Chamberlain and Allen Take Croft Victory
Richard Chamberlain and John Allen shared their 935 to a comfortable win in the final one-hour enduro of the 2006 Porsche Open season, but had to play second fiddle to Colin Broster's 996 for the first half of the race.
After problems with his own car in qualifying, Peter Morris joined Broster for the race, and left the meeting as the winner of the Porsche Carrera Cup prize drive at a meeting in 2007 awarded to leading Class Two 996 GT3 runner.
QualifyingA healthy 20-car line up completed qualifying, with Chamberlain and Allen securing pole for their hugely powerful 935 by over three seconds from the Class 2 GT3 Cup car of Jean-Marc Rotsaert and John Gaw. Colin Broster's 996 was third quickest from Peter Morris's GT3, but after Morris had serious gearbox maladies, he joined up with Broster for the race to take the second stint in the latter's car.
Mike Johnson's continued to set the Class Three pace in his 911, while Geoffrey and Alex Elbrow were quickest in Class Four with their 944.
RaceBroster made a flying start to lead into Clervaux, with Rotsaert holding an initial second as McLean spun before he had even cleared the grid. Allen recovered his momentum and had second out of Clervaux on the second lap, by which time Broster was already stretching his lead.
Mark Stephenson's GT3 slipped back from a promising early third place as Brian Robinson's 993 and the 944 of Mark Livesey made ground and Rotsaert continued to slip down the order. Livesey's charge took him into third at Clervaux on lap six, before Robinson lost out further as both Gerry Harrison and the recovering McLean went by at the Hairpin. McLean continued to press and ousted Harrison at the Jim Clark Esses and then Livesey into Clervaux a lap later.
It was soon game over for Livesey though, as he was black flagged with a trailing exhaust. McLean was left clear to chase down Allen, as Harrison, Robinson and Stephenson ran nose to tail for fourth. McLean had just got past Allen for second when the latter headed pitwards to hand over the 935 to Chamberlain.
As the driver changes shuffled the pack, both Broster and McLean stayed out for another 13 laps, as Chamberlain carved his way back to third. With Morris taking over the lead car he just made it out of the pitlane with the lead intact, but Chamberlain was already scorching down the pit straight and his momentum saw him ahead into Clervaux.
Over the remaining laps his advantage grew to well over a minute, but it was still a dramatic finale as Chamberlain found himself battling to lap John Bussell in Harrison's third placed GT3. "I wasn't sure what places we were battling for," said Bussell.
"That was my first ever win," declared Allen after the race.
"The car was great and John drove a stormer for me in the first half," Chamberlain replied, the duo having set a new Porsche Open lap record for Croft.
Broster and Morris took a comfortable second, while Harrison and Bussell finished third, after passing Fairbairn, who had taken over from McLean, five laps from home. Rotsaert and the rapid Gaw recovered to claim back fifth and Class Two victory in the second half of the race and Robinson eased himself clear of Stephenson to complete the top six.
Mike Johnson held off his rivals for a comfortable Class Three win and the Elbrow's survived in Class Four.
Result - One Hour: 1 Richard Chamberlain/John Allen (935) 39 laps in 1h00m00.716s (81.884mph); 2 Colin Broster/Peter Morris (996) +1m08.762s; 3 Gerry Harrison/John Bussell (GT3); 4 Paul McLean/Peter Fairbairn (993 GT2R); 5 Jean-Marc Rotsaert/John Gaw (GT3 Cup); 6 Brian Robinson (993); 7 Mark Stephenson (GT3); 8 John Taylor (GT3 Cup); 9 Jim Geddie (GT3 Cup); 10 Mike Johnson (911). Class Winners: Chamberlain/Allen; Rotsaert/Gaw; Johnson; Elbrow/Elbrow.
Fastest Lap: Chamberlain/Allen 1m25.733s (88.181mph) Record.
