the Shelby AC Cobra in his fastest lap. Bailly struggled hard with the GTS winner of the first heat, Bo Warmenius in the Lotus Elan, who had won all three FiA-GTC rounds this season before Dijon. After 30 minutes the French Cobra driver won with 1,6 seconds ahead of Warmenius, who scored the maximum points for his win in the 1,6 litre class.

 

In the fourth position finished Stefano Rosina (MC) in his rare Elva GT160-Buick, followed by Charles Allison (GB), who won his class with the Marcos 1800GT again. Dr. Armin Zumtobel (A), the GTM champion of the last two years finished only third in the class, because he had no chance aganist the light Marcos and the Turner Mk II-Ford of Jon Shipman (GB).

 

The fastest driver of a period E car now was Nicolas Reitz (F) in the Big Healey (1961) ahead of Oliver Heschl-Gillespie in the Jaguar E-Type Coupé (1961), who still leading in the period E standings. FiA-GTC showed an interesting race with fascinating cars as Roger Batteliers Ferrari 275 GTB 2 (1965) or Didier Rouxs Aston Martin DB 4 or the two Ginettas, that both unfortunately retired after the pratice session as well as the beautiful Alpine A 108 of Ad Vermeulen (NL).

 

Bad luck also for Claus Damgaard (DK), who showed two fantastic races in Austria as well as in the first Dijon heat. In the second race he had to retire with his Lotus Elan S2 (1965) after technical problems. He hopes for better luck in the next round at the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix on the Nürburgring with a superb grid of 72 GT cars.

 

Dirk Johae


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