11/5/2003, 10:16:11 AM cet

Estoril, 13th April 2003 Lashing wind and rain The weather forecast for race day at the first round of the 2003 FIA Sportscar Championship was not encouraging.  Practise and qualifying had both been affected by adverse weather and Sunday promised more of the same according to local Lisbon news stations. Lashing wind and rain had left the circuit awash between Saturday qualifying and Sunday dawn and by the scheduled race start of 10.00, despite a drop in the severity of the rain, the track surface had enough standing water still on it for the circuit officials to delay the rolling start of the two and a half hour race until more favourable conditions prevailed. By 10.15 after a tour by the circuit safety vehicle the track was deemed drivable and as the official championship Lotus Elise safety car led the cars the drama began immediately.  Justin Keen in the Taurus Sports Racing Lola B2K10, a combination that had raised more than a few eyebrows with its speed and smoothness over the previous 2 days, suddenly took a sideways lunge on the parade lap and collided with the barriers.  The standing water had claimed a victim before the race had even begun and Keen nursed the Lola back to the pits with the rear left suspension all but destroyed. This incident had a concertina effect on the remaining competitors as they entered the pit straight and the Lotus Elise pace vehicle peeled off.  Alex Caffi in the all new Promec felt the its full effect as the leading SR2 cars behind up took advantage of the new gap and pushed hard as the race accelerated away.  By the time he passed the start/finish line he had pushed the nose of his Sodemo powered SR1 ahead of 4th on the grid Jan Lammers in an effort to avoid an opening lap shunt with the rapidly closing in SR2 cars of Hignett and Salvodi. 3 abreast into the 1st corner Lammers in the Racing for Holland Dome Judd, John Neilsen in the flying 675 DB4A Zytek and pole sitter Jean Christophe Bouillon in the Pescarolo Courage went 3 abreast into the 1st corner.  Someone had to give ground and Neilsen played the gentleman but it cost him dear, slipping him from 2nd to 7th as he got swiftly out of the throttle.  Lammers meanwhile squeezed Bouillon hard enough to pass him and catapult up to first. In SR2 Salvodi used the first corner action to good effect inching past Sam Hignett’s Pilbeam Nissan and into a first corner class lead. Being a gentleman didn’t seem to be any sort of drawback to Neilsen however.  By lap 2 he had regained 2 places and was on the hunt for the bright yellow Promec of Alex Caffi.  2 more laps saw that mission accomplished and the chase was on to catch and pass Beppe Gabbiani in the no. 2 Racing for Holland Dome Judd who had been promoted to 3rd overall in the first corner scrap. Gabbiani had been flying all weekend but Neilsen had the benefits of a car on narrower tyres and a wealth of Sportscar experience. He also, unlike Gabbiani, had raced and won at Estoril in his career. Coming through the fast right rand sweep of turn 7 the Dane saw a gap and executed a brave pass on his Italian rival on the inside of the bend as Gabbiani ran slightly wide.  Neilsen had gone from 2nd down to 7th and back up to 3rd again in just 6 laps. Meanwhile Lammers and Bouillon were having their own super-tight scrap 12 seconds up the road.  The 2 leading cars now had a 12 second lead on Neilsen by lap 8, not that it seemed to bother Neilsen.  He posted the fastest lap of the race so far at 1.47.493 now that he had clear air in front of him, over a second and a half quicker than either Lammers or Bouillon. If RN Motorsport was flying, Team Jota was going backwards.  Sam Hignett, already a place down after the start seemed not to be able to match the pace of the Lucchini chassis cars in the wet as he slipped back to 3rd in class now trailing the GP Racing Lucchini Alfa being piloted by Fabio Mancini.  Mancini was having a ball in the atrocious conditions climbing from last on the grid to second SR2 in 10 laps. The good form that the Promec was showing was slightly blunted by a drive through penalty on lap 12 resulting from the jumped start. Nothing however was stopping the relentless charge of the RN Motorsport DBA4 which by the same lap had homed in on the back of Jan Lammers Dome and showing the sort of race pace that Neilsen had predicted it would after the qualifying session. Pass by Neilsen came on lap 14 The inevitable pass by Neilsen came on lap 14 when Lammers, who had been working overtime to keep the Dane behind him, got slightly off line and Neilsen slipped past and rocketed away in the lead. The pretty and purposeful DBA4 continued to lap nine tenths of a second faster than Lammers pulling out a comfortable lead over 10 seconds within 3 laps. 2 laps later on lap 19 and the first of the afternoons appearances by the safety car was prompted by a spin for the no. 2 Racing for Holland Dome Judd.  Italian circuit debutante Beppe Gabbiani had spun the car in turn 6 prompting the safety period. Gabbiani brought the car into the pits at the end of the lap as a precaution but Sam Hignett too had been suffering more ill luck in his Pilbeam Nissan, running wide he kissed the wall at turn 4 and had ripped the splitter from under the front of the car.  As it trailed underneath the Pilbeam the resulting lack of front end grip sent him scuttling up the escape road at turn 5 to add insult to injury. Rain rises from mildly heavy to torrential With only 45 minutes of the race so far completed the rain began its relentless rise from mildly heavy to torrential and although the safety car had come in again on lap 22 it seemed just a matter of time before it would be on its way out of the pitlane again. Eyeing each other closely Jan Lammers and Jean Christophe Bouillon pitted their cars simultaneously on lap 22 and as they did so the rain took another step toward monsoon conditions.  One car that wasn’t suffering the problems of aquaplaning, zero visibility and driving rain on the track was the Pilbeam of Team Jota.  Still working on the damage to the car sustained in turn 4 the crew were taping up the cracks to the front left wing and replacing the splitter. Jota had now slipped to 8 laps down on the overall leader John Neilsen and 5 laps down on the leading SR2 Lucchini of Salvodi. One hour and forty minutes remaining of this two and a half hour FIA Sportscar Championship race with 27 laps completed by the lead car and the unfortunate Beppe Gabbiani was working to drag the no.2 Racing for Holland Dome back up from 7th where he had been since his earlier spin and stop.  Evidently his hard work was paying dividends as he moved first to 6th and swiftly to 5th by lap 30.  But luck was not favouring Beppe in this race and all the work came to naught as a second spin, this time at turn 9 wiped away all the gains he had fought so hard over the previous 11 laps. Lap 32 the safety car rejoined the circuit As if on queue the rain increased to thunderous proportions with exactly 1 hour of racing completed and on lap 32 the safety car rejoined the circuit, this time in for the long haul. With all racing now neutralised the teams began to take advantage of the safety car period to complete their mandatory driver change stops.  First in was Automotive Durango to change to Leonardo Maddalena and whose 19 year old driver Michele Rugulo had perhaps been struggling a little with a combination of new circuit to learn, new car to adapt to and some of the worst racing conditions he had ever encountered.  The Judd engined Italian marque had qualified 7th of 8 for the race and had yet to poke its nose into the top 5. Team Jota too struggled out and then straight back in again to complete their driver change from Hignett to John Stack.  Promec, SCI, and Lucchini Engineering all followed suit and then on lap 36 Jean Christophe Bouillon brought the Pescarolo Courage into the pitlane for fellow Frenchman Stephane Sarrazin to take over the car. In terms of pit stop timing it was pretty much even between the lead RN Motorsports car and the 2nd place Pescarolo car.  When John Neilsen pitted on lap 41, Sarrazin cruised past behind the safety car to re-claim the lead for the French equipe. 1 hour of racing left on the clock the safety car still proceeded to lead With 1 hour of racing left on the clock the safety car still proceeded to lead around the field.  The procession continued lap after lap no-one wanting to call a halt to the race despite the torrential rain and driving wind that was whipping the rain into sheets across the track.  No-one wanted the race to end because in the distance, away inland the sky was becoming brighter,  the gap between clear sky and the circuit reducing visibly lap on lap. Pierre Bruneau’s PiR Competition team had been suffering all race with problems on their Pilbeam Peugeot but at last they had now rejoined the touring party all be it 39 laps back on the lead cars. Finally, on lap 51 and with just 31 minutes of the race remaining the rain ceased. After an interesting, sometimes frustrating but always enthralling 2 hours the spectators were now to be treated to a whole new race, a pure 30 minute Sportscar sprint for the line. In SR1; Sarrazin in the Pescarolo now led young Japanese sensation Hayanari Shimoda in the RN Motorsports DBA4 Zytek from third placed John Bosch in the no1. Racing for Holland Dome Judd, whilst Pierguiseppe Peroni in the Lead SR2 Lucchini Engineering car held a comfortable 1 lap lead over Massimo Saccamanno in the GP Racing Lucchini and a 3 lap gap over Ranieri Randaccio in his SCI Lucchini. It was land of the rising sun in more ways than one as the clouds cracked apart to light that shone down on the ultra rapid progress of Hayanari Shimoda, cutting great swathes of time out of Stephane Sarrazin as the clock began to tick down to zero. In just 5 laps the late breaking Shimoda had chopped the 30 second lead of Sarrazin to nothing. As the two cars swept into the pit straight to complete lap 57 the RN Motorsports car was virtually parked under the rear wing of the Pescarolo Courage. Sarrazin however was not to be pressured and was determined to make Shimoda work.  It wasn’t until lap 60 with just 14 minutes remaining that Shimoda’s constant pressure and demon late braking took him passed the Frenchman and into the lead of the race. The lead 2 cars were free to do battle all the way to the line with never a threat from Bosch in 3rd place, a lap back. Spectacular as Shimoda’s progress had been the race turned on its head again when struggling with a brake problem the lead car took to the grass and Sarrazin shot past to re-claim top spot just 2 laps after losing it. 8 seconds was now the gap between Sarrazin and Shimoda, 9 minutes the time left to reverse the order again and the RN Motorsports driver who had impressed everyone with his incredible late braking in the previous 2 days set about the task in hand without a second thought. On Lap 63 with 8 minutes remaining the gap was down to 6 seconds and then by the following lap just 4.8 seconds gap and 7 minutes on the clock. Just as it seemed Shimoda and Sarrazin were destined to slug it out right to the line the same brake problem struck the RN Motorsports car.  This time Shimoda skated across the grass keeping it together and sending up a spray of water and grass trimmings before regaining the track 13 seconds behind the Pescarolo car. With just 5 minutes remaining all was lost now for Shimoda, his battle to the top step of the podium was over. A jubilant Stephane Sarrazin takes victory A jubilant Stephane Sarrazin whose ultra fast smooth style had kept all last minute attacks at bay cruised over the line after 2 hours and 30 minutes to claim the first SR1 victory of 2003 in the FIA Sportscar Championship from Hayari Shimoda in the RN Motorsports DBA4 Zytek and the Racing for Holland Dome Judd piloted by John Bosch. In the SR2 class Pierguiseppe Peroni crossed the line first for Lucchini Engineering after the team and drivers had executed the perfect race.  A lap back GP Racing secured 2nd, a fabulous result from last in qualifying and third place was tied up by Englishman Paul Daniels in the SCI Lucchini car. Round 2 of the 2003 FIA Sportscar Championship takes place on 10th May at the Eurospeedway Lausitz.

CAR	CLASS	LAPS	TIME
Courage Peugeot	SR1	68
DBA4 03S Zytek	SR1	68	+ 5.026
Dome S101 Judd	SR1	67	+ 1 lap
Durango Judd	SR1	65	+ 3 laps
Dome S101 Judd	SR1	63	+ 5 laps
Promec PJ119 Sodemo	SR1	46	+ 22 laps
Lola B2k10B Judd	SR1	0	+ 68 laps