Lurani Trophy Round 5;
Such a lovely flowing track, though many decades since the Formula One French and later Swiss Grands Prix were held here; nonetheless we were treated to René Arnoux assisting at the prize giving ceremonies and giving an F1 demonstration on track.
It was the last round of the 2025 Lurani Trophy, and although Clive Richards was already the winner, he was still here to do battle with Manfredo Rossi and Andrew Hibberd (all in their lotus 22s) and US visitor Danny Baker (27) being run personally by the CTL Equipe of Chris Dinnage and Samantha; and returnees, Richard Smeeton, in the purple Wainer, Pierre Tonetti in the iconic De Tomaso ‘63 monocoque, and Bruno Ferrari’s Branca: Petter Huse was a late non-starter in the Focus IV after finding metal filings in the engine oil; not a good sign !!
Friday morning was free practice for the combined FJ and HF3/1000 races: wonderful to see the De Tomaso back on track, although Pierre was still having fuel feed issues on left hand corners; poor Gunther Leidig ( Elva 100) had an unaccountable oil leak from the back of the BMC engine in his Elva 100 – measurement afterwards revealed an alarming oil loss, and no way to fix this in the paddock . Out in father’s Elva 200 was Philip Lenoir, with an impressive time of 1m 39 ‘229, whilst Andrew Hibberd with both the 22 and the F3 BT18, stood out the session.
Qualifying was later in the afternoon, with Manfredo, also racing in F2, having the upper hand from Clive and Danny, happy at last to be returning to a previously raced European circuit, and up with the front runners as he would be back in USA, followed by Andrew, only 0.4s separating these four!!.. Luca was an impressive sixth, splitting Richard Smeeton and Bruno Ferrari.
Mid-session, the yellow flags were out for the yellow ex Olof Rosen Elva 100 of Jan Christians, stranded on the grass inside T1 with a seized drop box, sadly another terminal retirement, to be joined by Jonny Lange (22) with a severely overheating engine.
Luca works in the fine wine auction business, and very kindly hosted the post practice party: the biggest bottle of ‘red’ that you have ever seen, and much more: Luca and Bridget are getting married NEXT WEEKEND in Switzerland! but they were both in great spirits as hosts, helped by maid of honour, Megan, from Toronto, Canada, Bridget’s home City.
Saturday morning saw an Incredible four car battle in race 1 – Clive took the early lead, but then Manfredo was ahead, with Danny chasing hard and putting his 27 in front a couple of times; coming round ahead on the penultimate lap, but too fast, as with 6 seconds to go on the clock another lap was needed which saw bad luck rob him of his first Lurani win when the HT distributor plug wire came off and he ground to a halt, coming up the hill out of T5 leaving Clive to just pip Manfredo to the flag, with Andrew in their wake; further back there had been another good dice between Luca in the Maroon 22 and Hans Hillebrink in the leading Class D orange 20, both ahead of Bruno and, Pierre, recording a welcome finish in the De Tomaso.
Race 2 on Sunday started under safety car due to thick fog, but after two laps it pulled in, and the race that then ensued was no less dramatic than the weather! Danny Baker had been rather confused as to how the 2/2 grid should have formed after the safety car start, and as the field unleashed, was off into the gravel from third on T1, as he tried to recover, while Clive inadvertently edged in front of Manfredo before the line bringing him a drive through penalty; Andrew Hibberd also spun, so combined with Clive’s charging climb from the back, it all gave a terrific finish for the podium positions, with Andrew just 2s ahead of Clive and Danny, they separated by just 0.1 s !! Meanwhile Manfredo was away, waving to the crowds, and at the Podium, the Trophy was presented by Rene Arnoux and we heard the glorious Italian national anthem!!
Behind all the action, Richard Smeeton was a secure 5th, with Bruno chasing Luca, both well ahead of Class D winner, Hans Hillebrink on this occasion. Pierre was all but lapped on the line, and was flagged off by the marshals, but luckily the parc ferme was through garage 4, so he crossed the timing light in the pit lane to retain the full distance in the results. Bob Birrell pitted after the orange flag warning him he didn’t have lights on, but as the fog had now cleared, he was allowed to resume to take the D1 class win.
Duncan concluded the proceedings with the prizegiving at which all the class B C and D Trophy place drivers received their awards with smiles and photos, and the battling leaders’ further congratulations, and Luca and Bridget despatched with best wishes for their big day
DCPR