GalleryA long, hot race on the very fast Dijon circuit saw a full hour of on-track battles in the BRDC Historic Sportscars race at the end of June.
While Mark Clubb and Martin Stretton qualified their Cooper Monaco on pole in an astonishing 1min 36.2sec – two seconds ahead of the rest of the field, they didn’t take the start due to a gearbox problem. Right up until the last second, they were struggling to fit a replacement gearbox but, when the race started, the team was left disappointed in the pits.
That left Julian Majzub’s Sadler MkIII on pole – only 0.1sec ahead of Jamie McIntyre’s Lister Chevrolet. Indeed, with just 11sec spanning the qualifying times of the entire 23-car grid, it was a compact and highly competitive field.
From the drop of the flag, there was an immediate three-way battle between Majzub, McIntyre, and Gary Pearson in Andrew Garner’s Lister Jaguar. The three were neck and neck, exchanging the lead between them for a good few laps, till McIntyre and Majzub performed an elegant, synchronised spin at the end of the start-finish straight. This put Pearson out in front… only for the other two, undamaged and undefeated, to fight their way back.
Sadly, the epic skirmish was resolved when Pearson’s mount, now in the hands of Andrew Garner, was forced to retire – and Majzub’s Sadler suffered a similar fate at about three-quarters distance. It seemed that the intense heat was taking a heavy toll on the machinery.
This left Jamie McIntyre to sweep to victory, followed by the Lotuses of Peter Horsman/Tony Lees, and of Ewan McIntyre, in second and third places, respectively – each of the first three cars claiming a class victory, too. A word must also be spared for the Lotus XI of James Paterson and Rick Bourne, who put on a stunning performance to finish a remarkable fourth overall.
Further down the field, another great race was being played out between the Allard J2 of Malcolm Verey and ‘Whizzo’ Williams, and the Maserati 300S, ably driven by Tony Smith… with Smith finally snatching the class prize by the merest 0.8sec margin.
Other class winners were Ruperts Wood and Whyte in their Widi MkII, and the Lotus XVII of Jim Woodley and Iain Rowley.
The BRDC Historic Sportscars will be back at the Silverstone Classic, 25th to 27th July.
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