Report
CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM
Spa Six Hours
25th – 27th September
It was a Spa weekend for the Motor Racing Legends paddock, as three grids supported the Spa Six Hours. Pre-War Sports Cars, 1950s sportscars and GT3 Legends took the trip.
Click below to view each individual race series report
The large crowd at the Spa Six Hours thoroughly enjoyed 40 minutes of thrilling competition for the oldest cars on the line up, Pre-War Sports Cars.
Starting from the front row of the grid, Jonathan Bailey unfortunately ended up in the gravel trap at La Source corner shortly after the start, and he was forced to embark on a climb back up the field in his Bugatti T35C.
While Gareth Burnett looked set to repeat his Donington Historic Festival success in the Alta Sports, he was forced to retire just three laps from the finish. This left the Alvis Firefly Special of Rudi Friedrichs and Charlie Martin to pull away and claim a commanding victory, a fine result after a tooth and nail battle with Burnett at Donington. The Alvis finished well ahead of the Frazer Nash TT Rep. of Robert and Joshua Beebee, class winners in PW4, and the Riley 12/4 TT Sprite Rep driven by Alex Hewitson.
Before the race, the Pre-War Sports Cars grid paid tribute to renowned Bentley competitor Peter Morley, who passed away two weeks before the event. Clive and James Morley provided a fitting tribute to their father and grandfather respectively, their Bentley 3/4 ½ the first Crewe car home and earning a class victory to boot. Belgian François Rivaz won his class in the Bugatti Type 44, whilst ever-popular Sue Darbyshire claimed class honours in the Morgan Super Aero.
A truly high-quality field arrived at Spa for the combined Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy races, featuring gems from the ’50s.
Starting from pole position, the Lister Costin Chevrolet, driven by Maxwell Lynn, flew off the line at the drop of the flag, pulling out an advantage of up to 20 seconds. When the pit-stop window opened, Frederic Wakeman (Cooper T38) and John Spiers (Lister Knobbly) were battling fiercely for second place.
Unfortunately, it was over early for the Cooper Monaco of Andrew Smith, who was forced to retire on just the second lap due to a technical issue.
Spiers was the last to pit in his Knobbly, but the domination of the Costin would not continue. Andy Wolfe, who had taken over from Lynn, pulled into the garage with 20 minutes left on the clock, the Chevrolet engine misfiring and forcing retirement.
The way was then clear for the Cooper of Chris Ward, who had relieved Fred Wakeman, finding himself with an advantage of less than five seconds over Spiers. Ward was able to extend his lead, and the Briton shared the top step of the podium with Wakeman, the American.
About forty seconds behind Spiers, the brutal-sounding Lister Knobbly Chevrolet of Stuart Morley and Richard Hudson looked to have got the better of the Lotus XV of Guy Peters and Will Nuthall. However, in the closing minutes Morley ran out of fuel and the way was clear for the little green machine to carry Peeters and Nuthall to the podium despite brake issues.
Keith Ahlers and ‘Billy’ Bellinger positioned their Lola Mk1 in a fine fourth place, just ahead of the magnificent Jaguar D-Type of Paul Pochciol and James Hanson, who took the win in the Woodcote Trophy against the unique Kieft Bristol driven by Miles Griffith. Among the late-race casualties was the Lola Mk1 of the Giroulle family, which lost a wheel at the Bus-Stop Chicane.
Race one of the GT3 Legends got underway on Friday evening, the first-ever night race for the series. Having been supreme in a challenging wet qualifying session, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage of Graham Davidson started from pole position but was quickly overtaken by the Nissan GT-R GT3 of Maxwell Lynn. However, Davidson’s car, wearing its period Oman Racing livery, soon reclaimed the lead and built up a comfortable advantage.
While the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3 of Andrew Jameson and Mike Jordan and the ex-Sébastien Loeb Racing McLaren MP4 12C of Christian Albrecht both lost several laps due to issues, nothing seemed to disrupt Davidson, who charged toward victory.
Towards the end of the race the GT-R, which Lynn had handed to Christoff Cowens, was overcome by Christoph Von Oeynhausen in the ex-Triple Eight BMW Z4 GT3. Driving his Audi R8 LMS, Julian Thomas also finished the race strongly, claiming third his GT3B-spec car. The Briton passed Cowens’ GT-R to claim the first overall podium for a GT3B entrant, all while a few drops of rain began to fall on the circuit in the final moments.
Nick Maton and Jack Tetley were sixth overall and claimed second place in GT3B in their Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, crossing the finish line ahead of the ex-WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Massimo Vignali and the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of Steve Osborne.
Matt Holme and Andrew Jordan switched to the Ferrari 458 GT3 for Spa and found the going tough, but with more time in the car there’s pace to find. Eighth place was their reward, ahead of Shaun Lynn’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage, with Lee Maxted-Page and Adam Lichtig completing the top 10 in the Porsche 997 GT3 R.
The track was nearly dry at midday on Saturday for race two. It was another supreme performance from Davidson, as the Scot led from start to finish in the #47 Aston Martin.
Max Lynn attempted to challenge Davidson early on but was unable to maintain the pace in the same way he had in race one, before the GT-R would be forced to retire late in the race.
A trio of cars, Thomas’ Audi, Albrecht’s McLaren and Von Oeynhausen’s BMW, fought a race long battle for the remaining podium positions. After 50 minutes of racing, Von Oeynhausen proved the fastest of the chasing pack, finishing second ahead of Albrecht, who claimed his second podium of the season, and Thomas, who secured another GT3B class win.
The Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Vignali rounded out the top five, finishing just ahead of Holme and Jordan’s Ferrari. Maton and Tetley were seventh, and GT3B podium finishers, with Osborne eighth, Maxted-Page and Lichtig ninth and Shaun Lynn 10th.
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