Victory Number Two for Viper Team ORECA

Viper Endurance Racing
Silverstone, UK

By Scott Sebastian
Race date - May 09, 1999

Chrysler Viper Team ORECA recorded their second straight win in the 1999 FIA GT Championship over the weekend at Silverstone. Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta extended their Championship lead with a comfortable victory over their team-mates David Donohue, Jean-Philippe Belloc and Justin Bell. The GL PK Viper of Vincent Vosse, Didier Defourny and Marc Duez completed an all-Viper podium, finishing third.

Wendlinger followed the Lister Storm of Julian Bailey for the first hour of the race after Bailey passed the Austrian on the run into the first corner. "I could have passed him, but not without risking the car," said Wendlinger. "It was a long race, and I was not running much slower than I would normally be driving so I was happy to follow him."

Wendlinger handed the car to Beretta, who re-joined with a 15-second advantage over the Lister, which eventually retired with a broken drive shaft while running second.

The second Chrysler Viper Team ORECA car started the race in eighth position following set up difficulties in qualifying. Changes overnight improved the car, and Donohue rapidly made up the lost ground until he lost fifth gear, though this did not prevent Belloc setting the fastest lap of the race.

Hans Hugenholtz in the Chamberlain Viper, fended off a late race challenge from the Porsche of Stephane Ortelli for fourth place. Ortelli ran as high as second before the rear hub broke, losing the team two minutes while fixing the problem.

"We had a good set up on the car," said Marc Duez of the GL PK team. "But no matter what compound of tyre we put on the car we did the same lap time. Third is the best that we could have hoped for this race."

The second Chamberlain Motorsport Chrysler Viper of Ni Amorim, Will Hoy and Toni Seiler was running fourth when Amorim, from Portugal, retired with gearbox failure.

The Paul Belmondo Racing car of Paul Belmondo, Claude-Yves Gosselin and Marc Rostan, lost time early in the race with a set up problem and an incorrect tyre choice. Changes were made during the first pit stop, and the team recovered to finish seventh.

"The Lister will be a big problem for us later in the season," said Pierre Dieudonne, Sporting Manager of ORECA. "It was a strong showing from Lister and from the Roock Racing Porsche and we were sorry that they did not make the distance. We can look forward to Le Mans next month with an unbeaten record so far this season in Europe."