Spa Summer Classic report
Qualifying: record numbers out on track!
With a record 53 cars on track, SuperSixties 2025 kicked off at a sunny Spa-Francorchamps. With GT40’s, Corvette Grand Sports and Cobra Daytonas leading the V8 brigade it was a surprise to see a little Lotus Elan topping the timesheets. We do not know whether it was Lando or Alexis Graf von Wedel, but the pale green Elan was fastest in an amazing 2:52. Laurent Jaspers was trying hard until the very last moment in his Cobra Daytona, but was 0,4 of a second behind. Andy Newall took third in Rhea Sautter’s E-type.
Compliments to all the drivers for staying out of trouble, although of course mechanical problems cannot be avoided in historic racing. Martin Bijleveld’s Falcon dropped out with a broken wheel, while Søren Christensen stopped in the Double Gauche with a cockpit full of steam. This brought out the red flags, which enabled everyone to regroup, change drivers and adjust tire pressures. GTP racers Kaj Dahlbacka in the Corvette GS and Kennet Persson in the GT40 could have gone faster but did not go out again and thus ended up 4th and 6th fastest, split by Oliver Douglas in the silver Cobra Daytona. Roelant de Waard in the Shelby Mustang, Adriaans father and son in the Cobra, Luc de Cock in the Lotus Elan and Meeuwissen father and son in the third of the Cobra Daytona’s rounded out the top-10. Antoine Benne was third fastest of no less than 11 Lotus Elans in GTS10. Erwin van Lieshout was fastest in GTS11 in his Porsche 911. Second fastest were Florian Lübbert and Philippe Vermast in the Triumph TR4. Egbert Kolvoort was third in GTS11 and fastest of the MGB’s. In the small GTP class it was Rob Rappange in the Porsche 904-6 with Frank Weidema in the Mini Marcos not far behind. Reinier van Abbe debuted his new Ford Mustang by beating all the Falcons, with Carlo Hamilton second fastest and returnee Norbert Gross in third. In CT08 it was one lone Alfa Romeo Sprint against 7 Lotus Cortina’s. Mark Dols and Adam Cunnington were very fast, Marcel Wentzel was quickest of the rest and the Colinet brothers a brave third in the Alfa. In CT07 Bernd Horlacher was going great in his yellow Mini Cooper, with Fernand Lelong a cautious second in his immaculate white example. Finally, Michiel Campagne was not yet in Spa, so he would start from the back of the grid in his Corvette GS for some added interest.
Race 1: all about the pitstop strategy
You do not need a GTP car to win in SuperSixties at Spa, a good pit stop strategy is much more important, so it turns out. Laurent Jaspers and Roelant de Waard, in a GTS12 Cobra Daytona and Shelby Mustang GT350 respectively, made good use of a Safety Car period. They planned their stops perfectly and secured the top podium spots. Kennet Persson (GT40) and Kaj Dahlbacka (Corvette GS) had been disputing the lead, but could not improve on 3rd and 4th. The fastest of the Lotus Elans was SuperSixties debutant Jan van der Kooi in his self-built example who drove faultlessly to finish 5th. Michiel Campagne started 51st and finished 6th in the blue Corvette GS, with a good chance to be at the front in Race 2. Luc de Cock was 7th in the second of the Lotus Elans. The most entertaining scrap of the race was between Rhea Sautter (E-type), Oliver Douglas (Cobra Daytona) and Sam Adriaans (AC Cobra). Adriaans was the winner in the end as the other two collected 5 seconds for track limit infringements. Carlo Hamilton (Falcon) outfoxed Reinier van Abbe (Mustang) to win the Ford V8 touring car class by 9 seconds, with Norbert Gross (Falcon) in third. Adam Cunnington/Mark Dols were unbeatable in CT08, with Marcel Wentzel second and Magnus Lillerskog third, all in Lotus Cortinas. Fernand Lelong was another SuperSixties debutant who scored a class win in his Mini Cooper S. In GTS11, Erwin van Lieshout in his Porsche 911 was just 6 seconds ahead of the Lübbert/Vermast Triumph TR4 after 40 minutes of hard racing. Egbert Kolvoort was fastest of the MGB’s again. Finally, Rob Rappange won the small GTP class in the Porsche 904 from Frank Weidema in the Mini Marcos.
Race 2: the Swedes take no prisoners
There was drama even before the start of Sunday’s SuperSixties race. Michiel Campagne stopped on the warm-up lap with a broken back axle on the Corvette Grand Sport, Gerrit Jan van Leenen had to make a quick diversion to close his bonnet, Erwin van Lieshout came too late because he could not find one of his gloves and Roelant de Waard slowed just before the start when his engine died. The start was clean and the Swedes took no prisoners this time. Kennet Persson took the victory in his Ford GT40, with Kaj Dahlbacka second in the Corvette GS, 9 seconds behind. Laurent Jaspers tried hard to keep them in sight and was first GTS12 car home in the Cobra Daytona, with Oliver Douglas in a similar Cobra not far behind. Lando and Alexis Graf von Wedel came from afar to win GTS10 in their Lotus Elan. They were fifth overall, even including a time penalty for ignoring track limits. They were not alone in that, and there were even more time penalties for pitstops that were too short, too early or too late, 9 in total. After all the sums had been made, Adriaans/Adriaans were classified 6th and 3rd in GTS12 in their AC Cobra, ahead of the Sautter/Newall E-type. Jan van der Kooi was next, second Lotus Elan home, from fellow SuperSixties debutant Antoine Benne in 10th. They were split by Norbert Gross, surprise winner of the touring car division in his Ford Falcon. Early leader Carlo Hamilton dropped back due to a faulty fuse, while Reinier van Abbe was ahead on the road but received 15 bonus seconds. In CT08, the time penalty tombola came to a climax. Behind the winning Lotus Cortina of Cunnington/Dols, the Alfa of the Colinet brothers was awarded second and Magnus Lillerskog third while Vanspringel tumbled to fourth. Fernand Lelong made it two out of two in his CT07 Mini. In the small GTP class the order was Rappange- Weidema again, Porsche 904-6 ahead of Mini Marcos. Finally, in GTS11, Florian Lübbert in his Triumph and Egbert Kolvoort in the MGB were uncatchable for Erwin van Lieshout, but he managed to salvage third in class by passing all the other MGB’s and Steven Tonneman in his Triumph TR4A.
Thanks to all SuperSixties drivers and the Roadbook organization for making it a memorable weekend.
Read more in SuperSixties magazine/Spa edition: https://indd.adobe.com/view/898952b2-dba0-4145-832b-cacb9d77d07f
Results: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/results/
Points after 2 of 12 races: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/standings/
NEXT RACE: Historic Zandvoort Trophy, May 31 / June 1
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