28-30th October 2022 - Portimao
Alhgarve Classic Festival
The Historic Formula Juniors brought their season to an end at the Autodromo Internacional Do Algarve Portimao on the weekend of 28th – 30th October. The non championship races combined Historic Formula Junior with the 1 Litre Historic Formula 3 into one relatively evenly matched grid of cars. The advantage the later cars had with tyre grip was compensated for by the straightline speed of the Formula Juniors making for some very close racing.
The qualifying session which took place on Friday 28th October confirmed how closely matched the cars would be when the top 6 cars were covered by just over a second, the first five being separated by 6 tenths of a second with the top 2 divided by 1000th of a second. A very excited Christoph Widmer being very pleased with the qualifying result placing him second at the front of the grid in his Brabham BT18a alongside pole man Jeremy Timms in his much more modern Chevron B15. Third and heading the Formula Junior runners was Alex Ames in his Brabham BT6 alongside him was Lukas Halusa in his Lotus 22. Francois De Rossi in his Chevron B17 was 5th although having accidentally under fuelled his car he felt the potential for a quicker lap was missed. Completing the top 6 was Thomas Jamim in his March 703 who had a comfortable gap of just over a second to the next competitor Lee Mowle in his Lotus 20/22.
Philip Buhofer in 8th had a less comfortable gap from Jonathan Sharp in his Chevron B17 with just under 2 hundredths of a second separating them. Richard Wilson in his Brabham BT6 3 tenths behind Sharp completed the top 10. Pierre Guichard Lynx T3 in 18th position was the first of the D2 Formula Juniors with Robin Lackford in his Elva 100 heading Duncan Rabagliati in the familiar orange Alexis HF1 for Class B2 honours.
When you bring together grids from the Formula Junior and one litre Formula 3 eras there are always some wonderful historic cars, some can be found at the front of the grid like the Reine Wisell Chevron of Jeremy Timms or the Mike Hailwood Brabham of Alex Ames. However further down the order could be found Fritz Burkhard’s Tecno resplendent in blue with an orange nose carrying the legend J.P.Jaussaud on the side of the car.
Keith Messer in the Formula 3 Vesey was simply happy to be competing. His tale of misadventure began earlier in October when a collision in the Historic Formula 3 race at Dijon damaged the car. As the plan had always been to drive from France down to Portugal. Repairs were conducted along the way in various campsites. To be completed in the car park of the Portimao circuit on Thursday morning. The tale of the Vesey Odyssey could be found chronicled on the Facebook page of friend and mechanic Mike Falloon as they journeyed south.
Back in the Portimao garages following qualifying all was not well for Richard Smeeton Wainer as his gearbox had been sticking into third gear. For James Hicks there was an undiagnosed problem that was causing a vibration. No holiday for both sets of mechanics as they set to work to repair the cars for the next days racing.
Both Richard and James’ cars were ready to take their place on the grid Saturday morning. The Caravelle of James Hicks had a gearbox change overnight. As Robin Lackford explained they had been carrying the spare box for years and when they unpacked it they found the note that said last used at Portimao 2010. So this was the circuit gearbox.
The race start created a few surprises as the field dropped down into turn 5 for the first time. Jeremy Timms was leading with Alex Ames in second place then Christoph Widmer from Francois De Rossi Lee Mowle 5th and Lukas Halusa 6th. The following lap Francois claimed 3rd place and Lukas displaced Lee for 4th. Late braking into turn 5 found Andrew Smeaton running wide dropping a number of places.
Christian Lange was not having a good weekend and he retired on circuit on lap 2 and the Safety Car was called whilst his car was retrieved. Christian Traber and Andrew Tart both had bad opening laps Andrew dropping from 10th to 15th Christian from 12th to 22nd. The safety car proved to be a problem for Richard Wilson as he appears to have responded quicker than those following losing a number of places dropping him down the order to 11th place.
At the restart it was Alex Ames who stormed into the lead heading Lee Mowle and Jeremy Timms for a whole lap. The following lap Timms retook the lead extending the gap away from any challenge. On lap 7 both Francois De Rossi and Christophe Widmer swept past Mowle in their battle for second in the F3 Race and third on the overall podium.
Lee was slowly being caught by a pack of cars. Firstly dicing with Lukas Halusa who passed him on lap 8 only to drop back again as Jonathan Sharp moved his Chevron further up the order. Lap 10 established the order for the remainder of the race when Christoph Widmer and Francois De Rossi locked wheels going into turn 5. Both cars spun with Christoph rejoining several places down unfortunately Francois was beached in the gravel trap the car remaining there for the final laps of the race.
Lukas Halusa was able to claim third overall 2nd in the Formula Juniors with Jonathan Sharp 4th and third of the Formula 3 cars with Philip Buhofer completing the Formula Junior podium. In the classes it was a front engine win for the Robin Lackford Elva, Class D2 was won Pierre Guichard in the Lynx T3, and rounding out the Class results C2 was won Christian Lange in the Envoy.
Race 2 on Sunday was as normal with Formula Junior the Grid being formed from the Friday Qualifying. With the anticipation being for a thrilling repeat of the Race 1 battles. Johnny Lange was the only withdrawal from the Race 1 result with Gearbox issues. 29 cars lined up under a clear blue sky following an overnight thunderstorm that had cleared much of the humidity that had hung around the coast for much of the week.
Alex Ames made the better start leading Jeremy Timms for almost half a lap before the better grip of the Formula 3 Chevron brought Timms to the line and leading. Alex and Jeremy instantly opened an advantage from Christophe Widmer in third place and Francois De Rossi in 4th. Behind them came Lee Mowle leading Lukas Halusa and Thomas Jamim in the orange March. James Hicks in the Caravelle had made a good start. Unfortunately the start was way too good for the officials and fellow competitors. James saying afterwards. ‘I jumped the start. I thought the lights had gone out started and then I saw they were red.’ The result being a drive through penalty for James which was to lead to a very interesting race for the Caravelle. Having lost a lot of time James anticipated a very lonely race. But the best was yes to come.
Jeremy Timms at the front was holding his advantage over Alex Ames who was not going to let the Chevron disappear without a fight. On lap 4 Francois De Rossi overtook Christophe for third overall. On to Christophe’s tail had now come Jason Timms, bear with this. There were three J. Timms in the entry more about Jim at the end of this piece. Jason in his Brabham BT21 was having a frustrating race as he picked through the battling Formula Juniors ahead of him, led initially by Lee Mowle until lap 5 when he dropped down the order. I believe retiring at turn 1 which prompted a safety car. Richard Wilson assumed the position lost by Lee making him second place in the Formula Junior Class, Richard losing the place on lap 6 to Lukas Halusa who was recovering from a very torrid session of opening laps, dropping from 6th place to 10th on lap 3, behind Philip Buhofer who had been overtaken by Richard Wilson on lap 4.
Around the time of the safety car the retirements from the race appeared. Lee Mowle’s car was at turn 1. Niklas Halusa Lotus 22 retired to the pits, as did Keith Messer. The second race did not start at all well for Keith, with dropping oil pressure that appeared to stabilise then the Tacho stopped working. Not wishing to risk the engine Keith retired the car. He had enjoyed the race and the circuit and hoped there would be another opportunity to experience this circuit. The final retirement a lap later was Robin Lackford in the Elva 100.
The Safety car is where we continue the story of James Hicks race as he was the first car picked up by the safety car. He had some time behind the Mercedes watching the driver enjoying throwing the beast around the turns before being released into what James now considered to be one semi exclusive test session as he attempted to catch the Safety car train.
Recovery at this circuit is thorough and does eat into the race time, with just two laps to go, the cars were released for one final dash to the Chequered flag. Alex Ames as he had done in Race one nailed the start, using every ounce of speed within the Brabham to try and break the tow of the pursuing Jeremy Timms in the Chevron. Briefly he thought he had achieved the gap he was looking for as he led the penultimate lap over the line. Looking in his mirror he could see the red Chevron coming and inevitably Jeremy slipped through. Alex responded wherever he could to keep the Chevron in range waiting for one last opportunity to retake the lead. It did not come it was a smiling Alex who acknowled the win for Jeremy with his brother Jason coming the rostrum in the Formula 3 class in 4th place overall just two tenths of a second back from from Francois De Rossi who was third overall and second in the Formula 3 result. The competition within the Formula 3 race had been very close With Jonathan Sharp 4th in the Formula 3class in recording the second fastest lap within the class.
Jonathan had some exciting laps duelling with Christophe Widmer who admitted to a spin earlier in the race. On lap 11 Christophe thought Jonathan was about to spin and in reacting to avoid any possible contact spun himself, dropping from 5th place to 8th place. Placing him behind Lukas Halusa and Richard Wilson who were second and third place in the overall Formula Junior placings.
Patrick D’Aubrey was 9th overall in the Lotus 22 whilst 10th was Richard Smeeton in the Wainer. A major improvement for both drivers from their race one results which had been blighted by time penalties.
Class winners were Pierre Guichard in the Lynx T3, Christian Lange in the Envoy FJ and the leader of the pack Duncan Rabagliati in the Alexis HF1
It was all smiles and congratulations on the podium although there was a short delay for Jeremy to come to the prize giving as in the excitement he had not seen the chequered flag.
At the end of the weekend, Jim Timms, was awarded a small memento from the race meeting. A circuit Tee Shirt signed by all the drivers present as he suggested that he would be hanging up his race helmet. As Duncan explained in his presentation, Jim has been a long time friend of Formula Junior, not just as he is now racing an F3 car, but he is also a former winner in the Lurani Trophy. Like many present they did wonder if they would be making more awards to Jim in the years to come. So this was seen not as a farewell merely a friendly adieu until the next time.
Alan Jones
