Gruppo Peroni Race - Brno

Gruppo Peroni weekend

After many year the Gruppo Peroni organisation returned to Automotodrom Brno with their package of championships. Since an endurance race for mixed field of GT and prototypes, historic car race and separate sprints for prototypes were on the programme, we were present there with a hope of a good racing. To be honest, the entry lists revealed on Thursday before the meeting were disappointing, with too low numbers of entries. But we decided to go anyway.

Prototype Sprint 1

The first race of our interest was a 20-minute race for sport prototypes, officially called Master Tricolore Protipi. The race was preceded with a Renault Clio Cup and so called Entry Cup, which were very small Renault-based mini-cars with a top speed slightly above 130 km/h. Only six prototypes, mainly CN qualified for the race, but the one on pole position, Wolf GB08 driven by Filippo Cuneo , was not gridded. It started half a lap after the main field and after handful of slower laps it was parked. It appreared that the LP Racing team took the race only as a warm up for the endurance race, which followed.

Under these circumstances, the battle for the lead was shrunk to just one car: Tatuus PY 012 driven by Davide Pedetti. There was some good fight for the second position between two Normas M20F driven by Sandro Bettini and Giancarlo Pedett, which finished the race in this order. Actually, early in the race they were mixed with a historic Osella PA9/90 in hand of Massimo Guerra, who with a quicker car actually took a short lead just after the start. Later he settled in four overall, followed by another historic entry Lucchini-Alfa Romeo of Francesco Macri, who was more than 10 seconds per lap slower than the Osella. And that was basically all - nothing else in the race - either present, or happening.

Endurance Champions Cup

Then the cars for the Endurance Champions Cup race gridded. The situation was not any better than in the first race. One more car in the race, but 3 GT3 cars (2 BMWs and a lone Mercedes-AMG), three fragile CN2 cars all that filled with a slower Seat touring car was prepared for a long 3-hour battle. The CN prototypes took the first row in the grid, with the pole sitting Wolf from the previous race again at the front.

However just after the start the more powerful GT3 cars took the advantage of higher maximal speeds and bigger acceleration and all three overtook the prototypes on the main straight to take top 3. Then the two quick prototypes, both Wolfs, no.11, and the pole sitting and prototipi race trying no.88 tried to fight their positions back. The Wolf no.11 was initially more successful taking 2nd position overall in the second lap. But they it suddenly smoked and the race was done for this entry. Thus was had only 6 cars for nearly 3 hours of racing. One of the prototypes was lagging from the beginning, keeping just ahead of the Seat, while the three GT3 had some good fight with the remaining quick Wolf no.88.

Prototypes pitted much earlier than the GT3 cars. The driver change and refuelling is set not to be faster than 5 minutes, so the Wolf lost more than two laps. But when the GT3 cars pitted after more than one hour, the Wolf was back in contention, keeping second position. The lead originally belonged to the BMW Z4 no.1 ahead of Mercedes-AMG no.3 and BMW Z4 no.5 with occasional prototype mixing in between then. But before the first half of the race was completed the Wolf no.88 was by hit series of problems. Battery was bad and it stopped on track. It was towed back to the pits, and later appeared racing again. Later it stopped for similar reasons twice more.

In the meanwhile as the race progressed, drivers changed, conditions were also slightly changing, the lead was taken over by the Mercedes-AMG, which became an overall winner of this nearly boring race, ahead of both BMWs, much slower Wolf no.11 and the only TC, Seat Leon Cup car. The GT cars completed 79 laps, the Wolf 75 laps and the Seat did 70 laps - exactly 10 laps more than the other quick but unreliable Wolf, which actually retired in its final lap, having used outside assistance to get to the pits for repair twice before. There was also fourth Wolf entered in the race, car no.61 but it became a non-starter.

Historic Car Race

The historic car race, officially called C.I. Autostoriche, was actually the most interesting race of the day to watch. Out of 19 entered cars, 17 appeared on the grid for the 60 minute race, while another car, a BMW CSI, joint the race later. There was also interesting kind of variety, which is so common and welcome for the historic car racing. The most interesting cars were two Porsche 935 K3 Turbos and another Porsche 930 Turbo. But already a look at the grid revealed a big domination of the Porsche marques. Not only Porsches took top 7 grid positions, they were also by far the most numerous cars in the field.

Then there were BMWs, Fiat-Abarths, Alfa Romeos (one of them DNS), and lone representatives from TVR, Alpine A110 Renault and a Fiat X1/9 Group 5. There was a collision in the first turn after the start, where TVR and fastest Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 (no.120) was involved. That help the slower P-935 (no.156) take a provisional 2nd position behind the fastest car in the field - the P-935 no.153. Later the fast Porsche Carrera no.120 caught back the delay and took the second position behind the unbeatable 935 no.153. In the second half of the race the no.120 Carrera seemed to have some small issues and did not perform that well as in the first half, by the way driver by very quick hill climb driver Denny Zardo. That enabled the Porsche 930 Turbo no.149, which started from the first row along with the no.153 Porsche 935 to move to the second position, while the no.120 Carrera settled third, only to be overtaken by another Carrera no.123, before the end of the race.

Only those four Porsches completed the full number of laps. And it needs to be said that the winning 935 was rarely running at the full speed in the second part of the race. The other 935 stopped on track in the middle of the race, with some gearbox issues. After towing to the pits, it was restarted with one gear selected and circulated at the speed of BMWs or TVR until the finish - unfortunately not covering 70% to be classified.

The best non-Porsche finisher was the Group 5 Fiat X1/9, which was actually sorted in the same category as the 935s and the 930s. The Fiat finished 6th overall, one lap back, after nearly trouble-free run entire race. Behind another two Porsches, the BMW CSL and TVR Griffith completed the top 10, both 3 laps back. Of the other cars only the Fiat-Abarths were classified, while another two finishers (already mentioned 935, and a BMW 2002, which completed only 6 very slow laps) did not cover sufficient distance.

Prototype Sprint 2

Later in the afternoon, the Prototipi cars were gridded again for their second race. The final positions were pretty much the same as in the first race but the progress of the second race was slightly different. The pole sitting Wolf, unsuccessful in the 3-hour battle took the race more seriously. But after having run second it lap 1, it was parked along the track in the lap 2. The Osella opted for the slower start this time and ran even behind the Lucchini for some time. But the Lucchini then retired with something leaking off the rear of the car. The most welcome change compared to the first race was the Norma of Sandro Bettini, who challenged the leader for entire race, nearly overtaking him in the final stages of the race. The margin of victory was less than half a second, which was a good end of the weekend, which was then concluded by a third Clio Cup race, while we were already on the way home.