HGP Zandvoort report
Qualifying: It was wet!
From the assembly area we could all see the rooster tails of the historic F1 cars. Yes, qualifying was going to be wet. It also started 30 minutes late as some of the F1 cars had to be craned away first… While most drivers were still finding their feet, Olivier Hart set a stunning 2:20 lap in the Cobra Daytona to claim pole. He would start from row 2 though as a result of a penalty for ignoring yellow flags. Into the 2:21’s went Andy Newall in the E-type which meant he would start from pole in race 1. Jop Rappange was third fastest in the Porsche 904-6, while Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera was 4th in the Shelby Mustang GT350, but he was also docked 3 places. Another to be penalized was Jaap Sinke in Jetze Visser’s ex-works Sebring Big Healey, which dropped him from 5th to 8th. So Roelant de Waard (Shelby Mustang GT350) took over 4th on the grid with Peter Brouwer 5th. Peter was fastest of the Lotus Elans by a country mile, but true to his reputation as the hardest working man in showbusiness he overdid it, had a spin just before Tarzan and hit the wall. Work to do for Peter the mechanic to fix things for the race. Thijmen de Vries was on course to be fastest of the touring cars until his engine stopped. It was still a Mini Cooper S at the front though, with Rene de Vries at the wheel. Second fastest TC was the Daniel Quintero – Peter Reynolds Lotus Cortina. Jack van der Ende would line up fourth TC in the Ford Falcon. In GTS11 a Porsche 911 is the car to have when it’s raining. Thijs van Gammeren was fastest, from Erwin van Lieshout with Holger Felske third in the first of the MGB’s. It was great to see (and hear) the Van der Lof Ferrari 250 SWB out on track, Alexander qualified it 13th. Kennet Persson had a difficult qualifying, he nearly hit the wall and ended up only 20th fastest in the Ford GT40. Charles Allison and Peter Thompson’s TVR Griffith was also not performing well, leaving them 29th. These two were expected to storm to the front in the race, provided it would be dry. Finally, spare a thought for Udo Klasfauseweh in his Ford Falcon and Søren Christensen in his Ford GT40. These debutants bravely soldiered on, learning the track and trying to keep out of the way. They qualified 43th and 44th.
Race 1: Hart hard at it
Turn 9 played a big part in deciding Saturday’s SuperSixties race. When the lights turned green, Olivier Hart initially lost out to Andy Newall in the Jaguar E-type, but soon romped into the lead with the Cobra Daytona. Jop Rappange held third in the Porsche 904-6, but had to work hard to keep up. Rene de Vries managed to stay ahead of all the other touring cars at the start, but the Mini Cooper was soon reeled in by Quintero in the Lotus Cortina, with fast-starting Jack van der Ende in the Ford Falcon not far behind. Even faster was Carlo Hamilton in his Falcon, but just when we thought he had finally got the V8 running properly, the car expired in Turn 9. Although it was in a fairly safe spot, Race Control decided to bring in the Safety Car. It took a long time to tow the Falcon away. This could have made the race more interesting, had there not been a train of backmarkers between Olivier Hart and his pursuers by this time. So, at the restart, Olivier was even further ahead, while a number of frustrated drivers did themselves no favours by overtaking before the Safety Car line. By now Kennet Persson in the Ford GT40 (having started 20th) and Peter Thompson in the TVR Griffith (from 29th) had made their way to the front and we had a tense four-way battle for second. With 45 cars on track, there was a lot of lapping going on. In an attempt to stay in touch, Jop Rappange made contact with a backmarker. The Porsche lost its front bonnet, which landed on the Turn 9 racing line. This led to another Safety Car period, which unfortunately lasted to the chequered flag. Thus, the race ended with everyone bunched up. Combine this fact with no less than 12 time penalties being issued and the printed result different substantially from the actual finishing order.
Behind undisputed victor Olivier Hart, Andy Newall was classified second and Peter Thompson took the third podium spot. Fourth went to Manfredo Rossi de Montelera in the Shelby GT350 with Alexander van der Lof in the Ferrari SWB a strong fifth. Peter Brouwer won GTS10, sixth overall, with Luc de Cock in another Elan not far behind, although the penalized Kenneth Persson landed between these two in the result. Roelant de Waard was even worse off, a 5 second penalty dropping him to 9th. In GTS11 Theo van Gammeren was hampered by his arm restraint getting stuck in the seat runner of the Porsche 911. It took a while before he could free himself. Erwin van Lieshout duly motored to another class win in his 911, Holger Felske came second in the MGB and Theo salvaged third. Thanks to a late entry from Lucas Astorian we had two Lotus Elites in the race, but it was old hand Alexander Schlüchter who took the class win. With the Porsche 904 dropping out, Chas Mallard took the spoils in the small GTP class in the Ginetta G4R. In touring cars, the win went to Jack van der Ende in the Ford Falcon, with Henk van Gammeren in a similar car classified second, although he was behind Abraham Bontrup’s Mustang on the road. Daniel Quintero also collected a time penalty but still won CT08, from Allan Thom and Hanna Grade, all in Lotus Cortinas. The Mini class was a De Vries family affair, Rene taking the chequer 2,9 seconds ahead of Thijmen, with Bert Mets some way behind in third.
Race 2: A fiery end to a great weekend
Olivier Hart repeated his earlier performance by scoring another dominant victory in Sunday’s curtain closer, at the wheel of the DHG Cobra Daytona. Rhea Sautter hung on to second for a while in the mint green E-type until Kennet Persson took over in the Ford GT40. Peter Brouwer made a great start and slotted into third in his Lotus Elan, and then got involved in a race-long duel with Manfredo Rossi (Shelby GT350) and Luc de Cock (Lotus Elan). Rossi’s tyre-smoking late braking manoeuvres looked spectacular, but allowed the nimble Elans to pass him every time. De Cock managed to get ahead of Brouwer on several occasions, but Brouwer prevailed in the end. He was fourth overall though, as Charles Allison in the TVR Griffith had needed some time to get up to speed, but duly passed the battling trio to take the final podium spot. Rossi’s tire-smoking actions dropped him to 7th behind Alexander van der Lof in the Ferrari SWB. He was denied a chance to set matters straight when Nigel Winchester’s Ginetta caught fire in the final corner. A quick exit was in order, which left the car in a very awkward spot. Race Control had no other choice than to hang out the red flag. With just under 5 minutes on the clock, the race would not be restarted.
On lap 9, Thijs van Gammeren had overtaken Erwin van Lieshout, the two Porsches claiming the first two places in GTS11, while Brian Lambert was shadowed by Holger Felske for the duration of the race to take third in class and first of the MGB’s. Lucas Astorian was the only starter in GTS04 in his beautiful Lotus Elite and drove a steady race, improving his laptimes by nearly 2 seconds. Most improved driver was Søren Christensen in the yellow GT40 though, he shaved 5 seconds off his Saturday best! In touring cars Jaap van der Ende led away in the orange Falcon, but it was Bram Bontrup in the DHG Mustang who overtook him and claimed the win. Peter Reynolds was second touring car home in the CT08 winning Lotus Cortina, while van der Ende had Henk Van Gammeren breathing down his neck when the race was stopped. Before that Carlo Hamilton had been going well, setting fast laptimes in the light blue Falcon, but again it did not last, although he did manage 50% more laps than on Saturday. Second and third in CT08 were Allan Thom and Magnus Lillerskog, both in a Lotus Cortina. In CT07 René de Vries led for most of the race, but his son Thijmen was ahead when it counted with Bert Mets third in class, all in Cooper S’.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, helped by the beautiful weather, smooth organization, entousiastic spectators and a party atmosphere. With 45 cars SuperSixties was the best supported series of the 2024 Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix. A big shout out to all our guest drivers, thanks for joining us and do come again!
Full results: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Results.pdf
More results: https://raceresults.nu/Results/organisator/2024?evenement=Circuit+Zandvoort&race=Historic+Grand+Prix+2024
Points: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Standings-Zandvoort.pdf
More news from Zandvoort in SuperSixties Magazine 2024#3: https://www.supersixtiesracing.com/supersixties-zandvoort-magazine-v2/
