C.E.R. - Monza

The Italian Job

To give hospitality to the third meeting of the 2010 C.E.R. has been the "Autodromo Nazionale di Monza", the last true speed temple of the old continent. British Paul Knapfield was the great absent driver, the recent Spa winner, who wasn't in the entry list of the 55 entrant drivers, while we had to point out Stefano Rosina's pleasant return, this time at the wheel of his Lola T380, that was in the 1975 entried by Jolly Club at 1000 km of Spa and Nürburgring driven by Brambilla-Pianta: this model, powered by a tree-litre Dfy, was built in two units, the second one was bought by De Cadenet who made it running with his name till 1981, scoring a fine third place in the 1976 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Like for many other categories involved in the same days on the Brianza circuit for the "Coppa Intereuropa", the decisive practice for the start-grid was the one that took place on Saturday morning, when the track hadn't yet reached the torrid temperatures which distinguished both the afternoon practice and the race on Sunday. If on Friday free practice Luco and Lafargue had made the impression that they were in a position to be equal, in the qualifying sessions the Swiss driver took advantage of the horse power of his 936, setting 1:53:241 best time and even attaining 291.1 km/h on the starting straight; behind him Rosina who in spite of only eleven laps, run in the three qualifying sessions, managed to queue up Lafargue, Barbot, Caron and Quiniou.

At the starting grid Luco got off a good start and began by leaving his rivals easily behind, while behind him Rosina held only a lap under the pressure put on him by Quiniou and Barbot, who both passed him on the first chicane, in vain trying not to lose the Swiss contact. With Wilkins who was already forced to go to pits during the first lap because of an electric system problem and Lacroix who stopped on the first chicane with his gear box jammed on the second shifting, Lafargue had to yield to the bigger power of his rivals' engines, restricting himself to keeping at a safe distance Caron and Da Rocha, who were not lucky during the rest of the race: Caron had to retire on lap six, digging down into the sand of the Ascari ways of escape while Da Rocha abandoned the race just on the same place of the circuit, nine laps before the finish, owing to a collision with the Porsche 911 driven by Moreau.

Ahead there was also scarce luck to Rosina, who had to raise white flag still on lap 12, due to steering vibrations found out following an off track to avoid a slower car, while Barbot and Quiniou were fighting by passing each other till lap 16, when some compulsory pit stops had to begin. While Luco, even if pointing out some brake problems, was managing to return to the truck regularly, some protagonist lived pit-stops as a cavalry: the Portuguese drove his car directly into the pits, because of his brakes by then useless, while Lafargue didn't manage to restart owing to his Lola starting failure. After a failed attempt to push-start his car, Oak Heritage technicians made a quick repair which, however, will cost the French driver three laps.

Luco on the lead, in a car that had increasingly difficulties in braking, lost part of his lead over Quiniou, the only left rival, but the French driver didn't succeed in regaining the lead if it wasn't for the Porsche injection failure, which left the Swiss on Roggia chicane during the last but one lap. After five years of C.E.R. Quiniou gained his first win before Ferrer, winner in P1 and Watson at the wheel of a Chevron B36, while Lafargue, coming out from the stands in the eighteenth position, succeeded in the action to take the final seventh place, and was third in P2.

In P1, behind above-mentioned Ferrer, there were Sheldon and Hevia, while in GT2 Mr John of B in his Ferrari 512 finally dominated, thanks to the withdrawal of Roitmayer and Basso, both with the Porsche 935, who were very fast both in practice and in the first parts of the race. Finally in GT1, there was the win of Tuma before Denat and Moreau, all at the wheel of a Porsche 911: Moreau, who had been fighting with the winner, had paid dearly for the collision with Da Rocha, who had obliged him to have a second pit-stop.

Marco Zanello
Photos taken by Giacomo and Marco Zanello

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