With four cars from the ChromeCars “Black and Gold Collection”, Britec Motorsports traveled to the Red Bull Ring, where the Austrian Historic took place for the first time.
With a total of three Lotus Formula 1, in the well-known JPS colors, Michael Lyons, Nick Padmore and Marco Werner drove for the first time after their triple victory in Monaco. In the first race, Michael Lyons was able to beat James Hartley’s well-known fast McLaren MP/4 and was happy about the overall victory in Formula 1. Marco Werner was a good third with a clutch problem with the victorious Lotus 87B from Monte Carlo. Padmore retired with a gearbox failure. In race two, however, Hartley was able to use the advantages of his McLaren and pushed Michael Lyons into second place in the Lotus 91, who had to hold the flags high for ChromeCars alone on Sunday, as Werner and Padmore unfortunately did not get the checkered flag. Lyons was also happy about his second win of the weekend in the “Lauda Class”.
Things went better for Marco Werner in the “Masters Endurance Legends”. On his well-known LMP playing field, he happily mixed in with the ChromeCars Lotus LMP2 at the very front. In the first race, the former Le Mans winner was second overall for a long time after Christophe d’Ansembourg spun in the fast Lola Aston Martin DBR1 and Keith Frieser in the LMP1 Zytek 09. Frieser in the LMP1 with his car Werner, which was over 20 km/h faster on the straights, caught up with two laps before the end. But Werner was satisfied: “We didn’t expect to finish on the podium overall, but the two of them had some pressure,” grinned Marco Werner, “and so they made a few mistakes. I drove my laps without making any mistakes and was able to look good overall. However, nothing works for us on the straights with the small air restrictor. Too slow on the straights…».
Nevertheless, Werner could be satisfied, repeated the whole thing on Sunday and took home the second trophy for overall third place and was happy about the second class win in the LMP2 class.
However, the highlight of the weekend for Marco Werner was Friday. “These are days when people say Easter and Christmas fall on the same day…” smiled Werner. Because in addition to the ChromeCars Formula 1 Lotus 87B and the LMP2 from ChromeCars, Marco Werner also took a seat in three Ferraris. Great drifts were seen by Marco Werner in the 250 GT Lusso from the early 1960s. There he competed in Lusso with Nick Padmore. In the “Masters Gentlemen Drivers” race, Padmore and Werner unfortunately dropped out with the Ferrari 250 Lusso and an oil leak. “Unfortunately we had to park the car. We lost quite a bit of oil and can’t risk such a valuable car. It’s a shame, but it’s better that way,” said Werner, disappointed. He then took a seat in the Ferrari 512BB LM, which he will be driving at the Le Mans Classics in the coming weeks. “It’s also something very special to be able to immerse yourself in the Le Mans history of the 1980s.”
And the absolute highlight on Friday was a few laps in the Ferrari Sharknose 156 from 1961. “It’s amazing to be able to make such a journey through time. How many photos have I seen of Graf Berghe von Trips and now I can sit in such a car and do a few laps. Insanity. I would like to thank Jason Wright for this great opportunity.
Photos: Peter Heil und Carlo Senten / Masters Serie
