Photos by Charlie Wooding for hi-resolution copies please visit: www.charliewooding.co.uk
This year’s Spa Six Hour weekend served up a delightful range of weather conditions covering everything from sunshine, dense fog, hailstones to torrential rain. Charlie Wooding shows us some of the highlights from the weekend and we run through the Masters race results.
Masters Pre-66 Touring Car
Mike Gardiner and Phil Keen (Ford Falcon Sprint) took the Masters Pre-66 Touring Car spoils at Spa after the first half-hour of the race was run under the safety car due to intense early-morning fog.
The safety-car period lasted into the pit window, all cars pitting at their first opportunity, after which the green flag was waved. Even though Roger Wills (Mercury Comet Cyclone) and Gary Wright/James Littlejohn (Mini Cooper S) had faster pitstops, the pole-winning Falcon was soon back in front, Keen driving away to a clear lead of 21 seconds over Wills at the chequered flag.
17 seconds down on Wills, Harry Whale claimed third in the glorious Studebaker Lark Daytona after an equally lonely race. The Mustangs of Chris Beighton and Rob Fenn were a distant fourth and fifth, Beighton gaining the place on Fenn on lap 10.
Masters Endurance Legends
Two of the most recent LMP2 cars in the 22-car field fought for the win in the first race for the new Masters Endurance Legends series at Spa, Sean Doyle’s ex-Murphy Prototypes ORECA 03 narrowly edging out the Bob Blain owned similar machine driven by Jonathan Kennard’s.
In third and fourth came the first of LMP1 cars, Matthieu Lahaye’s Pescarolo 01 trailing Doyle by 28 seconds while Martin Short ended up fourth in his Rollcentre Dallara SP1, some 45 seconds down on the winner.
A freak burst of rain that momentarily showered the back of the circuit during the opening lap put paid to several of the quick runners, including the pole-sitting Peugeot 908X of Kriton Lendoudis and Nicolas Minassian. Lendoudis along with Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 and six other cars decided to pit for wet tyres, but those that stayed out made the best bet, as the track had dried out within a couple of laps.
Initially, Martin Short led the way but he was soon overtaken by Doyle, with Kennard following suit on the second lap. Kennard briefly took charge on lap 4 before pitting on lap 5. Remaining stationary for a longer period of time than Doyle two laps later, Kennard found himself trailing the young Irishman again when he rejoined the track. On lap 13, Kennard closed to within three tenths and tried a lunge into La Source before thinking the better of it. Doyle then ran out to a 2.3-second lead at the chequered flag.
FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship
At Spa, Leo Voyazides and Simon Hadfield repeated their Zandvoort win in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship by again avoiding the mistakes of their rivals. After a first half of the race punctuated by two safety-car periods, Hadfield was chasing down Olly Bryant’s similar Lola T70 Mk3B when the latter was hit with a 3-second stop-and-go penalty for stopping short of the required minute during the mandatory pitstop phase. Hadfield then ran out the race controlling the gap to the Andrew & Max Banks McLaren M6B, on its second outing after its equally successful Silverstone debut.
The Lola T70 Mk3Bs of Paul Gibson/Chris Ward and Mike Donovan that led during the early put themselves out of contention when Gibson pitted ahead of the pit window while Donovan – along with Chris Beighton in another T70 Mk3B – was given a drivethrough penalty for an out-of-position start.
The first safety-car period was called when on the opening lap the Chris Jolly/Steve Farthing Cooper Monaco T61M ground to a halt on the Kemmel straight. The second caution period lasted into the pit window, David Hart ending up stranded on the entry to the Bus-Stop chicane after a suspected tyre blow-up.
The fight for third place saw a hugely entertaining battle between the 2-litre cars of Loïc Deman (making his debut in the championship in a Chevron B19) and Michael Gans (Lola T290). The Belgian and the American swapped places countless times before the local hero prevailed. All the while, a closing Bryant watched on, having recovered from his penalty.
Masters Gentlemans Drivers
Oliver Bryant looked to have repeated his 2016 Stena Line Masters Gentlemen Drivers victory at Spa but was then handed a post-race penalty for overtaking under yellows, dropping the AC Cobra driver down to third in the final results. As a consequence, the win fell into the hands of Michael Gans and Andy Wolfe who in their similar Cobra had powered their way forward from the back of the grid to take what looked like a distant second place.
Following home the unlikely winners were Leo Voyazides and Simon Hadfield in their Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé. They were subsequently classified in second place after Bryant’s time penalty was applied.
FIA Masters Historic Formula One
Coming from fifth on the grid, Loïc Deman (Tyrrell 010) fought his way to the front to win the first FIA Masters Historic Formula One race at Spa. In front of his home crowd, the Belgian sailed past Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07D) for second place on lap 2 before going on to pass his countryman Christophe d’Ansembourg (Williams FW07C) for the lead on lap 4.
Meanwhile, on the warm-up lap, pole sitter and championship leader Michael Lyons (Williams FW07B) had dramatically seen his engine expire into the first turn, taking him out of the equation.
Race 2
In a six-lap ‘sprint’ race after the first three laps were completed behind the safety car, Michael Lyons (Williams FW07B) romped home to an easy victory in the second FIA Masters Historic Formula One race at Spa. From pole, Lyons was never headed and coasted to a 16-second lead at the finish.
Williams FW07 drivers Christophe d’Ansembourg and Mike Cantillon fought hard over second place, the Belgian narrowly keeping his team mate behind. Nick Padmore was able to watch the fight closely, shadowing the Williams pair for the entire race. In fourth overall, the Shadow DN5 driver did take pre-78 class honours.
