A great deal of work by Jim Graham and the Group C/GTP Racing Group resulted in an entry of 37 for the June 12 historic support race to the 24 Hours. Many spectators swelled the morning crowd just to catch a glimpse of this fascinating collection of Group C cars from the 1980s and 1990s.
Gary Pearson dominated the Thursday evening practice in Derek Hood’s Jaguar XJR-11 and finished a half-second ahead of the bright yellow Nissan R90CK of Charlie Agg, with the green Kremer Porsche 962 CK6 of Ralf Kelleners just behind. In fact, the confident looking Kelleners was anticipating a win to continue Porsche’s long record of success at the Sarthe. Martin Konig’s Skoal Bandit Porsche 956 led Class 2, Allen Lloyd’s Spice Class 3 and veteran professional David Leslie fronted Class 4 in the Ecosse-Ford.
Sadly, Kelleners fell into trouble right at the start, and was straight into the pits, and returned a few times more and never showed the practice promise. Gary Pearson went off into the lead after some tussling with Agg, and then eased away, only to have transmission trouble, which allowed a surprised Agg into the top spot. The 35-minute race took its toll, with four cars out on Lap 1, after having gotten in each other’s way. Young Simon Pullan made up for a poor start by tigering his Porsche through the field and caught Nigel James who had moved from 7th to 2nd in his similar car. James held the flying Pullan off to claim 2nd, and it was clear the drivers had enjoyed the power and speed of Group C racing at Le Mans, while Porsches, Lancias, the Ecosse, and GTP cars enthralled the spectators. The hope is that there will be a longer race next time.
Submitted by Ed McDonough
