Coopers duo barrel to Bahrain victory.
27/11/2004
Three victories in four outings cemented success for the Coopers Racing team at the inaugural Bahrain GT Festival, with David Brabham and Allan Simonsen closing out two days of exciting competition with a comfortable win in the two-driver final.
The one-hour culmination to the 'weekend' saw Simonsen take the lead from pole position, the Australian team having earned top spot with two wins in the earlier three heats. Ex-pat Dane Simonsen, a regular in the Australian Nations Cup competition, was initially followed by Frederic Makowiecki's Larbre Viper, and then by Francois Fiat's DDO 1 Saleen, which had been involved in heated competition with the various Chryslers throughout the meeting.
Wolfgang Kaufmann, driving the rapid Wieth Ferrari, then leapt up to third, but was forced to return to the pits on lap three as the engine lost power, allowing Simonsen to continue untroubled out front, gradually extending his lead over the #1 Saleen to 20secs by lap five.
Just as the race appeared to be slipping away from the Dane's rivals, however, the Coopers Ferrari driver saw his lead cut back to nothing by the emergence of the safety car, but Simonsen showed that the red machine was the class of the field by sprinting back to a six-second lead on the first lap after it returned to the pits.
There was one final glimmer of hope for the pursuers, with a second safety car appearance as the mandatory pit-stops began, but Brabham resumed at the head of the field and, despite Dominique Dupuy getting the Saleen to within a couple of seconds, the Australian kept the Ferrari in front.
“This is a very impressive set-up and it was a pleasure to drive around this circuit," the Aussie said afterwards, "We had a couple of yellow flags, due to earlier accidents, and that favoured us, as we might had run out of fuel before the end of the race.”
Brabham's task was eased in the closing stages as the Saleen, which had suffered from various niggling problems on and off throughout the two days, slowed. The Australian eventually took the chequered flag 16secs clear of the second-placed car - which wasn't the Saleen.
In a cruel twist, the black-and-red machine was caught and passed by the Larbre Viper, after a differential broke, although Dupuy had enough in hand to keep the fourth-placed Speedworx Stealth at bay. Versatile Briton Nigel Greensall drove the final stint in the unique car, erasing memories of a difficult 'weekend' with a strong run in the main event.
“We had a bit of tired engine, so we were happy to hang to the third place,” a dismayed Dupuy admitted, “Although we are disappointed not to have finished second, we are also aware that we might have slipped further back because of our engine difficulties.”
Fifth place fell to the leading GT2 car, driven by Patrick Long and Lars Nielson for Team Farnbacher, but the result could have gone equally to the JMB Ferrari of Jean-Phillipe Belloc and sometime Minardi tester Sergey Zlobin.
Belloc was leading the class early on, but a puncture for Zlobin after the Russian had taken over dropped the black machine out of the reckoning. Belloc had already accounted for the second GT1 Viper, making contact with the Leclerc/Lacroix machine, which spun down the order before fighting back to sixth overall by the flag, but the damage inflicted by Zlobin's flailing rubber ensured that Long and Nielson remained untroubled to the flag as the Ferrari parked up.
With the Mosler MT900 of Britons Shaun Balfe and Martin Short also suffering problems, second place in class was eventually taken by the Vertigo Gillet of Renaud Kuppens and Bas Leinders – the only driver to have had prior experience of the track due to his position as a Friday test driver for Minardi. Rob Croydon and Adam Sharpe finished third in the Tech 9 Porsche 996 GT3-RS, despite the car missing the early qualifying races with technical problems and needing spares to be flown out. The Vertigo rose as high as eighth in the final order, while the Tech 9 car rounded out the top ten.
The 'baby' GT3 class fell to Larbre Competition, with team owner Jack Leconte having got back behind the wheel for the first time this season, driving alongside Porsche specialist Roland Berville. The French duo's 996 GT3 Cup finished a fine seventh overall, ahead of Cyrill Helias and Frank Colas in the Pilotage Passion example, with Team Aero's Morgan Aero 8 GT claiming an excellent third for Keith Alhers and Aaron Scott after the #58 First Racing Ferrari was excluded.
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