Shark tale

Reporter: Marc van Niekerk
Osterreichring was the 3rd last race of the GP 1979 series. The track is fast, with flowing corners and an out of place turn 1 chicane with high kerbs, blind turn-in and a bumpy surface. The venue also introduced Craig Hume to the ranks of SARL.

Leon dominated qualifying needing only one flying lap to secure pole. The rest of the drivers all did a second run trying their utmost to force Leon to defend his spot at the top but to no avail. read more...

At the start the field lost both Louan and Justin, but up front it was business as usual. Leon in his Ligier, determined to make amends for his disappointment at Silverstone, lead the way being chased hard by the Ferrari of Marc W. Series leader Dewald was running in 3rd followed by Andre. Marc vN in the Lotus had another slow pull away from the line and slowly started to make his way back into contention.

The difficult turn 1 was waiting to strike with its high kerbs sticking out from the gravel and tarmac like a sharks fin from the water. Neels became the first casualty on lap 4 and found himself beached. The tightly bunched field came thundering down the main straight on the next lap taking the blind rise into turn 1 only to be met by the sight of a beached Ferrari.

Leon played the role of the battering ram slamming hard into the Ferrari and losing a wheel in the process. Marc W threw his Ferrari into a spin to avoid the accident and Marc vN took the option of going for the gap created by the bulldozing Ligier coming to a stop inches from Leon's rear wing. Dewald also took the option to put his Ferrari into a spin.

Once the smoke had cleared and visibility improved, Leon was still leading in his stricken 3 wheeled Ligier, followed by Marc vN, Marc W and Dewald - who also suffered some damage from the incident.

With Leon about to retire the focus shifted to the 2 Marcs racing hard up front. Dewald - having to nurse his car to the finish still 22 laps away, the battle for 3rd between Andre and a relatively inexperienced Rick also started to hot up.

Rick stayed close and studied his adversary and on lap 22 he took advantage of getting better drive out of the shark chicane to take 3rd. He kept a cool head and warded off all attacks and eventually took his first podium by a second from Andre.

Don was quietly running a consistent race and managed to haul in Dewald and pass him on the last lap for a well deserved 5th place. First timer Craig did very well to finish and Gary rounded up the last of the finishers.

Up front Marc W kept Marc vN honest for most of the race, but the Ferrari driver had to back off towards the end in order to conserve fuel giving Lotus their first win of the season.

Next stop is Monza.