C.E.R. - Paul Ricard

Never say never

The Paul Ricard circuit hosted the first round of the 2010 Classic Endurance Racing, as the tradition outlining race of Le Mans Series but, this year the two championships will share the same circuit on three events only (just so Paul Ricard, Spa and Silverstone) with the CER which will complete its own calendar with Monza appointment, during the International European Cup, and the final race of the Paul Ricard during the Dix Mille Tours.

Among the 55 cars which took part in the motor sports racing event, the 1972 Duckham-Cosworth has made a fine display, designed by Gordon Murray for driver Alain de Cadenet and taken onto track on that occasion by Olivier Cazalieres, moreover, gaining a honourable eleven place in total.

The special configuration of the circuit, used in the version that envisages the Mistral divided into two parts by a fast "S", so as not to favour high-powered cars too much and avoid a big failure of engines, has guaranteed the sports performance during qualifying sessions, with a large number of cars having minimized gaps among them. After Friday session, favourable to usual Luco at the wheel of a Porsche 936, on Saturday morning Lafargue, with unrestrained fury in the Lola T298 BMW, was able to stop chronometers on 2:12:482 time and inflict eight tenths' lead over the Swiss driver and the Porsche 908/4 driven by Guikas; behind them there was Caron who didn't manage to improve as he found himself at more than 1:500 from the top. Once again a fast and unlucky Knapfield, whose engine cut out on St. Beaurne on Saturday after only five laps of qualify, had to abandon the race.

On Saturday afternoon, at the green lights, Lafargue was the fastest driver scoring a fair good lead over duo Porsche but, already on the next lap, Luco overtook the French driver by accelerating at the exit of the "S" of Mistral, just when Guikas stopped at the trackside paying dearly for the off laps made in the morning. Behind the two drivers leading the way Caron and Lacroix were fighting by continuous overtaking, chased like a shadow by Barbot, with his Lola T280 while, in a sister car, Quiniou recovered with a good number of fast laps after a disastrous start that had relegated him at the 38th position.

The fight for the win seemed to be over at lap 15 when, coming out from the pits for the required stop, Luco found himself with about 7 seconds' lead over his rival; on the next round, however, the Swiss driver slightly overtook the Bendor, showing a worrying under steering which, later on will be discovered to be caused by worn-out tires. Lafargue needed two laps to be behind the exhaust pipes of the Porsche and to overtake it inside the Beausset, with the aid of the Porsche 906 driven by Goethe who obstructed the race leader's path.

The last seven laps will be for Lafargue a real easy way towards the win in the CER, with Luco steadily placed second and Barbot third, also thanks to some trouble to the tires of Lacroix and a particularly long pit-stop occurred to Caron that will finish fourth and fifth respectively.

Among the P1s there was a Ferrer's easy leadership with Lola T70 spider, whose win cannot escape after Thuner-Nahum's retirement on lap 9 while, in GT2 Regout got his own way at the wheel of a fantastic Porsche 934, fighting during the first twelve laps in a wearing battle on the hedge of seconds against the 935 driven by Traber. Finally, let's have a look at the GT1, in which Porsche cars 911RS have dominated by scoring the first five places with Moreau's win.

Next meeting on 7th - 8th May on Spa-Francorchamps circuit, obviously with Connectingrod.

Marco Zanello
Photos by Giacomo & Marco Zanello

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