Brno: Lola Cars race report

Mattias Andersson and Niklas Loven scored another 12 points in the third round of the FIA Sportscar Championship at Brno today (Saturday),finishing third in the SR2 category in the Sports Racing Team Sweden Lola Nissan B2K/40.

The Swedes were thoroughly disappointed to qualify sixth in the SR2 class, but bought a set of Goodyear tyres for the morning warm-up session, and immediately found four seconds which put them right back into contention. "I was afraid that I was finished as a racing driver" said Andersson, relieved to be competitive again. "We were so much slower than last year, and we stilldon't really understand why, but the new tyres made a huge difference to the Lola's performance."

Niklas Loven started the race and immediately leapt from sixth place to second in SR2, chasing after Fabio Mancini's Lucchini Alfa Romeo. "It was the best car I had ever driven, for 10 laps, but then the tyres went off" said Loven. "We have not set the car up properly for the Goodyears, and they were not as consistent as we hoped."

The Sports Racing Team Sweden hoped to be able to complete the two and a half hour race on the original tyres, but were disappointed. Andersson took the Lola for the second and third stints but soon returned for a fresh set of tyres...which had to be Avon, because they had two marked sets. They used both sets to reach the finish, on the same lap as the Lucchini and Ranieri Randaccio's Tampolli.

Ralph Moog and Christian Vann finishedeighth overall in the Eventus Motorsport Lola Ford B98/10, the German slowing dramatically towards the end when the oil pressure warning light came on. "It was a false alarm" said Vann, "the car seems fine." Vann raced strongly in fifth position throughout the first half of the race. "The car is terrific" he says. "It brakes well, it's as quick as anything round the corners, but we really lose out to the Judd engined cars on the straights. Our Ford V8 just doesn't have the power, but it is a very goodexperience for Ralph to put his toe in the water. We've had a very good day."

<pre> Results, FIA Sportscar Championship Round 3, Brno 1, Jan Lammers/Val Hillebrand (Racing for Holland Dome Judd S-101) 77 laps in 2h 30m 34.317s (165.78 km/h) 2, Didier Cottaz/Boris Derichebourg (Courage Competition Judd C60JX) at 13.503 sec 3, Mauro Baldi/Vincenzo Sospiri (R&M Judd SR01) 75 laps 4, Fabio Mancini/GianniCollini/Luca Riccitelli (Lucchini Alfa Romeo SR2) 72 laps 5, Ranieri Randaccio/Leonardo Maddalena (Lucchini Alfa Romeo SR2) 72 laps 6, Niklas Loven/Mattias Andersson (Sports Racing Team Sweden Lola Nissan B2K/40) 72 laps 7, Sam Hignett/John Stack (Pilbeam Nissan MP84) 72 laps 8, Ralph Moog/Christian Vann (Eventus Motorsport Lola Ford B98/10) 68 laps

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