Danish domination at Assen
Qualifying – Jaguar on top
It looked like another E-type versus Lotus Elan battle was on the cards at this year’s Tabac Classic GP. Andy Newall/Rhea Sautter took pole in the Jaguar E-type, with Bob Stevens second in the first of the Lotuses. Alexander Weiss set third fastest time in the blue Elan he shares with his father Ulrik, with Luc de Cock in his yellow example fourth fastest. The fastest V8 was only fifth, Roelant de Waard in the Shelby Mustang. Jos Stevens was sixth in yet another Elan. Jasper Izaks qualified Frans van Maarschalkerwaart’s Shelby in 7th with father and son Adriaans in 8th in the Cobra. Carlo Hamilton and Jaap van der Ende headed the touring car times in their Ford Falcons until SuperSixties debutant Lukas Stiefelhagen split them with a demon lap in the Morris Cooper S. Rene and Thijmen de Vries were next in more Coopers, then Hemmo Vriend and Cees Lubbers in more Falcons with the Lotus Cortinas making up the rear of the touring cars, headed by Marcel Wenzel. In GTS11, Thijs van Gammeren was very fast in the Porsche 911 with Erwin van Lieshout second in his Porsche and Brian Lambert third in the first of the MGB’s. Raymond Klompstra’s TVR Grantura proved a match for the MG’s on his first taste of SuperSixties. With the Rappange family starting from the back, there were plenty of ingredients for an interesting first race.
Race 1: Weiss wins
Saturday’s SuperSixties action kicked off with a demon start from Roelant de Waard. Unfortunately, he braked slightly too late for the first turn and the big Shelby Mustang went wide. Bob Stevens had to take avoiding action. Later on the lap Alexander Weiss, having dealt with Rhea Sautter in the E-type, shot through on the inside into a lead he was to keep for the entire race. The father and son team from Denmark sensed a chance of victory and decided not to change drivers. Bob Stevens shadowed Roelant de Waard for a number of laps, then successfully passed him to make it a Lotus Elan 1-2. Sam and Armand Adriaans finished 3rd on the road in their Cobra but were classified 5th because their pit stop was too short. So Roelant de Waard took third and Rhea Sautter/Andy Newall fourth. Luc de Cock and Niek van Gils also collected bonus seconds. De Cock just a few, van Gils a lot. As a result de Cock was classified sixth ahead of fellow Elan racer Jos Stevens with Van Gils back in 9th behind touring car winner Carlo Hamilton in his Ford Falcon. Thijmen de Vries was second touring car home in his Cooper S, then Jaap van der Ende in the Falcon and René de Vries in another Cooper. Bert Mets and Lukas Stiefelhagen had pitstop bothers and were 5th touring car home. Erwin van Lieshout had the better of the Van Gammerens to make it a Porsche 1-2 in GTS11 with series returnee Mark Hope fastest of the fleet of MGB’s to take third in class. Raymond Klompstra was faster than the MG’s in his TVR but is currently in the invitation class, which he duly won from Bernd Horlacher in his little Sebring Sprite. In the small GTP class the Ginetta of Nigel Winchester and Chas Mallard was slower than usual but still beat the troubled Rappange Porsche 904-6.
Race 2: Danish Domination
Alexander Weiss made it two out of two in Sunday’s SuperSixties race at the wheel of the Lotus Elan 26R. He also won the two HRA races at the Tabac Classic GP in his F3 Reynard, so a lot of silverware is finding its way to Denmark. Bob Stevens trailed him home in second in the other blue Lotus Elan. Roelant de Waard again was the only one who challenged the nimble Lotuses in his Shelby Mustang. He dropped back a bit later in the race, enabling Armand Adriaans (Cobra), Andy Newall (Jaguar E-type) and Luc de Cock (Lotus Elan) to pass him. Dante Rappange drove a storming race in the Porsche 904-6. He finished fifth on the road, but dropped to 7th because of a track limits time penalty. Niek van Gils was the grand master of time penalties this time, collecting 3 different ones, which was a shame as he was going great guns in the TVR Griffith but ended up 9th (again!) behind Frans van Maarschalkerwaart and Jasper Izaks in the Shelby Mustang. Carlo Hamilton and Jaap van der Ende entertained the crowds with sideways action in their barges, also known as Ford Falcons. Jaap was ahead at some point, but Carlo was in front when it counted. He was very lucky, as on the cooling down lap, one of the V8’s connecting rods went through the block! The CT07 class battle was even more entertaining. René and Thijmen de Vries swapped the lead until Lukas Stiefelhagen caught up with them and it became a spectacular three-way Mini Cooper fight. Thijmen drew the short straw and spun into the gravel, while René de Vries secured the class win by drawing away after the pitstops. It was carnage in CT08, the Lotus Cortina class. Father and son Frasson dropped out with a broken gearbox, while Gerrit Jan van Leenen ground to a halt with a broken diff. Magnus Lillerskog needed a push start after his pitstop, but still took the class win from Hanna Grade. GTS11 was a Porsche 911 benefit again, but this time it was Thijs van Gammeren who reeled in Erwin van Lieshout after the pitstops and passed him for the win. The battle for third in GTS11 was equally fierce, between Holger Felske and Mark Hope in their MGB’s. It could have been either one of them, until a Felske broke a halfshaft and was forced to drop out. The family honour was saved by Clara Felske who finished second of the MGB’s, albeit some way behind Mark Hope. All too soon those 40 minutes of racing were over.
Thanks to LDP and the Assen Circuit organization for a smoothly run and very enjoyable event.
Results: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/results/
More news from Assen in SuperSixties Magazine 2024#5, on the website: Supersixties-assen-magazine
Points after 10 of 12 races: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/standings/
Next race:
Dijon Motors Cup, October 3-5 – we are on 52 entries so far!
