Twelve-cylinder racing prototypes are not exactly the bread and butter of the historic racing scene. These cars are expensive and time-consuming to maintain, so it is rare to see a Ferrari 512 M or a Porsche 917 at racing speed. At the Monza Historic, however, Carlos Monteverde in a Ferrari 512 M and Claudio Roddaro in a Porsche 917 battled for almost 50 minutes to win the first "Classic Endurance Racing 1" one-hour race.
It was reminiscent of the Le Mans races at the beginning of the seventies. Monteverde ultimately benefited from Roddaro's technical problems and won in the Ferrari, with Steve Tandy second in the Lola T70 Mk IIIB and Maurizio Bianco third in the Chevron B19. In 8th place was Jacques Laffite, who shared the cockpit of a Lola T70 MK III with Philippe Vandromme.
In the newer endurance cars (CER2), Yves Schemma won in the Toj SC304 for Marc Devis in another Toy. Frank Stippler led the GT2 classification in the 1981 Ferrari 512 BBLM, while Urs Beck / Alfschin Fatemi had to roll out without a result despite setting the best class lap time.
The field also included Paul Belmondo (Chevron B21) and Alex Caffi in a Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo. Neither of them reached the finish line.
Best conditions
After hailstorms on Thursday, the weather largely showed its best side over the weekend and, with eleven races, the schedule was less overloaded than recently in Dijon, which meant much less stress for the drivers and spectators.
As a special treat, Peter Auto organized a prize-giving dinner at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo for the drivers of the two-hour "Sixties Endurance" race. For the top finishers - the winners were David and Oliver Hart, Ben Gill came in second and Andrew Beverly third, all in Shelby Cobra 289s, followed by Thomas Studer in a Shelby Mustang 350 GT - the trophy presentation between the legendary Alfa racing cars must have been an unforgettable experience.
It was clear from the outset that the cars with less horsepower had little chance on the fast Monza racetrack, but it was surprising that the fastest Cobra ended up two laps ahead of the time-placed car. 32 cars were classified, 16 did not see the chequered flag.
Thin Formula 2 field
The Euro Formula 2 was still not quite convincing, with five cars starting the first race and three in the second. Charles Veillard won twice in the 1977 Ralt RT 1.
Things were much livelier in the Formula Junior racing cars. Both races were won by Pierre Tonetti in the Brabham BT6, Philip Buhofer finished second twice in the Lola Mk5A and Christian Traber third twice in the Lotus 22.
Bruno Weibel was the best driver in the D2 category, finishing 6th once and an excellent 4th in the second race.
Porsche against Mercedes
Once again, the Sauber-Mercedes-Benz C11 battled against the Porsche 962C in the Group C race. However, Kriton Lendounis/Rui Aguas in the Mercedes-Benz were unable to finish, allowing Ivan Vercoutere/Ralf Kelleners in the Porsche 962C to win easily.
In the second race, the Porsche drivers were unlucky, but it was not the Mercedes C11 that took the victory, but Steve Tandy in the Spice SE90, while the C11 finished second.
BMW, Ford and Volvo
In the historic touring cars, which took part in a 60-minute race as part of the Heritage Touring Cup, Dominik Röschmann in the BMW 3.0 CSL came out on top, ahead of David Huxley/Nigel Greensall in the Group A Ford Mustang. Stephen Dance came third in the Ford Capri 2600 RS.
In 5th place, Andrew Beverley in the Volvo 240 T still finished on the same lap.
GTO, LM, GTB and Co.
In the Trofeo Nastro Rosso, the Ferrari sports cars of the sixties were the most numerous. No fewer than eight of the cars from Maranello were among the 19 entrants. They were almost able to settle the first race among themselves.
Vincent Gaye won in the Ferrari 275 GTB/C ahead of Carlos Monteverdi/Gary Pearson in the Ferrari 250 LM. Third place went to Guillermo Fierro in the Maserati T61, who won the second race on Sunday, followed by Monteverdi/Peason in the Ferrari 250 LM.
Carlo Vögele finished fourth twice in the magnificent Ferrari 330 GTO, while Peter Vögele defended the honor of the non-Italian sports cars with 7th and 6th places in the PORSCHE RSK 718-60 Spyder.
A bit of a break
After two race weekends in quick succession, the participants in the Peter Auto racing series can now rest a little, as the next event at the Hungaroring is not until September 29/October 1. The Group C drivers, however, will compete in the next event on July 28-30, 2017 at the Silverstone Classic.
