A thrilling mix of Ford Escorts and Porsche 911s, battling it out with Jaguar XJ12, BMW 2002, Alfa and Lotus, delighted spectators at the 2012 Algarve Classic Festival, as they took to the track for the JD Classics Challenge.
On Saturday 20th October, race one of the JD Classics Challenge for historic Touring Cars was held in warm Portuguese sunshine – with the result setting the grid positions for race two, held on the Sunday.
This meant that pole position for the Sunday race went to Joaquim Jorge’s Ford Escort Mk1, alongside the invitation class Porsche 911 RSR entered by Aurora Motorsport and driven by João Silva. Third on the grid was Paul Pochciol’s Jaguar XJ12 Broadspeed recreation, but all were faced with the onslaught of Sunday’s rain.
Wet though it was, the JD Classics competitors were spared the worst excesses of the day’s torrential rain and hence there was much debate among teams as to whether intermediate tyres or full wets would be best. Most opted – wisely – for full wets.
Equipped for rain, four cars dominated the fight for first place – the Escort, 911 and XJ12 at the front of the grid, plus the Escort Mk1 of Sean, Robert and Daniel Brown. Buy Levitra online from HowMed http://howmed.net/order-levitra-vardenafil/ cheap and with no prescription.
Paul Pochciol, driving superbly well and gamely tackling the bends in his XJ12 – a big, heavy car and not ideal in these conditions – was a victim of the slippery track when he spun at the hairpin and dropped to fifth place… only to fight his way back to a podium place at the finish.
But it was Sean Brown and his two sons, Robert and Daniel (who took turns to share the car with their father in the two races), who scooped race victory in the Escort Mk1. This was the car that was very badly damaged in an accident at Spa in September and which was rebuilt in very short order, not only to return to the track at the Algarve but also to win the race.
As well as the overall race victory, and in honour of a win that was shared by a father and his two sons, the Browns were also the very worthy recipients of the Traditional Oak Family Trophy.
Meanwhile, the final word goes to the Mitsubishi Starion, a Group A car shared by Ed Simpson and Neil Philpotts – and which avoided a potentially nasty accident due to some quick thinking.
In race one, the Starion’s brakes failed completely in turn one but Ed Simpons’s swift use of the handbrake prevented a collision with the car in front; although it blew the tyres and caused the Starion to leave the track and gently nudge the barrier. Happily, the car was repaired in time for Sunday’s race – and finished ninth. That’s the spirit…
