BPR Endurance Round 2- Monza Italy

"Old Mac wraps up at Monza!"

by Nicholas Frankl.
TACH European Bureau

When you race in Italy, especially at the birthplace of motor sport, only one make of car is supposed to win. But, someone at David Price Racing hasn't been listening. For it was under his guidance that the World Champions John Nielsen and Dr Tomas Bscher wrestled their West Racing '95 spec McLaren to qualifying and finally podium honours at today�s four hour endurance marathon.

The surprise came not from yet another V12 win for the British based cars, but from the fact that the "old" McLaren out paced the newer and supposedly quicker '96 spec cars, out lasted them and the brace of Ferrari F40s that wooed an adoring and consistently fanatical public with pole position and blistering early pace. From first and second row their was never any doubt that the Olofsson/Della Noce and Gounon / Bernard / Belmondo factory F40s would open up a considerable lead from the rest of the chasing pack, fronted by the ever menacing McLarens. The pair of Team Ennea / Igol Horses proving from the start what big turbos and massive boost pressure can do. The question that has plagued the cars from the very beginning of the series remained that of fuel consumption ( which alone can decide the out come of these hugely tactical races) and reliability of the gearboxes and turbos.

Sure enough, neither cars lasted beyond the one hour thirty minute mark, Olofsson crashing, and Gounon running out of engine.

So, once again it was left to the brooding McLarens who had patiently waited for the inevitable to pick up the top four spots. From here on in, there was only going to be one winner. The question was only which F1 GTR would end up on which spot on the rostrum. Those who departed for the airport early however will have been disappointed, for the action rained thick all afternoon. The 2nd of the Gulf never made it to the track with a fuel leak. That left all eyes on the pairing of Bellm and Weaver running the no.1 car. With a win from Paul Ricard already theirs and fuming at the lack of performance from their new $1million dollar machine - it was clearly not up to the pace set by the DPR '95 spec duo of Harrods and West Racing.

Gulf took up the challenge for over an hour before succumbing to a racing accident with John Nielsen. That put them out, and brought Nielsen in for a check up. This allowed Grouillard to close from what had seemed a no-win situation, lying some 40 seconds off the leaders. A sniff was all that was required to fire up the ex-F1 driver who wrung every ounce of performance from his BMW V12 - screaming gloriously time after time through Parabolica down onto the straight and into Rettifilo - all crossed up with the carbon disks glowing a devilish orange. 10 laps later Nielsen was swamped, the Harrods car - bruising it's way through - and opening a sizable lead of some 20 seconds with less than an hour to go.

The Porsches meantime were buzzing around in various battles between GT1 and GT2 class honours. Clay Regazzoni, who was due to drive his first international race for 10 years in a specially modified hand control 911 GT1, never got the chance. The controls froze up with electric glitches and Clay was resigned to driving home in his everyday go mobile an F40. It was great to have him back on the scene - and he plans to race at Le Mans if the budget materializes.

The last 1/2 hour of the race saw the front wheels of no less than 3 McLarens coming loose and in one case departing from the car altogether. Andy Wallace suffered here and soon after limping back to the pits and out into 3rd, developed a gearbox with no clutch. What had looked like a sure win, ended in the garage with 20 minutes left to play. Nielsen no doubt couldn't believe his luck, inheriting the lead and not incurring the wrath of the jury after the Gulf team had officially protested the accident. The Franc Muller McLaren with Giroix/Deletraz and Cottaz at the helm spent more time in the pits than on the track but still finished with no gearbox and virtually no drive. In second spot some 2 laps down with Roock Racing upholding the pride of Stuttgarts honour in 3rd, out of a field of some 39 starters.

The least pleased with award went to Lotus who arrived with 2 new V8 powered Espirt and packed them up again an hour after the start, both suffering brake failure. The circus now takes 3 weeks off before Jarama, Spain. A tight and twisty track that should suit the F40s, Lotus and Porsches over the all conquering McLarens. But, then again that's what they said last year!