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Racereport 2003 / 03 A1-Ring


You win again

 

Bo Warmenius and Gunnar Turebrand (S) won the third of three races of the FIA-TC 2003. That sounds boring. But the series outing to Styria spend an entertaining tin-top weekend. The qualifying gave a foretaste of a race that took surprising turns and closed with a showdown. Mikael Gustavsson (S) waited in the Ford Lotus Cortina for his chance to the very last lap of the practice session and drove Bo Warmenius out of the pole. He was one thousand of a second faster.

 

Not satisfied with their lap times were Chris Sanders (GB), the quickest in Zolder qualifying only one week ago, and Nick Whale in their Ford Lotus Cortina (1962). „We had misfire“, reported Chris Sanders. „The reason was fuel starvation“. But that could be solved for the race, when Nick Whale started from the fifth position in the grid.

 

The start of the one-hour-race showed the expected Swedish Lotus-Cortina-sprint between Mikael Gustavsson and Bo Warmenius with the better end for the championship leader, who dived with his Cortina at first into the Castrol corner. The GTA squad with Alex Furiani (D) and Dieter-Karl Anton (A) followed the Scandinavians.

 

Mikael Gustavsson dropped back to forth, while Furiani and Anton were chasing Super-Bo. Furiani even managed to pass Warmenius. But the German Alfa specialist with the Italian name, who lives near Cologne, was not able to keep pace with the Swedish driver. He lost the lead to Warmenius and then the second position to Anton. „From the start I had to drive with only one hand on the steering wheel“, Furiani said. „With my right hand I had to fix the gear lever because otherwise the gears jumped out“. Later he had to retire.

 

The runner-up Anton pushed very hard. The local hero achieved the fastest lap of the race. But he stayed in second position. The first driver to come in for the mandatory pit stop was Nick Whale in the Ford Lotus Cortina. „We didn’t have special tactics“, the teamcolleague Sanders remarked. „Nick did the first stint because he had to take his plane back to England“.

 

Then Calle Gustavsson put on his helmet to releave his son in the next lap. But he waited at the pit wall in vain. The runner-up in the FIA-TC had to retire in the 16th lap. „Something is broken, I do not know what exactly“, said the forgotten father. But that was just the beginning of the suspense race in the Austrian Alpes.

 

In the front the Alfa Romeo GTA of Anton in the national colours livery was hunting the Ford Lotus Cortina of Warmenius. The struggle continued after the pit stops. The Vienna soloist now chased Gunnar Turebrand, who showed a strong fight to defend the lead. Nevertheless Anton passed the Swedish driver. In his home run Anton started the last lap as leader of the FIA-TC race. But after two corners in the final lap the Italian four cylinder broke. A connecting rod knocked a hole in the engine block.

 

„Unbelieveable, fourth gear, 6500 revs, and then it happened“, the excited Austrian said. „I jumped out of the car and pushed it to the top of the hill“. Then he managed to cross the finish line without engine power, being classified as fifth. „Well done“, the former Formula Vee designer Kurt Bergmann („Kaimann“) tried to console his compatriot. „You competed with consideration“.

 

Chris Sanders, who came up to the third position with constantly quick lap times, now was given the second position. Behind him the French team d‘ Abel de Libran / Orre took the third position with their Ford Lotus Cortina, but only for nearly one kilometre. Then the yellow Cortina ran out of fuel and the French lost the place on the podium in their FIA-TC debut. Nick Stagg and Kerry Michael (GB) entered the third position in front of the last-lap-stumblers.

 

 

The sixth position went to Alex Ellinger / Alex Heschl-Gillespie (A) in the quickest BMW 1800ti. They won the 2500 cc-class in front of Horst Baumann / Dirk Engelhardt (D) in the amazing Volvo Amazon and Wolfgang Schachinger (A), who lost all chances in his BMW with an early pit stop to solve technical problems.

 

Next FIA-TC event: July 13 in Dijon (F)

 

 

 

Dirk Johae


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