The new Group C Racing series held its inaugural races at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Belgium, in May. This new series is a weekend event that includes practice and qualifying for two races: a 30-minute Super Sprint Race and a 90-minute Endurance Race with driver change and refueling.
Held in conditions synonymous with Spa, overcast and rain, the Sprint Race was won by Justin Law in the Silk Cut Jaguar XJ12. Although conditions were dry at the start, the end of the first lap saw most of the 29 cars diving to the pits to change to wet tires for the remainder of the race after a sharp shower soaked the track. Law was one of the exceptions, driving a terrific race on slicks.
Thoroughly entertaining racing saw battles up and down the filed in the Endurance Race. Justin Law was joined by the very-experienced and Le Mans–winning driver, Andy Wallace. Unfortunately, overheating slowed their progress. The race was won by Wayne Park and Rob Sherrard, in the debuting Sauber C9. Prepared by Xtec Engineering, this “Silver Arrows” liveried car had five wins during the 1989 World Sportscar Championship in the hands of drivers Jean-Louis Schlesser and Jochen Mass. Schlesser, who went on to be the ’89 world champion, also recorded two fastest laps and established a racing land-speed, world-speed record of 407 km/h at Le Mans during the same year.
Photo: Gurneyflap.com
At a media day, prior to Spa, there had been concerns about refueling. Series director Charlie Agg spent considerable time with the teams practicing these mandatory 4-minute stops. This proved a good investment as everything went like clockwork with no incidents and very happy pit lane marshals. After the race, both the drivers and their teams said how much they had enjoyed the additional challenge of pit lane refueling and that it had added another dimension of enjoyment to their racing with Group C.
By Mike Jiggle
