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| July 16, 2012 |
| FF EuroCup: Lichtenstein Victorious at Zandvoort |
 | Eric Lichtenstein (No. 42) emerged with the race three win and the EuroCup weekend honors at Zandvoort
(Photo: Jakob Ebrey Motorsports Photography) |
The Formula Ford EuroCup boys saved the best until last at Zandvoort on Sunday (July 15), providing a thrilling and upbeat end to a tricky weekend beside the Dutch seaside. After dire weather on Saturday (July 14) forced the abandonment of race one, and race two was curtailed by an accident, the morning’s finale was a real thriller.
Jake Cook snatched victory on the final lap from his Jamun Racing teammate Eric Lichtenstein after a superb race-long battle between the two Mygale EcoBoost pilots, with Lichtenstein claiming the overall EcoBoost EuroCup crown thanks to his Saturday win and two fastest laps. In the Duratec class, Dutch veteran Michel Florie took a narrow win over Bas Schouten, with Schouten taking the Duratec EuroCup honours for the weekend.
After a frustrating day of race stoppages and rain delays at Zandvoort on Saturday, EcoBoost Mygale driver Eric Lichtenstein was rewarded for his patience with victory for Jamun Racing. But it was not the sort of win that the Argentinian would have liked, coming as it did after a crash which befell his teammate, Luke Williams.
Williams was rounding the Arie Luyendijk curve at the end of the second lap when he ran wide, hit a bump or an obstruction in the infield and rolled his car. Williams extricated himself from the wreckage and was taken to hospital in nearby Haarlem for precautionary checks, where he was given a clean bill of health and released.
Williams’s accident inevitably brought out the safety car, which led the field in procession for a further three laps, at which point the race was halted.
It was a disappointing end to a difficult day for all the Formula Ford teams who had made the trek to the Netherlands. The morning opening race had had to be abandoned due to torrential rain after just half a lap of action. The grid was led around the Dutch seaside circuit by the safety car for two laps before being released to race moments before the rain worsened. The red flag was the only option for officials, who abandoned all track activity for a further two hours, severely impacting the timetable.
Race two was dry, and Lichtenstein made an excellent start from the pole.
“I think it was the best start of my life,” said the 17 year-old afterwards - leading Cook into the Tarzan corner to take control.
He was struggling to find grip, however, despite two green flag laps.
“The tyres were so cold and the track was so clean after all the rain, so I had to take it easy for a lap. Then when the tyres caught, I pushed a little more and kept it up until the safety car.”
Lichtenstein was under big pressure from Cook.
“Me and Eric were quite similar on pace on the first lap,” said Cook. “I had a go at him around the back, but he stayed with me and was on the inside for the next corner, so I couldn’t really go anywhere.”
Williams was a fighting third when he went off, hauling his way up from fifth on the grid. JTR’s Julio Moreno was in hot pursuit. The Ecuadorian had started ninth after suffering with unfamiliarity with the track in Friday’s torrentially wet qualifying session. Moreno was lucky not to be involved in the accident.
“It happened right in front of me,” said the 17 year-old, who inherited third. “I didn’t know which way Luke was going to go. I was lucky not to hit him.”
Dutchman Michel Florie’s demise with gearbox problems on the first safety car lap handed Duratec class victory to his countryman Bart van Os, but the GEVA Racing driver was later penalised three places for passing under yellow flags.
Thus the Duratec win went the way of Provily’s Schouten, who finished ahead of GEVA man Max van Splunteren and Enigma Motorsport’s Norwegian Falco Wauer. Van Os was classified seventh.
All the cars carried “Get well soon Jos” stickers as a fond wish to Jos Kiekens, the young Dutchman who broke his leg in the Spa EuroCup races and who is recuperating in hospital. Sam Roach, of Formula Ford promoter RacingLine, paid tribute to all the competitors for their sportsmanship and forbearance.
“It’s been a very difficult day for everyone, and this morning’s rain was unbelievably bad. To lose one race to the weather and have the second shortened due to poor Luke’s accident is a bitter blow. It’s more than pleasing that all the drivers concerns after the event were with Luke and not their own disappointments.”
Pole position man Cook lost his start advantage to Lichtenstein away from the line on the run down to the Tarzan right-hander in race three, the Argentinian lighting it up from P2 to slot ahead and then establish a small advantage on the opening lap. But Cook came back at him quickly to reduce his teammate’s lead to 0.3s by the end of lap two.
Cook challenged Lichtenstein at almost every corner, but the leader was not for being passed.
“Eric was braking pretty late into every corner, and the problem here is that if you try to go around the outside you can be pushed wide quite easily,” said Cook. “It’s quite easy to defend here if you position yourself right. I tried to get him pretty much every place.”
It was not until the penultimate lap that Cook achieved his goal, nosing in front briefly at turn eight before Lichtenstein outbraked him to repass at the S-bend. By this stage it was beginning to rain, and both drivers started to struggle on their slick Dunlops.
Going into the final lap Cook was perfectly positioned for the long right-hander at Tarzan, where Lichtenstein ran wide and opened the door for Cook to nip through on the inside.
“He went wide into Tarzan - I think he outbraked himself a little bit - and I just stuck my nose in there and kept it this time,” said Cook. “It was quite tricky that last lap; the rain was heavy around the back. I really enjoyed it, it was a good race. We were really close together the whole time; it’s one of the best races we’ve had all season. Eric drove really well.”
Lichtenstein, who was a tenth behind his rival at the line, was far from disappointed.
“It was amazing, fighting the whole race with my teammate. I was pushing very hard to try to take a bit of an advantage, but we had a headwind so it was impossible to get away and he was right behind me all the time.
“I had to defend the whole race and then unluckily it started to rain at the end and it was difficult to keep the car on the track. I went a little wide into turn one and he was ready to overtake me. Congratulations to Jake; we had a very good race, and I won the EuroCup and that is what counts for me. The team worked very hard for me.”
Though Cook and Lichtenstein collected a win and a second apiece at Zandvoort, Lichtenstein set fastest lap in both races to outpoint Cook for the EuroCup ‘Champion of Zandvoort’ title.
Some way off in third was JTR’s Moreno, the Mygale EcoBoost pilot’s hopes of challenging for victory hampered by his ninth place grid slot. By the time the Ecuadorian 17 year-old had untangled himself from the Duratec class runners and made it to third, the leaders were long gone.
“It was a good race but I started really behind the others so it was hard; before I could chase the Jamun cars I had to pass a lot of Duratecs.”
Van Os led the Duratec Dutchmen for four laps but lost his class lead, and fourth overall, to Florie on lap five. After slipping to third in class behind Schouten on the next lap, van Os compounded his misery by spinning off at Tarzan on lap seven.
Florie, who retired with gearbox problems on Saturday while leading his section, crossed the line two seconds clear of Saturday class victor Schouten.
“It doesn’t really make up for yesterday when a small part broke in my gearbox; as you get older it is harder to take such disappointments. But today was good and now I am looking forward to the Festival.”
Danish Fluid Van Diemen driver Nicolai Sylvest snatched sixth on the final lap, leading home Enigma’s Norwegian pilot Wauer. Zetec pilot Sander Mortensen joined van Os in retirement when he hit a tyre wall on lap seven.
The action resumes with a combined Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain and Formula Ford EuroCup event at the Nurburgring on July 28-29.
Full Formula Ford EuroCup Race results available HERE |
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