Toyo Tires 24H Series, Hungaroring
Day 1 Report

Sök üdvöszlett Magyarországbol!

An intimate endurance race would be an apt description for this low-key event. This is the second, and final, round of the 24 Hour Series. It is a friendly get together for a few veterans of the Dubai 24 Hours as well as a handful of others—all here for a pleasant half-day’s romp around the hills above Budapest.

Although we have that to look forward to, the reality if that the brief season of trying to stretch beyond the established Dubai 24 Hours to have a twice-around-the-clock series of some stature has fallen more than a bit short. To recap, some 90 cars took the green flag back in early January in the United Arab Emirates, with the Australian VIP Pet Foods Porsche winning overall. Then there was a plan to hold a similar race in Istanbul—scratched early on. A scheduled April date for the Lausitzring 24 Hours was postponed until August as there was concern about weather and turnout. That interfered with the original date for the Hungarian event, which was postponed until this date. Then the Lausitzring round was canceled for lack of entries. Then local NIMBY-ism here in the quiet and picturesque village of Mogyorod forced the organizers to reduce the length to 12 hours. And just yesterday, the planned final round in Valencia in a fortnight’s time was shelved.

First there is this round to tread through. Undaunted, the Dutch based Creventic organizers are excited about plans for the 2009 Dubai event, a planned new 24-Hour race in Dakar, Senegal, and a hoped return here, and . . . we’ll see.

This race is being saved by a merry bunch of Hungarian teams, several having run at Dubai and also regular participants in the Magyar Györsosági Bajnokság, the Hungarian National Circuit Championship. Best known of these is Bovi Motorsport, team owner Kálman Bodis being the brains behind the country’s lone supercar, the Porsche powered Brokernet Silver Sting.

Cor Euser is another name well-known to endurance racing fans and he is here with BMW 120d types, one a veteran of the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Among the drivers is Salvadoran – American Toto Lassally and the only native born American at the circuit, Jim Briody. The Florida based driver is a veteran of several dozen 24-hour races of various levels—and you thought us at DSC are masochists?

Miro Konopoka’s ARC Bratislava is here with the same 996RS that Jim Michaelian had bent badly in Dubai. The lone Austrian team is the well-known Jetalliance squad, sporting a 2004 vintage Porsche RSR.

There is a 1-hour, 45-minute practice session in the afternoon, to be followed a half-hour later by a 90-minute qualifying, and then another 120-minute free session in the dark. There will also be a half-hour warm-up in the morning before the 10:00 start.

The first session started under very cool conditions and a gathering cloud cover. There was a chance of showers today with generally clearing and slightly warmer temps (mid-teens) tomorrow.

It became quite exciting quite rapidly as fully 16 of the 17 starters here took to the circuit soon after the green flags waved. I was startled by a friendly voice, thinking that someone else had arrived in the press room, but it was only a late arriving Claudia Hürtgen wondering where she needed to be. As of an hour ago some teams were still fishing about for full rosters and no driver list has been issued to date.

The only car not out during the first session was the No. 22 Honda Civic, a well-worn ex-British Touring Car runner that is still awaiting the placement of a No. 22 on its side, plus a few mechanical niceties. As for times I’ve not found anyone to power up the TV screens, assuming they would show anything if they were on. It is often said that the 12 Hours of Sebring is more than twice as long as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 12 Hours of Hungaroring will last an eternity. I’ve noticed that the event has allowed turn marshals, pit stewards and tow truck crews a chance to catch up on reading and gossiping about the news.

Peeking at some times: Not surprisingly, the Jetalliance Porsche is quickest at 1:53.523. This is a 2004 vintage RSR that the team (then Race Alliance) had run in FIA GT. Second fastest and by far the quickest non-Porsche powered car is the only A5 class entrant—nope-scratch—been moved to A6, the No. 52 Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 M Coupe at 1:53.807. Next up is Levin Racing’s older (2001) 996 GT3RS at 1:55.349. It has largely remained in the north, based in Sweden. The Brokernet lies at 1:55.403, with the Slovak Porsche at 1:55.845. The pristine looking Audi R8 run by the Creventic people is at 1:57.491. Then comes a late-entered Ferrari F430 Challenge car 1:58.697. All the others are well over two minutes.

Aha! An entry list:

5 A6 ARC Bratislava Porsche 996 GT3RS Miro Konopka / Andrej Studenic / Miro Hornak
14 A6 Jetalliance Porsche 996 GT3 RSR Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer / Vitus Eckert / Ryan Sharp
22 A2 Absolute Motorsport Honda Civic Zsolt Csüllog / Kardy Burghardt
35 SP2 Proex Sport Ferrari 430 Challenge Zsolt Horvath / Robert Szabolcs
52 A6 Schubert Motorsport BMW Z4 M Coupe Claudia Hürtgen / Stian Sorlie / Jörg Viebahn
58 A6 Levin Racing Porsche 996 GT3RS Anders Levin / Erik Behrens / Magnus Ohman / Lars Stugend
70 A2 Bovi Motorsport Suzuki Swift Sándor Zental / Lászlo Keskeny / Gábor Grigalek
76 A2 Endurance Club Hungary Ford Fiesta GT István Gáspár / Gustáv Herter / Béla Nyritay / Lászlo Fekete
85 D1 Didi Motorsport Seat Ibiza Cupra Edgar Schönleben / Wolfram Lethert / Ivo Breujers
86 D1 Didi Motorsport Seat Leon Ton Verkoelen / Henk Thijssen
88 D1 Procar Motorsport Seat Leon Supercopa Brigitta Nagy / Tibor Nagy / Lászlo Csuti / Viktor Csuti / Norbert Kiss
93 D1 Marcos Racing International BMW 120d Béla Czenkár / Zoltán Molnár / István Bálásdi-Szabo / Cor Euser
94 D1 Marcos Racing International BMW 120d Toto Lassally / J.L.B. de Castro / Jim Briody / Cor Euser
99 D1 Schubert Motorsport BMW 120d Peter Posavac / Jacob Tackmann-Thomson / Walter Csaba / Jan Kalmar
103 SP2 Bovi Motorsport Brokernet Silver Sting Kálmán Bodis / Attila Bárta / István Rácz
116 SP2 VDS Racing Adventures Ford Mustang FR500C Raphael van der Straten / Christian de Ridder
888 SP2 Audi CR-8 Team Audi R8 [GT type] Ivo Bruekers / Jaap van Lagen / Cor Euser

About the only surprise in qualifying was that a Porsche was not a pole. Instead it was Stian Sorlie composing a 1:51.439 in the Schubert Z4 Coupe. Andrej Studenic was nearly two seconds back in the older No. 5 Porsche, while the somewhat Jetalliance entry was just a tick further back. Neither Porsche team was particularly concerned as it is a long race and a small field.

The Audi, lightened by 150 kilos since its brief appearance at Dubai, was next. Jaap van Lagen was also the fastest driver in the three-car SP2 class. Best of the diesels was the other Schubert Motorsport entry, the No.99 BMW 120d [not a 320d as noted on the organizer’s web site]. The Bovi run Suzukia, a half-tubeframe prototype looking affair, was best in the A2 class.

The day ended with a two-hour session held completely in the dark. For perhaps half that time there were no cars circulating at all—giving the local NIMBYs plenty of rest.

Provisional grid
1, #52, BMW, 1:51.439, 1st A6
2, #5, Porsche, 1:53.159, 2nd A6
3, #14, Porsche, 1:53.256, 3rd A6
4, #888, Audi, 1:53.498, 1st SP2
5, #103, Brokernet, 1:53.641, 2nd SP2
6, #58, Porsche, 1:53.727, 4th A6
7, #35, Ferrari, 1:57.190, 3rd SP2
8, #99, BMW, 2:00.594, 1st, D1
9, #116, Ford Mustang, 2:04.415, 4th, SP2
10, #70, Suzuki, 2:06.390, 1st A2
11, #85, Seat, 2:07.425, 2nd D1
12, #88, Seat, 2:07.574, 3rd D1
13, #76, Ford Fiesta, 2:09.990, 2nd A2
14, #93, BMW, 2:10.332, 4th D1
15, #86, Seat, 2:13.074, 5th D1
16, #94, BMW, 2:13.857, 6th D1
17, #22, Honda, 2:27.910, 3rd A2

Janos Wimpffen