Double success for Bob Stevens at Spa
SuperSixties 2024 kicked off with mechanical issues for many drivers, from engine bay fires to broken diffs and wheels parting company. Through it all came Rhea Sautter and Andy Newall to claim pole in the Jaguar E-type, just 0,2 seconds ahead of Roelant de Waard in the Shelby GT350. Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona was another 2/10th behind. Luc de Cock was fastest of the Lotus Elans in 4th followed by John Tordoff and Bob Stevens. Fastest in GTS11 was Erwin van Lieshout in the Porsche 911, with Brian Lambert first of the MGB’s ahead of Egbert Kolvoort. In touring cars it was the Jaap/Jack van der Ende Ford Falcon at the front from Adam Cunnington in his Lotus Cortina. Both retired from the session with serious suspension issues though. So it remained to be seen whether they would make it to the start. If not, Hemmo Vriend (Ford Falcon), Ties Meeuwissen (Ford Mustang) and Ralf Wagner (Lotus Cortina) were first in line for the spoils in TC. Jop Rappange was fastest of the Mini’s with Alexander Schlüchter not far behind, even though he lost a front wheel. That would be fixed for Race 1 at 16:15 in the afternoon as would be most other cars – there was a lot of spannering going on.
Rhea Sautter led away from the grid but was soon overtaken by Roelant de Waard. Then, at the end of lap 1, Oliver Douglas took over at the front. Bob Stevens was the man with a plan though. Having started 6th, he took the lead on lap 4 and pulled out a small gap in his Lotus Elan, while the V8’s battled for second place. Oliver Douglas in the Cobra Daytona, the Adriaans AC Cobra and Niek van Gils in the TVR Griffith were all in with a chance. In the end Douglas took second while Van Gils incurred a time penalty that handed third to Newall/Sautter in the E-type, 4th to Adriaans/Adriaans and 5th to De Waard. Luc de Cock and John Tordoff had a great tussle for 7th in their Elans which Tordoff won in the end. Jack and Jaap van der Ende won the touring car class in the Ford Falcon, Adam Cunnington was next in the Lotus Cortina, then Hemmo Vriend in his Falcon. Next it was Jop Rappange in the Mini, Dieter-Karl Anton in his Lotus Cortina (for sale!) and Cees Lubbers in another Falcon. Alexander Schlüchter and Bernd Horlacher took 2nd and 3rd in CT07 in their Mini’s while Magnus Lillerskog was third in CT08 in yet another Lotus Cortina. In GTS11 Erwin van Lieshout was never headed in his Porsche, while Brian and Barbara Lambert outsmarted Egbert Kolvoort to finish first of the MGB’s. Holger Felske survived a spin to just stay ahead of the Mütschler sisters, while Clara Felske kept her nose clean and finished sixth in class. Finally, Marcel Peter deserves a mention for his open door policy. He drove into the paddock, jacked up the Healey, fixed the door, then rejoined the race.
On Saturday Bob Stevens made it 2 out of 2. He bided his time behind Oliver Douglas and Niek van Gils in their V8’s and pounced when they pitted for their compulsory stop. After his own pitstop the little blue Lotus came back on track with a healthy lead. Douglas had to work to keep his Cobra Daytona ahead of van Gils’ TVR. He lost ground after a small mishap, dropping behind van Gils and Roelant de Waard. De Waard finished third on the road in his Shelby GT350 but was awarded second overall and the win in GTS12 as van Gils collected another time penalty. Father and son Adriaans in the Cobra and Rhea Sautter/Andy Newall in the E-type were 5th and 6th while John Tordoff again claimed 2nd in GTS10 just ahead of Luc de Cock. Returnee Roland Zoomers claimed 9th in his beautifully rebuilt E-type while Rob Rappange rounded out the top-10 in the Porsche 904-6 GTP. As usual GTS11 fell to Erwin van Lieshout in his Porsche 911, while Egbert Kolvoort had to work hard to hold on to second from Holger Felske in the first of many MGB’s. Pit window problems caused a host of time penalties in the various touring car classes. Adam Cunnington made no mistakes and was classified first TC home in his CT08 Lotus Cortina, then Hemmo Vriend in the CT10 winning Ford Falcon and Alexander Schlüchter in the first of the Mini’s. Cees Lubbers and father and son Van der Ende were second and third in CT10, Dieter-Karl Anton and Magnus Lillerskog ditto in CT08 and Bernd Horlacher was second in the Mini Cooper class, CT07.
Results can be found here: http://spasummerclassic.alkamelsystems.com
All in all, a great start of the season with two incident free races. Our thanks to Vincent and Anne from Roadbook and all the marshals and volunteers at Spa-Francorchamps. The next race is at Charade on May 31 and June 2. There are still a few entries available. Please contact us as soon as possible if you want to participate. Anyone with an FIA compliant pre-’66 Touring Car, GT or GTP is invited to join us!
More news from Spa soon in SuperSixties Magazine 2024#1, on the website.