FRANCO GIANOTTI TROPHY FOR CONSTRUCTORS 1/24TH

AALST, MAY 6-8, 2005 (B) - Click here for 2004 edition

NOVIELLO & "PIKI" VAN ROSSEM WIN IT ALL

Youri van Rossem best youngster, Triginelli best amateur

This year the Franco Gianotti Trophy went over three races with classic cars. There were separate standings for Experts, Youngsters and Amateurs. The three rounds were also decicive for the Constructors World Championship. Two constructors were present to prepair their cars (Andreas Fehn and Thomas Spicker), but were already home before the start of the first round. Extremely motivated to win the Constructor's Trophy were Matthias Parke, Tamar Nelwan, Dieter Jens, Nick de Wachter and Pit Schwaar. The last named, who prepaired excellent cars for Gilles Dohogne and Yves Welter jr was extremely disappointed that both didn(t show without the smallest warning. At the real last minute it was decided that Youri - already team mate of Nick de Wachter among the youngsters - should drive one car, and that Robby Cuppens should drive the other. Alyhough they did great - Youri won among the GT cars with Schwaar's Ferrari Daytona at the first round, beating Michael Niemas (!), and Robby realised the pole position at the third round - none of them has the talent of Yves Welter jr. So Pit Schwaar lost from Matthias Parke and Tamar Nelwan in the Constructors Championship. It was unanimously decided that Yves Welter jr and Gilles Dohogne will no longer invited at international IMCA races.

The three rounds were dominated by the Ferraris of "Piki" and Noviello, finishing at the three rounds as winner. Among the experts there was only opposition from the cars driven by Kivekäs/Malangone, Parke/Riehl, Parke/Korec and Jens/Mertens. Much more opposition, however, came from the cars driven by the youngsters, especially those of Nick de Wachter/Youri van Rossem, Michael Niemas/Kevin Krollmann, Andreas Laufenberg/Christian Schnitzler and Antónin Vojtik/Miroslav Vadlejch. Eventually Piki/Noviello collected among the experts the maximum of points: 60. Kivekäs/Malangone came second with 24 points, Josef Korec third with 18 points and Parke/Riehl fourth with 17 points. Then followed Nelwan/Inäbnit as fifth experts and Jens/Mertens as sixth experts. JPVR/Dan Debella collected only points in the last round. Due to computer errors they were ranked in the last round two ranks lower than what they effectively did. Especially Dan Debella - having no more raced since 17 years - achieved a great performance in this last round. Disappointing were the results obtained by Reyes/Torres and Hood/Radisich. Of that last named team Radisich was fast, but Fred had the whole week end problems to find the correct rythm, because on a track as the one used, rythm is all what it is about. Since Noviello qualified in the last round faster than Piki, he was ranked first among the experts, Piki second, Malangone third and Kivekäs fourth.

Among the youngsters Nick de Wachter/Youri van Rossem were second overall in the first round, third overall in the second and the third round. Especially in the last round there was a gruelling combat between them and the tiny Chevron-Mazda of Niemas/Krollmann. That little Chevron was wonderfully prepared by Niemas and caused a real stir. Nick/Youri collected 42 points over the three races, Niemas/Kroll-mann 38 points. Danmark's young Christian Høfler caused a stir by finishing among the youngsters in third position (with 32 points). Youri, who had to drive in all rounds with two cars - due to the absence of Yves Welter jr/Gilles Dohogne - collected another 30 points with his Ferrari Daytona (GT winner in the two first races). In the last race Pit Schwaar made the mistake to give his fastest AAW Porsche 917 to Robby Cuppens (who realised a splendid pole with it at the qualifications) and his much slower Ferrari 512S to Youri. Nevertheless Youri finished ahead of Robby, but not in the points at that last race. Andreas Laufenberg and Christian Schnitzler (an exellent youngster!) finished at the fifth place among the youngsters, ahead over Vojtik and Vadlejch. Colin Herzig - announced as America's wonderboy - disappointed. Only at the last round we saw that he has talent.

Among the amateurs Bruno di Dotto, Gert Klinge, and Francesc Reyes had the handicap that they had to compete with the experts, so that they failed to collect points. That was not the case for Henrik Hasager (DK) and Marcello Triginelli (BR) who were involved in a continuous battle for the title of Amateur's World Champion. Everything was decided in the last round. Initially Hasager was a strong leader, ahead over Triginelli, but after a couple of deslottings of the Danish racer, Triginelli succeeded - not without problems - to pass Hasager. During the 10 last segments we witnessed a splendid combat between the two. Eventually Triginelli won with less than two laps advantage, taking the title. David Lahoz of Spain caused a surprise by finishing as third amateur, ahead of John Emmons (USA), Mack de Wachter (NL) and Paul Heath (NZ). Especially Mack had serious problems with his cars, prepared by Thomas Spicker. In his first race he lost both front wheels, in his second the motor came off and in his third he had to retire with motor problems. Of all Slotvisions at the start, only those raced by Josef Korec (among the experts) and by Niemas/Kroll-mann (in a Dieter Jens configuration) were really competitive. The fact that Thomas was no longer there to help his racers may explain it all.

Among the Amateurs Brazil's Marcello Triginelli (mid), who entered his real first model car event, won ahead over Henrik Hasager (DK) and the surprising David Lahoz (E). So Triginelli is the new amateur's world champion and successor of Gabriel Inäbnit (CH).

 FINAL RANKING F. GIANOTTI TROPHY (May 6-8)

Racers

Constructor

Chassis

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

17th BENELUX TROPHY: F. GIANOTTI ROUND #1 (May 6-7)

F.l.t.r. Salvatore Noviello (I), Matthias Parke (D), Nick de Wachter (NL), Michael Niemas (D), Daniele Malangone (I) and Gabriel Inäbnit (CH). Their cars won the 6 first places at the last round.

5th R.O.C.: F. GIANOTTI ROUND #2 (May 7)

6th LM CLASSIC TEAM RACE: F. GIANOTTI ROUND #3 (May 7-8)

2005 IMCA CONSTRUCTOR'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (May 7-8)

NELWAN CONSTRUCTOR WORLD CHAMP

After fight with Parke and Schwaar until last race!

An emotionally affected Tamar Nelwan in the Constructor's World Championship shirt. Pitter Schwaar finished third, last year's Constructor World Champion Matthias Parke finished second. We see also Günther Riehl, Francesc Reyes and Geert Mertens.

Matthias Parke (D) is perhaps not the easiest person in the world, but he is undoubtedly one of the best constructors of model cars in the world. At the 2005 Constructor's World Championship he was not beaten by Tamar Nelwan (NL) but by a complete team. Indeed, in order to defeat Matthias Parke the Dutchman worked with a complete team. He had Andreas Laufenberg (D) to prepair the tyres for his 11 cars, could count on Nick de Wachter (NL) to do the perfect set-up of all the chassis, found in Mario (D) a perfect co-ordinator, informing the racers continuously about their standings, was helped by Gabriel Inäbnit (CH) to prepair the bodies, and was working himself day and night to hold everything under control. Moreover, with Salvatore Noviello (I) and "Piki" van Rossem (B) he had the best racers in his team. Of those two "Piki" realised the lap record of the week end by clocking a lap in 4"8326 on lane green with the yellow Belgian Ferrari 512S Coda Lunga, built by Tamar & Co. Nick de Wachter himself showed with a constructor's shadow team, holding Parke off of more points. Matthias Parke, from his side, stood completely alone. There was no team behind him to co-ordinate anything. With Kai Kivekäs (SF), Daniele Malangone (I) and Günther Riehl (D), he had three good racers to support him, however not of the same calibre as Tamar's racers. Being decided to go for it until the last minute, he was allowed that in the last race the IOC #1, Josef Korec (CZ), could join his team. He and Korec did what they con to win the decisive last race, where they were beaten by Noviello/Piki on one of Tamar's car and were they were hold off the second place by the Nick de Wachter Ferrari driven by himself and Youri. The difference between that car and Matthias's was extremely narrow, otherwise Parke should have collected 4 points more (he finished 5.3 points down to Tamar in the overall ranking).

But now it comes. On consulting all dates of the IMCA lap counter we discovered that at the last heat of the last round Dan Debella totalised 206 laps instead of 196 (which was a typing error). So he, driving one of Parke's cars, finished as fifth expert, good for 4 points, not as sixth expert, good for 2 points. That means that, if Matthias Parke and Josef Korec should have finished second in the last round, not Tamar, but Parke should have been the winner. More evidence at what point Parke is an excellent constructor, cannot be given. He alone against the complete Dutch-German coalition of Tamar Nelwan & Co, failed to win his second constructor's title for only a couple of inches!
Among the other constructors Pitter Schwaar (D) was in the running for victory until the real last round. Here he committed an unbelievable error by giving his fastest car at the last round in hands of young Robby Cuppens (D), lacking experience in international racing. Robby realised the pole at the last race, but could not maintain his position during the race. Should Pit have given his #18 Porsche 917K in hands of Youri van Rossem (B), instead of his much slower Filipinetti Ferrari, he could had won the 20 points for experts instead of none. It's for sure that if Yves Welter jr (B) and Gilles Dohogne (B) should have been there, Schwaar had a real chance to beat Tamar Nelwan and Matthias Parke.
Of the other constructors Nick de Wachter (NL) lost lots of concourse points with his three Porsches 911S having been built at the real last minute. Otherwise he could have won 30 points more. Dieter Jens (D) collected 20 points with his Chevron-Mazda (on a Slotvision chassis), but struggled with problems on his KG Salzburg Porsches. Thomas Spicker (D) lost lots of points by being absent once the races had started. So his racers had to do it without team captain. [JPVR]

FINAL RANKING 2nd CONSTRUCTOR'S WORLD TROPHY

Racers

Chassis

Concourse

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

After endless puzzling and continuous changing of the distribution of the cars over the several constructions I came to a working presentation of the 2005 Franco Gianotti Trophy.  In total 62 different 1970 cars will enter the competition, spread over 3 races: 2 endurance races of 24 x 3 minutes and one sprint race over 6 x 3 minutes. There will be 30 cars per race and 2 drivers per car. The names of the drivers are definitive, and the distribution of the cars over the constructors is now official and also definitive.
In total 9 constructors will compete for the Constructor's Trophy, that is 2 more than initially scheduled. We received 14 demands for an additional place. Eventually we accepted the candidatures of Francesc Reyes from Spain and of triple world champion Nick de Wachter. The last one builds fantastic cars and will be a real challenge for all other constructors. The other constructors are Matthias Parke, Tamar Nelwan, Thomas Spicker, Stephan Wiesel, Andreas Fehn, Dieter Jens and Pitter Schwaar. 
There are 3 types of cars: SP5000 cars as Porsche 917K, Porsche 917LH, Ferrari 512S, Ferrari 512S CL, Ford GT40, Lola T70Mk3B, Ferrari 250LM; (2) P3000 cars as Alfa Romeo T33/3, Matra MS660, Matra MS650, Ferrari 312P Berlinetta, Porsche 908-02LH, Porsche 908-02, Porsche 907, Porsche 906, Porsche 910; and (3) GT & T cars as Corvette StingRay L88, Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Porsche 911S, Porsche 911T, Porsche 914/6 and Ferrari Daytona 365GTB-4. At each race at least 15 cars are of type SP5000, at least 6 of type P3000, and at least 6 of type GT & T. At the 2 endurance races the racers within the top-6 of their class win res. 20, 12, 8, 6, 4 and 2 points. At the sprint race the winners of the top-6 of their class win res. 10, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point. So everybody can win the famous F. Gianotti Racer's Trophy, as well a driver of a Porsche 911S as the driver of a big Porsche 917LH. Cf. art. 1.2.b of the IMCA Rule Book. Racers teams cannot switch from constructor nor from team mate during the 3 races. 
The distribution of the cars over the constructors was made in such way that at no race they have more than cars of 2 classes (never of the 3 classes). Constructor's racers are of equal strength. For the F. Gianotti Constructor's Trophy only the best finishing car in each class can score points. At endurance races a 1st place in a class is good for 20 race points, a 2nd place for 12 pts, 3rd for 8 pts, 4th for 6 pts, 5th for 4 pts and 6th for 2 pts. At the sprint races places are good for half of those race points. Apart from race points the 3 most beautiful cars of each constructor can win maximum 20 concourse points following the DSC Concourse Rules - thus no longer on pure historical race conditions as was apllied at the 2004 edition. [However I see a mistake in those rules: a car with the wrong headlights, without bubble on the roof as on the real race car, with incorrect decals, with incorrect make of tires, etc. looses 1 point, but since the total is ...21, they score nevertheless 20. That point should be changed if one wishes that the model cars are perfect copies of real race cars. A car not being a perfect copie of the race car should always loose 2 points instead of 1]. One finds the rules for the F. Gianotti Constructor's Trophy under art. 10 of the IMCA Rule Book. Constructors have to respect the technical prescriptions for classic cars found under art. 7 of the IMCA Rule Book.
Under the modified rules the struggle for the F. Gianotti Constructor's Trophy becomes much more tactical than it was. [JPVR]

I hope that, in the years to come, the Franco Gianotti Trophy will be the corner stone of all IMCA Nats. In 2005 the F. Gianotti Trophy will go over 2 endurance races of 24 x 3 minutes (res. a model car version of the 1970 Daytona 24h and of the 1970 Le Mans 24h) and 1 sprint race over 6 x 4 minutes (a model car version of the 1970 Monza 1,000-kms).
Cars at those races will be perfect 1970 model cars assem-bled by the best model car constructors of the world. However, racers believing they can make better cars than the handout ones, are always allowed to enter their proper version of the assigned model car(s).
There are 3 classes of classic cars: (1) SP5000 cars as Porsche 917K, Porsche 917LH, Ferrari 512S, Ferrari 512S CL, Ford GT40, Ferrari 250LM; (2) P3000 cars as Alfa Romeo T33/3, Matra MS660, Matra MS650, Ferrari 312P Berlinetta, Porsche 908-02LH, Porsche 908-02, Porsche 907, Porsche 906, Porsche 910 (3) GT & T cars as Corvette StingRay L88, Chevrolet Camaro Z28, Porsche 911S, Porsche 911T, Porsche 914/6.
SP5000 cars are driven in principle by experts. P3000 cars are driven in principle by  youngsters. GT & T cars are driven in principle by amateurs.
There will be a separate ranking for each class. The 6 first cars in each class win for their racers res. 10, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point(s).
In 2005 no less than 27 new cars will be added to the existing collection of 50 cars. It will be 4 Porsches 911S, 1 Porsche 911T, 2 Ferraris 312P Berlinetta, 5 Ferraris 512S Berlinetta, 2 Ferrari 512S Spider, 1 Ferrari 512S Berlinetta Coda Lunga, 1 Ferrari 365 GTB-4, 1 Ferrari 275LM, 1 Camaro Z28, 2 Fords GT40 Coupe, 1 Porsche 906E, 1 Matra MS660, 1 Alfa Romeo T33/3, 1 Porsche 907, 1 Owens-Cornering Corvette L88, and 1 Porsche 908-02. Andreas Fehn was asked to make GFK versions of the 512S Coupe and 312P Coupe and to send them to the other constructors, since both types are hard to find on the market.

THE 2nd CONSTRUCTOR'S TROPHY

The Constructor's Trophy will be contested for the second time. Before the start of the Franco Gianotti Series the race directors will be asked to apply the DSC Concourse point's system on 3 cars entered by each of the competing constructors (they have free choice which of their cars they find the most beautiful ones). Those points are added (maximum is 3 x 20 = 60 points). At each of the 3 rounds the constructors can score points with their best finishing car in each class, however under the restriction that they can never score in more than 2 classes. At endurance races (rounds #1 and #3) a first place in a class (SP5000, P3000, GT & T) is good for 20 points, a second place is good for 12 points, a third for 8 points, a 4th for 6 points, a 5th for 4 points and a 6th for 2 points. At sprint races (round #2) that becomes res. 10, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point(s). Distribution of the cars over the constructors was made in such way that in no race a constructor can be present in more than 2 classes. Per race there are at least 6 cars per class. At round #1 there are 15 SP5000 cars, 6 P3000 cars and 9 GT & T cars. At round #2 there are 16 SP5000 cars, 8 P3000 cars and 6 GT & T cars. At round #3 there are 18 SP5000 cars, 6 P3000 cars and 6 GT & T cars.
In 2005 the following constructors are allowed to compete for the Franco Gianotti Constructors Trophy: Matthias Parke (D), Thomas Spicker (D), Dieter Jens (D), Stephan Wiesel (D), Pitter Schwaar (D), Andreas Fehn (A), Tamar Nelwan (NL), Nick de Wachter (NL) and Francesc Reyes (E).