David Hart took victory in the WSM race at Zandvoort, the Dutchman triumphing in the one-hour thriller.

Hart took an early lead and spent the early laps fending off the challenge of the impudent Abarth Osella of Manfredo Rossi di Montelera, which stayed on the tail of Harts Lola T70 for the early laps. It was the ideal battle: a car with power good on some parts of the seaside track, a nimble car chasing it, which was faster through the corners. Rossi pitted first but the Abarth was found to have a fuel leak and the Italian lost time while the problem was fixed. That allowed Phil Hall (Lola T212) up to second place and the similar car of Steve Allen to third.

As Hart led, attention turned to the fifth placed car, the Lola T70 that had taken pole position. Started by David Coplowe, the Lola dropped over 40 seconds before Martin Stretton took over the car and set off in pursuit of glory. Stretton worked past the Hall and Allen Lolas and was up to second place but with 10 minutes to go, Hart clipped a backmarker, which damaged the left side of his Lola. The door flew open and the Dutch ace tried to continue holding it in place. That proved too difficult so a pit stop was needed which in turn dropped Hart over 30 seconds. With the door ripped off, he continued in the lead chased by an inspire Stretton who was within 10 seconds when he went off the road on the last lap.

With Stretton out, Phil Hall was gifted second in his Lola T212 and the recovered Rossi took third.

I thought I had it under control, said Hart, but the backmarker didnt see me and we touched. The door fell into the car and I tried to continue by holding it in place but it was impossible to drive like that. I had to pit.

WSM is next in action at Spa-Francorchamps on September 21-23.