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News page
29 September 2001
First International GT Win for Terry and Harlow!
The Harlow Motorsport pairing of Terry Rymer and Magnus Wallinder recorded the squadís first-ever GT win at international level last weekend at Vallelunga. With a handful of races in the British GT Championship this year, they moved on to the ELMS with a debut at Jarama in May. They were on the pace straight away, emerging among the "best-of-the-rest" behind the works Porsches. They were seriously unlucky not to win at Most last month, so victory in the final round of this yearís ELMS is richly deserved.
With the Konrad Saleen S7 banished to the back of the modest fourteen-car grid, Terry Rymer found himself starting from fourth overall, but pole position in GT.
For the first couple of laps Rymer was able to create a small advantage over the three behind him, but it was clear that Dumas was holding back a very determined Kaufmann. On the next lap the German got ahead, and then set off after the Harlow car with scant regard for his tyres. Over the next two laps the gap narrowed from 2.2 seconds to less than one, and the former endurance bike champion knew he had a fight on his hands. Magnus Wallinder, watching his team-mate from the pit wall, wasnít unduly concerned. "Terry did a very good job to hold Kaufmann at bay for such a long time," he said. "However, I knew that Kaufmann would have problems with his tyres because of his aggressive driving style. This meant that Terry could keep the gap to a minimum before he handed over the car to me."
It takes two to tango, as they say, and Terry wasnít in the mood for dancing. There was more at stake here than mere position on the track, and with the race less than ten minutes old there seemed to be little point in fending off someone who was clearly determined beyond reason. Terry took the wise decision to allow Kaufmann through into the lead. "He was starting to get really close, so I let him through in the end," conceded Terry. "I knew he had to make an extra stop, so it was silly to try and keep ahead of him.
Shadowing Kaufmann proved a simpler task than defending anyway, but it wasnít long before the Harlow driver was coming under increasing pressure from Dumas in the Freisinger car. This turned out to be a much more balanced argument, with the two protagonists evenly matched and the duel genuinely entertaining. For the best part of twenty minutes Dumas ducked and dived in his attempts to create an opportunity, while Robin Liddell in the fourth-placed PK Porsche appeared to hang back in reserve, waiting for an opening. It would be a long time coming.
With thirty minutes completed the singleton LMP900 Panoz had lapped every other car except the two Saleens. Rymer still held second in GT from Dumas, but had the Frenchman right on his tail as they came weaving through the back-markers. The Terry was forced to defend quite hard, locking up into the hairpin on one occasion as he fought to keep his position. Three times Dumas attempted the same move at the hairpin, and three times Rymer shut the door. "We came together a couple of times ó just nudging rather than hitting," acknowledged Rymer. "We were side by side, leaning a bit, a few tyre marks across the side of the car, but it was all fair stuff. Close racing, just close hard racing. Iím sure he enjoyed it as much as I did!"
It was a tense time for the English team, watching from the pit wall, but Rymer was keeping to the brief ó safeguarding fuel and tyres as best he could knowing that the Paco Orti car ahead of him probably had two stops to make, against his one.
Sure enough, with only an hour completed, Kaufmann dived into the pitlane. By this time Rymer had managed to create some breathing space from somewhere had caught the flying Kaufmann as he pitted, and took back the lead with an advantage over Dumas of almost two seconds. "To begin with Kaufmann had pulled a couple of seconds away," explained Terry, "but I gave a really hard push towards the end of the stint. I was catching right up again. When he went in to pit I shot back into the lead."
It was now give and take between Rymer and Dumas as they made their way through the traffic, with the gap fluctuating as if the two cars were joined by elastic. "The tyres had started to drop away by then," said Rymer. "I just had to sit there and do the best I could to finish the stint. The Freisinger car was catching up a bit, but I knew Magnus was quicker than their next driver so didnít give it much thought." Just on an hour and fifteen, Dumas made his move. They were back at the hairpin once again, but this time the Freisinger car had just enough speed to hold the line as they came through side-by-side. Holding the inner kerb Dumas emerged on the other side with his nose ahead, but it was all of little consequence to Rymer, who promptly headed for the pitlane to hand over to Magnus Wallinder. "Dumas passed me on the lap I came in, so we were second as I handed over to Magnus but right behind the leader. I knew their second driver wasnít as quick as Magnus, or me for that matter, so knew we just had to get out cleanly and let Magnus drive as he normally does."
While the team refuelled and fitted fresh rubber, Rymer and Wallinder swapped places. "The driver change went fine," was Rymerís verdict. "Actually, itís easy for us drivers. While the rest of the team is busy doing all the hard work youíve got plenty of time to swap over. As long as you donít panic or get flustered itís OK. Magnus is a pretty cool guy; we got him buckled in and everything went fine." As the Harlow car swept back out onto the track Dumas was heading in at the other end to make his driver change with Chateau. The Freisinger squad made a disastrously slow pitstop, because Wallinder came by before theyíd finished and slapped a lap over them.
With two hours gone Wallinder was now leading GT by a full lap over Chateau in the Freisinger Porsche. Moments later it all seemed very different. Walter Brun came blatting through in the #26 Saleen GTS to add a lap on Wallinder but miscalculated totally. "I was about to be lapped by the Konrad Saleen," explains Wallinder. "I indicated and moved nicely over to the outside line so he could pass me in a safe way. I was really caught by surprise when he hit me hard and sent me out into the gravel trap. Instinctively I shifted down to second gear and floored the pedal. All I had in my mind was to get the car out of the gravel trap as quick as possible. Going out from it I hit the tyre wall very gently sideways, but I kept the car moving forward." He regained the track just ahead of Adam Simmons. "I saw Magnus in the gravel. He managed to drag it out just ahead of me and was struggling back onto the circuit as I approached. I backed off to allow him on."
This was more than a simple "incident" and the race officials spent little time in their deliberations. Brun was called into the pitlane to have his knuckles rapped and endure a stop-go penalty. Wallinderís reaction was understandable. "I was furious!" he said. "Heíd nearly ruined our podium chance."
The five-hundredth kilometre came up after two hours and forty-six minutes, with Wallinder taking the flag to record Harlowís first-ever international victory in GT racing.
The Harlow team was overjoyed. "I was absolutely relieved that we actually got the result," said Len Simmons. "Terry was totally elated. Iíve never seen him so happy. It was so good to see him on the podium with that smile on his face."
The win seems to have been a long time coming, but thatís hardly the case. This is Harlowís first season at this level and only their fourth international race, but theyíve come so close before that frustration, as much as anything else, has added to the suspense. "The team deserved some success, and they finally got it here," said Rymer. "Itís also my first international car win, but missing out at Most just makes this feel a lot sweeter! I think everyone put in so much effort over the weekend. It was so gratifying when it came right. Everyone at Harlow wanted this very badly, but it shows that when a team pulls together like we did thereís not many others can live with it."
The Harlow season is not over yet. Thereís a strong possibility that the team will run at Sepang in Malaysia for the November round of the ALMS. "We will definitely have one car in Malaysia, possibly two, but the driver line-up is yet to be decided," said Len. In the meantime, they also plan to attend the last two rounds of the British GT Championship.
Next race Brands Hatch
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