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Hockenheim Report - Round 1, 2010

The first HFO event of 2010 was an integral part of the Hockenheim Historic – In memory of Jim Clark Meeting which took place from 15 to 18 April. [Download a Hockenheim 2010 Race Timetable here.]

Images from the Event

Images shot by Jon Bunston and Dave Smith, Official HFO Photographers, of the Historic Formula One cars and drivers at their event in the Hockenheim Historic (In Memory of Jim Clark) Race Meeting in April 2010. Sound track is Carmine by the great John Martyn OBE.

Race Report

Compiled by Stuart McCrudden

Round 1 of the FIA Historic Formula One Championship saw 17 cars of the 18 registered for the event take the grid at the popular Hockenheim Historic event at the German GP venue. Reigning HFO Champion Bobby Verdon-Roe made certain that his investment in the stunning ex-Christian Gläsel McLaren MP4A showed its class right away by taking pole position with just minutes to go in the second qualifying session. BVR had only driven the car for twenty minutes before arriving in Germany but a test and two qualifying sessions was enough time to make the car work to good effect.

I just need to know how the car works and how I am supposed to drive it.

said the resident of Portugal.

Until BVR took pole, a stunning qualifying lap in the cold early morning session had looked positive for the Brabham BT49 of Joaquim Folch. Run by Fredy Kumschick the Spaniard sat out most of the second session hoping not to have to use his best tyres for the second run but when BVR hit the front his few laps could not produce any advance. Rowland Kinch worked his way up to third fastest with some neat tweaks whilst the Colin Bennett family-run Williams FW07 of Japanese communications entrepreneur Katsu Kubota finished fourth fastest with Steve Hartley’s Mirage Arrows fifth and Richard Eyre’s Williams sixth.

The grid also included Nico Bindels returning to the series with Hall & Hall fettling his Lotus 87B, Laurent Fort with his own Espirit Competition Surtees TS9B and Austrian Gunther Alth with the beautiful Class A March 701. Former Italian Touring Car Champion, Cosimo Turizio performed very well to be halfway up the grid on the first session in his Hesketh 308 but a broken hub carrier put a premature stop to his weekend. Regular Dave Abbott sat out this meeting whilst his shoulder operation fully heals in time for Spa and all the teams suffered travel chaos from the Icelandic volcano, almost all having to make last minute drive arrangements as flights were cancelled across the world in the two days preceding the event. Return journeys also became a stress.

A really good volume of spectators basked in sunshine for the Sunday race and as John Felix switched off the red lights BVR dropped the clutch for a superb start and headed a fast starting Kinch with Folch snapping at the back of the Arrows. Hartley was already under pressure from Kubota as they came into the Stadium for the first time with Richard Eyre sixth, Peter Meyric, Abba Kogan’s Williams already heading Class B, then Bindels, Peter Weunch, John Delane and Terry Sayles. On lap 2 Verdon-Roe built a 4.4 second advantage and Kubota got past Hartley.

Kinch had the throttle fuel cam jam virtually at the start and driving on the brakes, gears and ignition switch was proving to be a handful and the number 7 Brabham of Folch got past on lap seven and the Arrows retired to the pits four laps later, albeit with the fastest lap point to its credit. At lap 11 Folch was 9.8 seconds behind the McLaren with Katsu Kubota working hard to close the gap. Hartley and Eyre were involved in another mighty tussle which went to Eyre on the following lap. Bobby started to ease the pressure slightly for the final three tours leading Folch home by 8.8 seconds with Kubota less than a second behind at the finish. Eyre was fourth ahead of Hartley, Meyrick, Kogan, Bindells, Weunch and Delane in tenth place overall to take Class A whilst Terry Sayles in the Osella took Class D victory.

Bobby Verdon-Roe took top podium spot and was delighted with his weekend.

We only got the MP4 at Christmas so there has been a lot of work to get the car ready. I did 8 laps at Estoril last Monday, loaded up and set off to drive the truck to Hockenheim. I’ve worked with Alan Mugglestone before, he is simply the best race engineer I know and has won 50 championships, so I think we are in great hands. This is a job well done, my first overall pole position in HFO and my first overall win. I wonder if McLaren will notice that they have won the races for the two FIA Formula One Championships today!

Second round of the FIA Historic Formula One Championship is at Spa, Belgium 23 May.

Race Results

Compiled by BMC Hockenheim

Pos	No	Entrant	Nat	Car	Team	Class	In Class	Gap	Total time	Fastest	In	Avg. Speed
1	1	Bobby Verdon-Roe	GB	Scuderia BVR	McLaren MP4/1B	C	1	16 laps	25:47.0	1:35.709	2	170.3
2	7	Joaquin Folch	ES	Kumschick Racing	Brabham BT49C-10	C	2	8.843	25:55.8	1:35.507	9	169.34
3	10	Katsu Kubota	JP	CGA Engineering	Williams FW07C-14	C	3	9.359	25:56.3	1:35.706	13	169.28
4	6	Richard Eyre	GB	RJM Motorsport	Williams FW08-3	C	4	26.021	26:13.0	1:36.965	5	167.49
5	31	Steve Hartley	GB	Mirage	Arrows A4-2	C	5	26.316	26:13.3	1:36.710	3	167.46
6	9	Peter Meyrick	GB	AMR	Arrows A5	C	6	01:13.5	27:00.4	1:39.284	3	162.58
7	8	Abba Kogan	BR	CGA Engineering	Williams FW06	B	1	01:24.8	27:11.8	1:40.663	7	161.45
8	17	Nico Bindels	LU	Hall & Hall	Lotus 87B-3	C	7	01:38.2	27:25.1	1:40.789	7	160.14
9	20	Peter Wuensch	DE	Hall & Hall	Wolf WR1-2	B	2	15 laps	26:02.4	1:41.537	6	158.08
10	3	John Delane	US	Hall & Hall	Tyrrell 002	A	1	37.403	26:39.8	1:44.069	7	154.39
11	32	Terry Sayles	GB	JRT Belgium	Osella FA1-D – 3	D	1	01:18.1	27:20.5	1:46.716	3	150.55
12	36	Luciano Quaggia	IT	F1 Storiche	Theodore TR1-2 1978	B	3	14 laps	26:24.7	1:50.131	14	145.46
13	14	Michel Baudoin	FR	Ecurie Griffiths	Shadow DN9 – 1979	C	4	6.92	26:31.6	1:51.168	2	144.83
14	70	Gunther Alth	AT	Alth	March 701/9	A	2	13 laps	26:38.0	1:51.579	2	133.95
15	69	Rowland Kinch	GB	G-Cat Racing	Arrows A4-2	C	8	11 laps	18:17.6	1:35.403	9	165.03
Did not Start
-	16	Laurent Fort	FR	Esprit Competition	Surtees TS9B – 05	B	Withdrew after mechanical problems in Qualifying race
-	66	Cosimo Turizio	IT	Cosimo Turizio	Hesketh 308E–4	B	Withdrew after mechanical problems in Qualifying race
-	29	Hubertus Bahlsen	CH	Kohler Garage	Arrows A4-3	C	Did not compete

Overall Championship Points after Round 1

Compiled by Oli McCrudden

Pos	Total	Driver	Nat	Hock	Spa	Monza	BH	Nogaro	Dijon	Algarve
1	10	Kogan, Abba	BR	10
2	9	Verdon-Roe, Bobby	GB	9
3	7	Delane, John	US	7
4=	6	Folch, Joaquin	ES	6
-	6	Wuensch, Peter	DE	6
6	5	Sayles, Terry	GB	5
7=	4	Alth, Gunther	AT	4
-	4	Kubota, Katsu	JP	4
-	4	Quaggia, Luciano	IT	4
10	3	Eyre, Richard	GB	3
11	2	Hartley, Steve	GB	2
12=	1	Kinch, Rowland	GB	1
-	1	Meyrick, Peter	GB	1
	0	Baudoin, Michel	FR	0
	0	Bindels, Nico	LU	0
	0	Fort, Laurent	FR	0
	0	Turizio, Cosimo	IT	0

Championship Points by Class after Round 1

Compiled by Oli McCrudden

Pos	Total	No	Driver	Nat	Car	Class	Hock	Spa	Monza	BH	Nogaro	Dijon	Algarve
	7	3	Delane, John	US	Tyrrell 002	A	7
	4	70	Alth, Gunther	AT	March 701/9	A	4
Pos	Total	No	Driver	Nat	Car	Class	Hock	Spa	Monza	BH	Nogaro	Dijon	Algarve
	10	8	Kogan, Abba	BR	Williams FW06	B	10
	6	20	Wuensch, Peter	D	Wolf WR1-2	B	6
	4	38	Quaggia, Luciano	IT	Theodore TR1	B	4
	0	16	Fort, Laurent	FR	Surtees TS9B – 05	B	0
	0	66	Turizio, Cosimo	IT	Hesketh 308E – 4	B	0
Pos	Total	No	Driver	Nat	Car	Class	Hock	Spa	Monza	BH	Nogaro	Dijon	Algarve
	9	1	Verdon-Roe, Bobby	GB	McLaren MP4/1B	C	9
	6	7	Folch, Joaquin	ES	Brabham BT49C-10	C	6
	4	10	Kubota, Katsu	JP	Williams FW07C-14	C	4
	3	6	Eyre, Richard	GB	Williams FW08/3	C	3
	2	31	Hartley, Steve	GB	Arrows A4-4	C	2
	1	9	Kinch, Rowland	GB	Arrows A4-2	C	1
	1	39	Meyrick, Peter	GB	March 761	C	1
	0	14	Baudoin, Michel	FR	Shadow DN9 – 1979	C	0
	0	17	Bindels, Nico	LU	Lotus 87-3	C	0
Pos	Total	No	Driver	Nat	Car	Class	Hock	Spa	Monza	BH	Nogaro	Dijon	Algarve
	5	32	Sayles, Terry	GB	Osella FA1-D	D	5

 

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