SuperSixties report from Assen

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Qualifying: Abbring and Kalff to the fore

Kevin Abbring was the man in SuperSixties qualifying at the Tabac Classic GP Assen. Allard Kalff set a blistering 2:02 in Michiel Campagne’s Corvette Grand Sport. Abbring took a few laps to get acquainted with Bas Jansen’s AC Cobra, then set an unbeatable 2:01,3 to take pole. Andy Newall qualified Rhea Sautter’s E-type in 3rd. Philippe Vermast was fastest of the Lotus Elans ahead of Peter Brouwer. Next it was Roelant de Waard and Adriaans/Adriaans in Shelby Mustang and Cobra respectively. The first of the touring cars would start 8th, Kalff and Campagne again, now in a Mustang. Their driver change in the race promised to be interesting… Mats Ek (Lotus Elan) and Marcel van Laarhoven (Shelby Mustang) rounded out the top-10. The Van Gammeren Porsche 911 was fastest in GTS11 while Thijmen de Vries just pipped teammate Phil Anning in the first of the Mini’s. In CT08 it was Mr. Ford Bart-Jan Deenik back at the wheel of a Lotus Cortina who posted the fastest time ahead of Magnus Lillerskog.

 

Race 1: Vermast the surprise winner

SuperSixties powered by NKHTGT treated the spectators at the Tabac Classic GP Assen to a superb spectacle on Saturday. Michiel Campagne took the lead in the Corvette Grand Sport, with Andy Newall (Jaguar E-type), Bas Jansen (AC Cobra) and Philippe Vermast (Lotus Elan) in hot pursuit. These four had a ding-dong battle until the pit window opened after 15 minutes. Campagne was the first to come in, but Allard Kalff took well over a minute to reach the pit in the Mustang, so a fair amount of time was lost. Kevin Abbring had taken over from Bas Jansen and they looked to have the win in the bag until a safety car interlude provided them with a penalty. Through all the confusion came Philippe Vermast with a faultless performance to take the win in his Lotus Elan. Roelant de Waard (Shelby Mustang) was 9 seconds behind in second while Jansen/Abbring were relegated to third. Kalff used the safety car period to close in on the Sautter/Newall E-type and passed it on the final lap to take fourth. The first touring car home was a surprise, Thijmen de Vries in the Mini Cooper left a lot of potentially faster cars behind to take 6th. Next was Peter Brouwer, second in GTS10 in his Lotus Elan, then the Kalff-Campagne CT10 Mustang and the Wilhelm-van Gelder E-type. Cees Lubbers bumped his way into the final top-10 spot in his Ford Falcon. Erwin van Lieshout was victorious in GTS11 in his Porsche while Bart-Jan Deenik dominated CT08 in his Lotus Cortina.

 

Race 2: Kalff and Campagne’s cunning plan

In Sunday’s SuperSixties race, the action started after the pitstops. It was another blistering hot day at the Tabac Classic GP Assen and the rate of attrition was high. Kevin Abbring took a commanding lead at the start, but dropped out after just one lap when the steering of the AC Cobra let him down. With Michiel Campagne starting from the pits in the big GTP Corvette, it was Roelant de Waard who was now leading in the Shelby Mustang, followed by Peter Brouwer in the Lotus Elan. The CT08 battle was decided early on when Marcel Wentzel and Magnus Lillerskog collided. Both Lotus Cortina’s were out, leaving a clutchless Gerrit Jan van Leenen to cruise to a class win, although getting away after his pitstop was a challenge.

A short safety car interlude to remove the stranded Swedish Lotus Cortina meant many teams decided to pit early. It was now very close at the front with Roelant de Waard in the Shelby Mustang, Peter Brouwer in his Elan and the Armand/Sam Adriaans Cobra all in close contention, while Andy Newall was catching them all in Rhea Sautter’s E-type. Kalff and Campagne had a method to their madness though, the Corvette Grand Sport starting from the pits meant they had their driver and car change timed to perfection. Kalff put down the pedal in the Corvette to catch the leaders, while Campagne took over the Mustang ahead of all the other touring cars.

Newall put up the most resistance, but it was Allard Kalff who took the spoils, while a pitlane speeding offence cost Newall/Sautter second place, that was handed to Roelant de Waard. Sam and Armand Adriaans finished fourth in the Cobra. In fifth were Kalff and Campagne again, also winning the touring car class from Hemmo Vriend in his Ford Falcon Sprint, with Phil Anning third in the first of the Mini Coopers. GTS11 was a Porsche 911 benefit, but this time Thijs and Theo van Gammeren were victorious with Erwin van Lieshout second and Holger Felske holding up MGB honours in third. What about the Lotus Elans? They lived up to their reputation of being fast but fragile. We started the weekend with six of them but only one survived to the end, it was Alex Korle who deservedly took home the GTS10 winners’ trophy.

Results: Results – Super Sixties Racing

The latest paddock gossip: NKHTGT Assen magazine V2

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