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Lotus Cup Europe 2010 - Round 7

Assen race report

23 – 24 October 2010

 

Introduction

The TT Circuit at Assen, in the Northern part of the Netherlands, is familiar to motorcyclists the world over. However the fast, flowing corners suit cars too and with a day of practice for many of the drivers before a generous 55-minute session on Saturday morning, anyone new to the configuration had time to rehearse their lines for the competition.

With no Rautureau, Walker or Fullalove present and with Kirby remaining in the Production class, Steve Williams and Christophe Lisandre were pre-race favourites, with the ever-present Rasse brothers up for Exige honours and the Invitation class to be battled between David Harvey, Peter Entenfellner and Cai Cederholm. In Production, Kirby was expected to battle James Knight and Michael Edwards over the two-day meeting.

Practice

The long session started with a full field but thinned out a little as those who were driving on Friday found their set-ups early on. A crisp autumn morning helped the engines breathe along the straights and fast corners and it was Williams who was happiest, fastest by six tenths from Lisandre, giving him a handy advantage to carry into qualifying.

Gregory Rasse headed John next up, three-hundredths between the Exige leaders but Olivier Cunat was also in with a very good chance, a similar distance behind. It must have a been a nasty surprise for the 2-Eleven drivers behind, which consisted of Laurent Feve, Simon Deacon, Pete Storey and Mark Gooday.

In tenth was Entenfellner and he was three seconds faster than Harvey, back in sixteenth. Two places back, Knight beat Edwards by a tenth, despite a trip into the gravel as the pair circulated together. Kirby preferred to be on his own but he was a quarter of a second down in twentieth.

Qualifying

A band of rain was heading across Europe and by lunchtime Assen was a much damper place than it was for Practice. However a brief lull meant that the track was drying and as ever in such conditions, it caught out a few drivers. Not Williams however, and he extended his advantage by a second but this time it was over the Exige of Marc Schipper, who was only seventeenth in Practice. Jean-Baptiste Meusnier was in third, another second-and-a-half back.

The 2-Elevens of Storey and Lisandre were next, before two more Exiges, piloted by Cunat and Gregor Zetsche. The first Rasse on the leaderboard was Gregory, way down on the grid and in class. Matters were far worse for John, who would sit behind Gooday and Herbert Metzker on the grid and barely more than a second behind him was the fastest Production car of Knight. In fact this class held another surprise as behind Denis van den Savel's Exige, Markus Nikowitsch held second place, four tenths off Knight and three ahead of Kirby. Edwards was next in line, so a fine race for them was in prospect.

With Entenfellner again victim of mechanical troubles, Cai Cederholm would start ahead of Harvey, the pair in twenty-first and twenty-fourth places respectively. With heavy rain falling soon after the session was over, it seemed as though the first race would be just as unpredictable.

Race One

Sure enough the rain held as forecast and the race started in wet, blustery conditions. If some were a little apprehensive about the track conditions, Harry Steegmans wasn't – a switch to a very illegal set of wet tyres would not only be misguided, but rather conspicuous too.

With Williams, Schipper and Meusnier three-abreast off the start, it was Schipper who took the lead as Williams tried to deal with Meusnier. A little caution from the experienced head in the rain added to Williams' knowledge because he applied a bit too much throttle and ended up with a damaged splitter, something that would only hinder his progress as it skipped across the tarmac in the braking zones. Meanwhile Meusnier was having a look at Schipper but the Dutchman was not to be denied on this day and worked on a lead to keep him safe from attack.

With the leading pair settled for now, Zetsche was a man on the move, working his way past Storey and attempting an attack at the front of the field. This lasted several laps – first past Williams as his descent through the field commenced in earnest – and resulted in a temporary second place, which would have been enough had the race lasted the usual 20 minutes. Whilst the extended distance gave the drivers enough track time to last them through the winter, it was unfortunate that Zetsche suffered a late excursion that ended his day and almost resulted in a top five consisting entirely of Exiges.

While this was unfolding a group formed ready to attack the runners-up. Both Rasse brothers joined in with Lisandre and Storey but the latter pair dropped back and with Cunat lining the pair of them up, Storey's race descended into chaos, leaving these two to settle matters. All the while a suspiciously fast Steegmans worked his way up, eventually finishing second, or perhaps first in his own race.

The Production battle very soon went Kirby's way. It took a few laps but he found his way past Nikowitsch and Knight, leaving the two of them to fight for second amongst the faster cars of Deacon, Feve and van den Savel. Nikowitsch tried very hard to wrest the place and finished on Knight's tail. Just as fierce further back, Nigel Ayres and Rob Austin enjoyed their race long tussle but Ayres prevailed as Austin tried ever harder to remain on terms.

All of these drivers claimed the top places in the race, which gave a good impression of the conditions on a day where driver talent meant more than the machinery they were piloting. Something that perhaps Steegmans hoped he could skew to his advantage.

Race Two

Mercifully the final race of a rather wet end to the season took place in sunshine but the damp track threw up plenty of glare keeping everyone on their toes. Before the race had even started there was some confusion with the lights sequence, meaning that a few had initially set off to race on the formation lap. However red flags were flown and everyone lined up for a second go.

Williams was under attack into the first sequence of corners once again. Schipper was leading on the run to the first corner, with Lisandre and Storey alongside the polesitter. But Storey soon hit trouble and fell to the back whilst Lisandre outwitted Schipper onto the short straight to the first chicane. With a more focussed attempt on the leader into turn one next time around, this was as close as anyone got to Williams as his domination in qualifying was repeated as the laps rolled on.

As Schipper fell back, Zetsche initially ran with the leaders as the Rasse brothers went hunting after Lisandre. Gregory started ahead, as he had qualified, but John carried on his momentum and approaching the halfway stage, he was into second, followed by his sibling. Lisandre's race didn't improve and the recovering Schipper demoted him to an eventual fifth, whilst Zetsche's race was soon over, although he did continue to circulate, finishing tenth.

Between them, Meusnier, Cunat and Loup were on their way up the field after problems early on. They were in amongst the fight for Production, which was keenly fought between Nikowitsch and Knight. Kirby was initially very much in the hunt but fell back and could do nothing about those in front. Knight was certainly up for the fight and tracked the leader for several laps before launching an attack in the latter stages. However, if he was trying to pile on the pressure, it was all being absorbed and in the end he made the first error, dropping back to third behind Kirby.

Harvey was the only runner in the Invitation class and finished a long way down the order but it was the overall winner Williams who was truly in a class of his own today.

Conclusion

Were it not for a mistake in the very wet conditions of race one, understandable in the circumstances, then Williams was odds-on for a clean sweep to round off his debut season in the 2-Eleven class. Schipper's performances were strong, especially race one where he was as dominant as Williams was in the second. Once more the Rasse brothers proved themselves as a class act but they will be disappointed to see an overall win from the Exige class fall to another driver. Nikowitsch has performed admirably in a class dominated by drivers from the Elise Trophy, who regularly race in close company and his win validated this.

Six months on from the season opener in Germany, the curtain falls on another successful year of racing and we thank all those involved in the series, from drivers to spectators and hope to see you all in 2011.

 

Kevin Ritson
Press Officer, LoTRDC

 

 

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