Tuthill Porsche has clinched the 2012 Belgian Historic Rally Championship in fine style, with overall victory on the East Belgian Rally, penultimate round of this hotly-contested series.
Tuthill’s Belgian title comes almost a year after the team took the first-ever Porsche win on the notorious East African Safari Rally. Victory on Africa’s toughest historic rally and in one of the world’s most challenging Tarmac championships in less than twelve months underlines Tuthill’s status as the Porsche world’s premier classic 911 adventure specialist.
Speaking from the finish line in Belgium, Tuthill MD, Richard Tuthill, was over the moon with his team’s latest success. “For us, this is really, really special. To take a driver from novice to champion in three years, in one of the most competitive championships in Europe is a fantastic achievement. What makes it even more special is that it’s been such fun. This is down to Glenn’s approach: he’s a special character!
“It’s also the first Belgian Championship for Glenn’s regular co-driver, Stéphane Prévot. Both have done a terrific job throughout the year, as have all of our team back at Wardington. It’s no small undertaking to challenge some of the strongest rally competition in Europe when based on the other side of the Channel, but we pulled it off. That’s great testament to the energy within our organisation.
“Now we’ve got one round left in Belgium and a few more UK rallies, before the fun switches to our winter Porsche 911 Ice Driving camp. We’re already deep into preparations for the 2013 Safari Rally, but no doubt this win will fire us up for more in Europe. We’ll start planning the next goal tomorrow!”
The superb EB Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR returns to Spa this weekend, to defend both its 2012 World Sportscar Masters title, and outright victory in the separate Top Hat Masters race at the epic Belgian track last year.
First qualifying today was for Top Hat Masters: a production car series that permits a wide range of cars to be entered. Mark Bates brought the Porsche home in fourth place on the grid: a result he is rightly pleased with.
“There’s a huge Top Hat grid here at Spa,” said Mark. “Must be 60 or 70 cars: everything from pre-’66 Minis to a 1970s NASCAR. I led the Yank tank up the Kemmel Straight in practice and even at 145 mph, the force of air coming off the NASCAR was enough to push the 911 around.
“Fourth on the grid is fine. Last year we had pole with a 2:49, which some said couldn’t be done. Pole this year went to an Escort at 2:44, but that car is quite radical: rose-jointed suspension with solid bushes, 6-pot brakes: even the rain gutters either side of the windscreen are filled. Other cars up front are quick enough in qualifying, but can they keep that pace up for a 61-minute race?
“Fuelling at Spa is a headache, so I like to come here with fresh rubber and a full tank of fuel, go out and take it steady. That way, we gain speed through the whole weekend as the fuel burns off. I don’t know how others will play it: we’ll see how it all works out.”
World Sportscar Masters qualifying gets under way shortly – I’ll find out how that went and add the results to this post.
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Porsche has been beavering away on its 918 Spyder Nürburgring programme. Two days ago, a 918 Spyder prototype set a 7:14 (minutes:seconds) on the Nürburgring, which Porsche says is amongst the best for a street-legal vehicle on production tyres.
In fact, it’s just 4 seconds faster than the time Porsche claimed for test driver Timo Kluck in a 911 GT2 RS on Michelins back in 2010, but almost 30 seconds slower than road-legal Radicals. If you’ve ever experienced a Radical, you’ll know it is hardly the same. Still, half a minute’s a bit of a gap.
With this lap time set one year ahead of the Spyder’s launch date, Stuttgart delights in the 918’s progress. “By turning in this fabulous time, the 918 Spyder prototype fully confirms the viability of its future concept, after just a few months on the road,” said Dr. Frank Walliser, overall 918 project leader.
Surprisingly, Porsche notes that, as they only had one clear lap available, the time was set from a standstill. It also notes the Michelin tyres and an optional Weissach package, which “integrates modifications to boost driving performance”. I don’t know why the über-Porsche to beat all others has a standard non-sport configuration, but it just goes to prove that everything’s an option on a Porsche price list.
There’s a ton of Youtube video of the 918 at the ‘Ring. Here are two of my favourites, starting with a some video of a 918 unload, and shots of Walter Röhrl driving EVO’s Harry Metcalfe et al ’round the track. The second has some great tracking footage of the 918 in motion on the lanes around the circuit, including one of my favourite routes out.
Youtube vids show how every notable European pressman has run ’round the ‘Ring in this now. It’s not due out for a year and it’s already everywhere. By the time it gets interesting and heads to Le Mans, we’ll be burnt out on Spyder.
Tuthill Porsche scored its tightest-ever victory this weekend, when Belgian Historic Rally Championship leader, Glenn Janssens, beat his closest rival by just two-tenths of a second in the Flanders Rally.
Based around the town of Roeselare in northern Belgium, the Flanders Historic Rally calls for a blend of torquey engines, high speed stability and driver concentration. Rally drivers race across ‘Flemish Tarmac’, so-called because of dirt dragged back onto the course by crews who survive an excursion through one of the many treacherous ditches.
Flanders is also a round of the British Historic Rally championship. This piled pressure on Team Tuthill, with a strong contingent of UK Porsche racers crossing the Channel to compete. Team boss Richard Tuthill was acutely aware of the stakes.
“As part of both British and Belgian historic rally championships, Flanders is a crucial event for our team: drivers and technicians alike. Everyone rose to the challenge and responded with peak performance. It was a real A-game weekend.
“Tuthill Porsche can supply the best cars possible, but it’s up to the drivers to make these Porsches work. After a minor off early in the rally, Glenn Janssens erased all distractions and focused on Saturday’s twelve fast stages, to take a class win and second overall. Beating his closest title rival by just two tenths of a second is testimony to Glenn’s terrific talent and hunger for the number one!
“Dessie Nutt has won here before, but each event is different. The car, the crowds, the weather and the roads change every year, so repeating past wins is never a given. Victory in Category One shows Dessie’s focus as season end approaches. That brilliant yellow Porsche is the perfect platform to show his spark is strong as ever.
“A well-earned class win for Peter Lythell in his 3.0-litre Tuthill Porsche could be seen as three times lucky for Tuthill in Belgium, but you make your own luck. Quick, reliable Porsches and fast, smooth drivers are difficult combinations to beat. Here’s to rounding off the year with a few more wins and adding to our trophy cabinet!”
It’s the 2012 Monza GP this weekend, with the final round and title decider of this year’s Porsche Supercup. Qualifying starts at 12.25, and will be covered live on racecam web radio, albeit in German.
There is no TV coverage of qualifying or the race on British Eurosport – I’ll try to track something else down. I’ll be live tweeting the race from whatever source I find, so follow me on twitter.com/Ferdinand_Mag (@Ferdinand_Mag) if you want to know what happens, as it happens.
Rast topped the practice times yesterday on a 1:51.691, less than one-tenth ahead of Patryk Szczerbinski. By comparison, F1 cars in current free practice 3 are running 1:24.632 (Alonso). Title rivals Thiim, Edwards and Siedler finished P4, 5 and 6 respectively, with Kévin Estre down in eighth.
Depressingly for his rivals, Rast felt there was room to improve on his fastest lap. “I still have the almost unused two sets of tyres from the Budapest weekend, there is a lot to improve on the setup of the car and I made some mistakes as well.” Half an hour to see how much faster he can go.
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