Anglesey - 16th May 2009

Speed Series Anglesey race report

Anglesey, the mysterious historic island off the North West coast of Wales, hosted the inaugural event in the 2009 Speed sports prototype series, and conjured up a weather pattern so wild and uncertain that surely only the angels themselves could have invented it. Situated on the shoreline beside the heaving waves of the Irish Sea, the picturesque circuit was alternatively bathed in blazing sunlight, howling gales and then pitched into a dark, scary blitz of ice-laced rain! Great conditions for a long distance sports car race.

However, after fighting off the weather and the competition, the Counter Solutions Racing factory Juno SSE-CN-09 of Richard Bernans and Rob Garofall took victory just a lap ahead of the If Motorsport Ligier JS49 of Nick Adcock and Massimo Vignali with the TFL Racing Juno SSE-CN-09 of Sarah Reader and Graham Fennymore third. Fastest lap in the race went to the Clucas/Burrick/Decroos Norma at 1 minute 24.291 seconds set on lap 140.

Following the cancellation of the first planned race of the season caused by the administrative cock-up at the so-called grand prix venue of Donington, it was always expected that the Anglesey entry would be thin, but a dozen cars arrived after the global trek for Friday testing. New pairings were getting to know each other and their cars and teams, Graham Fennymore has joined the TFL squad to partner Sarah Reader in their new Juno and Phil Bennett and Rachid Bouzouba met with the RLR Motorsport Ligier for the very first time.

Saturday morning brought the first signs of the wild weather for the day with a blustery qualifying session. Ben Clucas had been hired by the Belgian Satellite Racing ensemble to give some added local knowledge to Christophe Burrick and Pierrot Decroos, and the young Aussie took just six laps to set pole position time of 1.23.646, a clear second ahead of the Sam Hancock/Simon Dolan Jota Sport Ligier with the Bernans/Garofall Juno third fastest in the session. The Newton/Claydon Xero Competition Ligier broke a drive shaft after just two laps – having had a substantial overnight rebuild after a body breaking off in testing. Damage to the gearbox bearings was subsequently identified which eventually sidelined the car after just a single race lap.

From the rolling start it was clear that Garofall, Padmore and Adcock were out to test the rest of the field with the Dunn/Gates Ligier trying to hold onto the leading group. After just 11 laps Miles Hulford brought the IF Motorsport Ligier into the pits with a terminal fuel pump problem and then the Dunn/Gates car lost electrical power when a 5p cable terminal broke, losing the 99 car nearly 9 laps during rectification. Barry Gates took over the car to test his ski-damaged shoulder in trying to catch up time on the leaders. At the first hour mark the order was Garofall from Padmore, Adcock and Dolan all still on the lead lap with Bennett, Fennymore and Burrick just a lap down.

After 60 laps the first driver changes shuffled the pack with Adcock leading and planning to go the full 105 minutes allowed, the Jota Sport car up to second and the TFL Juno in third. Gaius Ghinn had smoothly driven the ex Roland Kinch Norma up to fourth, two laps down on the leaders after a troubled practice where the recalcitrant motor had refused to fire up for no apparent reason.

At two hours, four cars were on the same lap, Richard Bernans now piloting the works Juno as the storm raged and Jean-Lou Rihon now behind the wheel of the Norma UK entry. Rachid Bouzouba had taken over from Phil Bennett in the second RLR Ligier and Sam Hancock set about moving the Jota Ligier back towards the front with a series of quick laps.

Half an hour after the mid race time Massimo Vignali stroked the Ligier along calmly with Sarah Reader’s TFL car the only other machine to show 97 laps completed. With just an hour to go and the weather still wild, car 68 had a clear lap over the Bernans/Garofall Juno with the TFL machine now third ahead of the Rihon/Padmore car, all still covered by a spread of just two laps with Bennett/Bouzouba and Ghinn/Sneller a further couple of laps adrift. The works Norma was having refuelling problems, the team only able to get 15 litres of go-juice into the tank at a stop. The problem was attributed to the foam anti-surge lining having moved to block the dry break coupling. This would eventually delay the car, the lost laps forcing the machine down to ninth in the final classification and the drive-through penalty incurred due to an infringement of refuelling regulations setting them back further. As the car came in for the run through the pit lane it stalled and refused to restart, it’s ECU shutting off the engine due to a damaged oil pump belt.

The regularity of the Counter Solutions Racing Juno saw the car take the chequered flag after a tough 157 laps with the Adcock/Vignali If Motorsport Ligier second just one lap down and the Reader/Fennymoor Juno and the Bennett/Bouzouba Ligier third and fourth respectively on 155 laps. A hard driven last two hours after delay for bodywork repairs saw the Dolan/Hancock Jota Ligier take a well deserved fifth place with the Ghinn/Sneller car sixth and the irrepressible Satellite Racing Belgium Norma coming home seventh even after a late race stop when over exuberance smashed the bodywork allowing the gearbox oil cooler to be scraped along the tarmac. Panic repairs supervised by series scrutineer Chris Mount and handy spanner work from Speed’s promoter Stuart McCrudden got the car back onto the track to take the flag. Barry Gates and Anthony Dunn worked like Trojans all day to recover those early lost laps to take 8th place overall.

The 2009 Speed series is now in full swing with a massive entry already listed for the next event at Spa at the end of the month.

Lessons learned from Anglesey? Certainly for all parties – the place has attractions but the weather made for a hard day’s racing. The circuit layout is great but the lack of pit facilities isn’t great for long distance races. The tornado like conditions shredded the awnings on the Avon Tyres truck and also, dangerously, the If Motorsport transporter – it’s no fun trying to control many square yards of canvas awning in a force 9 gale!

The winners collected their ribbon bedecked trophies in front of the ProActive TV cameras and will look forward to seeing their efforts in future editions of Motors TV and Raceworld. Other rewards included the Turtle wax Ice “Most Polished Performance” award for the high standard of turnout by the TFL team under Simon Reader and the Makita Mechanic of the Meeting award to the Jota Sport team for the professional maintenance of the Dolan/Hancock car. Motul Fluid Force awards of £100 product vouchers go to the top six teams and several drivers are collecting points towards the Sunoco Rolex Daytona drive prize for next season.

“That was a tough way to start a season,” reported Stuart McCrudden. “Anyone racing here has made a supreme effort, especially in those conditions. We will have many more cars on our grids for the rest of the year with several regular entries from France, Germany and Italy. At Spa we have more than a dozen Saker sportscars in the invitation category as part of what looks like being a capacity 50 car grid.”

Oli McCrudden