There were plenty of trophies for Marco Werner in Zandvoort at the Historic Grand Prix.
Werner started for ChromeCars on a Lotus 77 in the Masters Historic Formula One Championship and on an Aston Martin GT3 in the Aston Martin Masters Endurance Legands. At the start in Donington, Marco Werner was able to take second place twice in the “Fittipaldi Class”, Formula 1 vehicles from the 1970s until 1978. In Zandvoort Werner surprised for a long time with the absolute best time, but then had to be content with second place Mike Cantillon in the Williams FW07 from 1979 went on the hunt for times again with new tires and pushed Werner from pole position. “I’m still satisfied and I didn’t expect it”, said Marco Werner. “Row one and the fastest in our class is great, we’ve left enough modern cars behind us”.
In race one Werner was even able to put some pressure on Cantillon at the beginning. A safety car phase, however, ruined Werner’s performance. “After the restart I had a little too much understeer, the safety car phase didn’t do my tires well and Cantillon was gone,” said Werner, satisfied after the race, who got the most out of the race with second place overall and first place in the “Fittipaldi Class” .
For race two on Sunday the starting grid of the top four was reversed and Werner and Cantillon started from row two behind Mark Hazell in the Williams FW08 and Steve Brooks in the Lotus 81. The first laps got the spectators out of their seats when the first four were close together drove through the “Hugenholtzbocht”. “That almost reminded me of my wild Formula Ford days here in Zandvoort”, grinned Marco Werner, “close together with four cars only today with a lot more bang”. As expected, Mike Cantillon took the lead on lap three and quickly moved away from the rest of the field. Behind that, however, there was still some exciting sport. Brooks in second place and Mark Hazell in third fought for second place and got pressure from Marco Werner in the 1976 Lotus. On lap nine, Werner grabbed the Williams in the fast passage to the “Scheivlak” and was third. Then he put pressure on Steve Brooks in the Lotus 81, who then promptly braked himself at the end of the start and finish and slid straight ahead. With further fast laps, Marco Werner consolidated his second place overall and won the “Fittipaldi Class” with the ChromeCars Lotus 77.
Marco Werner and Oliver Mathai were just as good on the ChromeCars Aston Martin in the Aston Martin Masters Endurance Legends. Sixth place overall, ahead of two LMP2 cars, that was the result of qualifying after Marco Werner hit a 1:37 lap with ChromeCars’ GT3 Aston Martin. In race one there was a first place in the GTC class and a second place overall in the GTs behind the GT1 Maserati MC12 from Hart / Pastorelli. In race two Werner / Mathai were again winners in the GTC class and third overall in the mixed GT class, behind the winners Hart / Pastorelli in the GT1 Maserati MC12 and Nikolaus Ditting in the Aston Martin GT1. “We couldn’t do more,” said Marco Werner, who because of his “status” is a! Minute more idle time at the pit stop.
Photos: Elfimages Motorsport
