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A record entry of 18 British and one Irish driver spent a week in Paris doing battle with 136 drivers from across Europe in the quest for the European B championship. In the final analysis we didn’t win but it could have been very different.
The circuit was typical of a top European track, fast and flowing with a very narrow line of grip. For the first few days of practice the weather was intermittent but most of the drivers got just over an hour's worth of track time. So far things looked to be going to plan with top British drivers, Gareth Bell and Neil Diver lapping right on the pace. Thursday was light rain all day so the team took the opportunity to strip and prepare the cars for the start of qualifying on Friday and recover from their hangovers.
Qualifying. The first round on Friday was dry but rain was coming and Saturday’s weather looked unpredictable, so this was the time to put in a banker. Half the team put in a reasonable run but others made mistakes or got unlucky. By the end of the second round light rain had started so we had a few top Brits facing a very nervous night hoping for a dry Saturday.
With heavy overnight rain the third round of qualifying was wet but the track was drying fast. The mood in the camp was mixed; those that did not have a good run in were very nervous, while others hoped for more rain. In the end the last run was dry and the track was the fastest it had been all week. So it all came down to one 5 minute qualifying run. Top British qualifier was Gareth Bell with a flawless run to qualify 11th overall and direct into the semi. Kevin Brown and Pete Hastings excelled to qualify 32nd an 44th respectively. Neil Diver and Kyle Branson were the big losers of the rain affected qualifying. Neil needed the 3rd heat to finalise the setup of his new motor to run the 5 minutes but the rain put an end to that, so he had to gamble. The gamble came up 4 yards short of the line. Those 4 yards would have put him 7th overall! Kyle drove really well and was on quarter final pace but also ran into fuel problems and did not complete a good run. So after 4 rounds of qualifying TQ was the latest Italian sensation Andrea Cristiani setting a blistering pace. The British team qualified as follows: Gareth Bell 11th, Kevin Brown 32nd, Pete Hastings 44th, Neil Diver 54th, Andy North 55th, Richard Hicklin 58th, Chris Edwards 78th, Andrew Hastings 80th, Scott Nettleton 91st, Iain Milford 96th, Chris Heath 100th, Rob Colman 104th, Matt Blowers 105th, Avo Anmahouni 110th, Kyle Branson 114th, Ian Campbell 117th, David Hastings 119th, Steve Woods 121st, Paul Dewsnap 125th Concourse
At last we finally had a real hope of taking some silverware! During the drivers line up the officials selected the cars for the finals of concourse but somehow they seemed to have missed Avo’s tastefully painted off-yellow Dulux special. Martin helped correct this oversight by slipping Avo’s car into the final concourse line up. The judges seemed somewhat bemused and a brief hushed discussion with plenty of French shoulder shrugging followed. By this stage the entire British team is physically rolling on the ground with laughter pausing only long enough to chant ‘pick the yellow one, the yellow one’ Not wanting to embarrass anyone and thinking there must be more to this body shell than the horrendous colour they diplomatically left it in the running until the last three. Alas Avo’s car was piped at the post. It’s the Eurovision song contest all over again. A superb party followed, with a great rock band with free food and drink. Pete Hicklin really enjoyed himself and was still laughing so much about concourse he later spilled his Perno.
Finals With the finals looming Kyle and Neil had the most work to do. In the early finals it was Steve Woods that caused a big upset by bumping up through two finals. It wasn’t just Steve doing the upsetting; his pitman Kevin had a misunderstanding with the Russians over a screwdriver, needless to say Kevin came away with the screwdriver.
Rob Colman ran a great race to bump up one final but a motor cut in the next final meant that was as far as he got. Kyle did everything he needed to do in the first three finals by dominating every final to make it easily through to Sunday. Sunday morning we still had 7 British Drivers in the finals. After his flawless performance so far one mistake in the 1/32nd final cost Kyle a few laps. Even then he managed to get back in with a chance, then with the end in sight his motor stopped and that was the end of his climb up the finals. A real pity as his race pace was reflective of at least a top 30 finish. Neil Diver and Richard Hicklin were next up in the 1/16 final. A first lap incident resulted in Richard’s battery lead breaking and for our most enthusiastic driver the race was over. Neil started his fight back from a first lap incident but it was clear not all was well. The trim tab was skew and the pipe had been damaged. Once Neil figured out how to drive his car sideways he made his way spectacularly through the field to 2nd place. But with only minutes to go the damaged pipe caused loss of fuel pressure and after the last splash of fuel the engine cut and that was that. Andy North had a technical problem in the warm up and did not start his final. Pete Hastings went as fast as he could but a few mistakes cost him and he finished seventh in the 1/8 final. Kevin drove a perfect race and by the narrowest of margins missed out on bumping up to the semi.
Gareth had looked super smooth and fast all week. In the semi a perfect start got him up to 2nd place and with a fuel stop advantage a win and place in the final was all but secured. Then for the first time all week the engine stopped and would not fire. The entire team was gutted. The rest of the team have had our trials and tribulations during the week, some self-inflicted some not, but for Gareth and Martin this was a totally unjustified result. In the final Italian Andrea Cristiani run away with it. He was frankly just a cut above the rest and with his superb team dominated the event and won the final by 3 laps. The final results were:
Team Managers Report card.
Team Managers awards.
And finally The proceeds of the penalty box went to the Bells to help pay for the two tanks of diesel they used just trying to find the hotel every night. (An hour to go 3 miles?) The team say a huge thanks to all the dedicated pitmen, pitgirls and helpers - it would have been impossible without them.
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Pictures from Mark Green, Neil Diver; Chris Edwards, JP racing, Avo - all content Copyright BRCA |
