2026 Lurani Trophy Round 1
Once again, the Hockenheim crowds greeted us with the same warmth as the shining sun, at our traditional Lurani season opener.
Alex Ames was fresh from his win at Donington Park the weekend before, and having his first outing at Hockenheim, so he took advantage of the test day on Thursday to get as much track time as possible. He tested not only his own Brabham BT6, but also the new to Luca Hoefer, Swiss Lotus 22, ex-Christian Traber, and one of the Halusa family 22’s, for Andreas. His main opposition would come from the Lotus 22s of Clive Richards and Manfredo Rossi de Montelera. The entry was smaller than usual with only 17 cars taking part in qualifying.
Qualifying;
Unfortunately, Gunther Leidig, having tested ok on Thursday, didn’t make it out of the paddock to the assembly area, before his diff went, and his weekend was over.
Bob Birrell, first time out in his newly acquired Elva 100, which is a shared purchase with Gordon Wright, didn’t manage a lap before coming into the pits and ending his session with engine issues.
Michaela Månlycke, Lurani Champion in 2000, then in a Lotus 18, was back, now as not only a Mum but a Granny, this time in the family Lotus 22. She has raced in Scandinavia in the intervening. years, but this season she plans a full Lurani season. Her qualifying session also came to a premature end when a conrod bearing broke and she pulled off in the Sachs curve.
Alex and Clive had been building momentum, shaving fractions off their times lap after lap, with Clive just ahead until there was a full course yellow, but when the track went green again, it was Alex who was immediately back on the pace, setting a pole time of 1’57.755” on lap 11. Clive was to sit alongside him on Row 1 with a best of 1’58.309”, with Manfredo Rossi (Lotus 22) and Simon Jackson (De Tomaso) making up row 2.
Race 1
There was drama before the start as Manfredo Rossi had not shown up. Apparently, his hire car suffered a puncture on the way to the circuit, and a motorcycle had to go and collect him. Manfredo arrived just in time to don his overalls and get on the grid!
The start was clean and at the end of the first lap there were already gaps between Ames, Richards, Rossi and Jackson. There were then almost simultaneous retirements for the pair of white cars, Peter Laier, first time out in the ex-Peter Knoefel Emeryson, and Manfredo Rossi is his familiar Lotus 22, who had a rubber ring on a drive-joint fail. Manfredo’s resting location just trackside necessitating a safety car while his car was moved. This brought the pack back together again, but at the restart the order remained unchanged.
The highlight of the race was then a fantastic midfield battle. It was three abreast at one point, Paul Boulton (Elfin), Andreas Halusa (Lotus 22) and Luca Hoefer, all in pursuit of Richard Smeeton (Wainer). By Lap 7 Paul had slipped by Richard, and Halusa was now applying pressure to Smeeton too, with Hoefer lying in wait, ready to cease any opportunity. Paul by this point was pulling away, Halusa then got ahead of Smeeton, but ran very wide and let both the Wainer and Hoefer through. Hoefer was then on the back of Smeeton, before getting through, and with a clear track ahead was lap on lap making progress on Paul.
As they entered their last lap, Paul could see Luca in his mirrors, but then suddenly it was all over for him – the car grumbled, and he flicked off the switches in the hope of avoiding lasting damage, and pulled off, with just a couple of corners to go
Up front Alex now had a comfortable lead and took the flag 5.4” ahead of Clive Richards and Simon Jackson. third a further 18.2” behind.
Race 2
Neither Bob Birrell nor Michaela’s luck had improved; Bob pulled off a Sachs Curve during the green flag lap and Michaela pulled into the pits end of green flag lap.
Lars-Göran Sjöberg’s trips to Hockenheim often seem fraught – this year at least he made it to two grids. Having retired at the mid-point in race 1 with electrical problems, this time he failed to get off the start. He was pushed through the opened gate in the pit wall as the rest of the field set off for their maiden lap, so we were down to only 12 starters.
As in race 1, the leading four settled down at the conclusion of the first lap as Ames, 0.5” ahead of Richards, then 1.2” to Rossi and 3.1” to Jackson.
Birthday boy Martin Aubert made sure to enjoy his day to the maximum and had a great play with Christian Lange (Envoy) for a few laps before pulling away.
It was then Christian’s brother Johnny who caught up big brother and had fun before too overtaking.
Manfredo came up to lap a by then slowing Peter Laier and his split-second decision on which way round took him wide on the grass, but luckily back on track this time! Laier pulled off shortly after…
This time Alex was unable to break away with Clive never been more than 1.5” behind Alex, applying pressure all race, until the last lap, he saw his moment when Ames ran slightly wide at Turn 1, and pulled ahead, absolutely delighted as he crossed the line as winner by 0.842” after a very entertaining race. Alex’s Brabham was misfiring, and he pulled off just after the flag and pushed it back up the pit lane to parc ferme.
Third and also acknowledging the enthusiastic crowd was Manfredo, as he said – never entering the Sachs curve anything other than sideways!
Aggregate
Ames’ margin in race one was enough to secure him first overall from Richards, Rossi and Jackson. Several of the classes had solitary entries so full points were not scored. The class winners were D2 – Aubert; C2 Christian Lange and B2 Duncan.