SuperSixties report from the Red Bull Ring

Qualifying
Is the Red Bull Ring a power track? It certainly looked like it judging by the qualifying results. On the front row we found Jan Kling and Kennet Persson in a pair of GT40’s. Kaj Dahlbacka made it an all-Swedish top 3 with his Corvette Grand Sport. Next was Michiel Campagne, similarly mounted. In fifth we found the giant killing Bob Stevens in his Lotus Elan, followed by more V8 grunt, the Cobras of Adriaans/Adriaans and Bas Jansen, then Michel van Duijvendijk in the TVR Griffith and Roelant de Waard in the Shelby Mustang. Jos Stevens would start 10th in his Lotus Elan. In GTS11 the Van Gammeren Porsche 911 was much faster than the MGB opposition. In TC it was V8’s to the fore as well, the Van Gammeren, Deenik/Sinke and Vriend V8 Ford Falcons leading the way. Old hand Dieter-Karl Anton made up for his Hockenheim problems by easily outqualifying the CT08 opposition in his Lotus Cortina. In CT07, the De Vries Mini had the upper hand.

Race 1: Campagne beats the Swedes
The first SuperSixties race at the Red Bull Ring was quite eventful. The four GTP cars pulled away at the front, Michiel Campagne snatching the lead from fast starting Kennet Persson. In the battle for third Kaj Dahlbacka made contact with Jan Kling’s GT40 and came off worse, retiring with a flat tire. When Persson dropped out with a blown engine, Campagne in the Corvette Grand Sport had a big lead from Kling. Bas Jansen drove a strong race to take the final podium spot in his GTS12 Cobra. Bob Stevens beat Michiel van Duijvendijk (TVR Griffith) and Roelant de Waard (Shelby Mustang) to finish 4th overall and first in GTS10 in his 1,6 litre Lotus Elan. In GTS11 the winner was Thijs van Gammeren in the Porsche 911. The Deenik/Sinke Ford Falcon was fastest of the touring cars when
Carlo Hamilton dropped out, although after 40 minutes of racing Jaap van der Ende was just 4 seconds behind, with Hemmo Vriend another 10 seconds back. Highly experienced local racer Dieter-Karl Anton was unbeatable in CT08 in his Lotus Cortina, showing a clean pair of heels to Van Leenen/Du Toy van Hees and Lillerskog. In CT07 the De Vries father and son team took the spoils
from Jop Rappange and his father Rob, all in Mini’s of course. Finally, it was great to see Frits Campagne in his Ford Anglia chasing Graziano Tessaro in his Abarth 1000, until the little Fiat retired after 35 minutes. Interestingly all the new drivers kept their noses clean while some of the more experienced guys returned to the paddock somewhat battle scarred. As usual, it was nothing a beer,
some duct tape and a friendly evaluative talk couldn’t fix.

Race 2: Bas Jansen in a class of his own
SuperSixties was Sunday’s curtain closer at the Red Bull Ring and got underway with an exciting start, with Michiel Campagne, Jan Kling and Bas Jansen trading places at the front. Jansen had just managed to pass the two GTP cars to take the lead in his Cobra when the red flags came out. This was due to the Team Korle Cortina losing its diff oil going into the first corner. After the restart, with 30 minutes remaining, Campagne, Kling and Jansen were at it again, with the blue Corvette holding a small lead as Jansen attempted to pass Kling. Kaj Dahlbacka had moved up from 31st to 7th when the red flags came out. With the restart from the original grid positions, he had to do it all again! On lap 10 Campagne had a small off in turn 3. When he steered back on track his
rear wheel got stuck behind the curbs, wrecking the diff. Now Kling and Jansen were battling for the lead, and they did so with gusto, switching positions several times per lap. When Kling had a half spin, Jansen finally managed to pull away and take a well-deserved win. By the time the pit window opened, Dahlbacka was already in third, but he could not close the gap to the leaders. Armand Adriaans finished fourth in the Shelby Cobra, with Bob Stevens in the GTS10 winning Lotus Elan just 1,6 seconds behind. Thijs van Gammeren made it two out of two in GTS11 in the Porsche 911, ahead of the MGB’s of Holger Felske and the Mütschler sisters. Jaap Sinke had a tense moment when his Ford Falcon was inadvertently tapped into a spin by Mark Dols in his Marcos. Luckily, he had enough time in hand to stay ahead of Hemmo Vriend’s Falcon, while Frans van Maarschalkerwaart was third touring car home in a borrowed Ford Mustang. Dieter-Karl Anton dominated CT08 again in his Lotus Cortina. In CT07 De Vries-De Vries were the only remaining Mini, but they went flat out regardless, 5th of the touring cars. Finally, Frits Campagne and Graziano Tessaro entertained the crowd by battling for last place, until the little Fiat had lost too much of its oil and had to retire.

Results: Results – Super Sixties Racing

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