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SPA

SEPTEMBER 2003

For the 5th and final round of the Trophy this year, we had the pleasure to race at Spa, sharing the grid with our friends of the HSCC who invited us.

This time, we were very lucky with the weather with sunshine and dry track compaired to last year when we raced under the snow ! Just some little showers after our traditional drink on friday night where we met some F3 1.0 owners interested to join the Trophy in 2004.

The 2 F3 1.0 cars from Tchech republic on the entry list were missing and this time, and this time it was the UK nation the most represented on the grid. After the untimed practice on friday morning where everybody had the opportunity to remind the track, the timed practice started in the afternoon.

V.Rivet (Brabham BT28) and R.Fischer (Tecno) fighted to get the F3 1.0 pole but finally, it's V.Rivet who got it, just followed by R.Fischer, C.Smith and F.Derossi (both on Chevron B17). 7 F3 1.0 qualified under 3mn.

2 races were planned during the week-end. Race 1 : 40 cars took the start. And again our very unlucky italian friend, G.Bianchini, with his Tecno, had to retire during the warming lap because of technical problems. In the very first laps, V.Rivet and R.Fischer took some distance from the other F3 but after 4 laps, R.Fischer had to slow down because of mecanical problems. During this time, the cars are all around the this very long circuit (6,9 km) and only N.Miller (Brabham BT21) and D.Pullen (Chevron B17) stayed together all the race. Even if he had to retire before the end of the race because of transmission problems, L.Joensson (Titan MK3) made a very good performance for his first time at Spa. At the end, It's V.Rivet who made 1st, C.Smith 2nd and F.Derossi 3rd.

The race 2 started at 8am on sunday which was probably very difficult for most of the drivers. The engines started to warm up at 7 to be ready for the pre grid at 7'30. All the paddock was very happy ! The grid was in the order of the race 1 result. All the cars took the start without any problem but after 2 laps, at les Combes, a very "optimistic" FFord touched the rear tyre of V.Rivet, jumped in the air and pushed C.Smith into the gravel. Cars and drivers had no damage but C.Smith prefered to retire. Due to this very confusing situation (C.Smith out of the track and the FFord stopped in the middle of the curve), V.Rivet took again some distance from the other F3 1.0 and J.Tobler came back very close to F.Derossi to overtake him 3 curves later. Behind the leading F3 1.0, 2 groups of 3 cars were fighting :J.Tobler, F.Derossi, L.Joensson and R.Urwin, D.Pullen and N.Miller few seconds behind. Finally, it's J.Tobler who took the lead of the first group and R.Urwin of the second group. And at the finish line, V.Rivet made 1st followed by J.Tobler 2nd, F.Derossi 3rd, L.Joensson 4th, R.Urwin 5th, D.Pullen 6th, N.Miller 7th ...

This final round of the Trophy was very important to define the 2003 final Trophy results. V.Rivet had to perform to compensate the bad Dijon performance, R.Fischer to keep his place on the podium and J.Tobler to keep the lead. It's finally J.Tobler who wins the 2003 Historic F3 1000cc Trophy, followed by V.Rivet and R.Fischer. Congratulations for them and for all of you who joined the Trophy during this 2003 race season. As mentionned in our previous email, a very nice and friendly price giving will be organised the 15th of november in Mulhouse (France) at the very famous Schloumpf musium. You'll receive very soon all details for booking.

We really hope to see you in Mulhouse.