:: AQUILA RACING CARS :: MADE IN DENMARK ::

During a safety car episode toward the end of the session, Alex returned to the pits, being provisionally on pole. This would turn out to be the wrong decision, however, as the safety car incident was exactly what was needed to give his rivals that sought-after clear lap, Frederik Holm in his Renault Trophy Megane “silhouette racer” then snatching pole from Alex. In spite of loosing pole within the last few seconds of the session, it was still a VERY pleased Alex who returned to the paddock after the session. Team mate Thomas Mortensen, who is also a long-time Aquila team member, also did a very good job in his Aquila CR1, setting 4th fastetst time.

During Saturday’s timed session for the second race, it seemed there was much less traffic, and times tumbled, but others improved as well – including Aquila team mate Thomas Mortensen, who placed his CR1 3rd on the grid, fastest of the SP4 class runners. Due to a minor driving error, Alex got his CR1 stuck in the gravel trap half way through the session and thus had to be content with 5th on the grid for the second race.

During both sessions, Alex had felt the engine was down on power, so a replacement injection rail was collected from the Aquila Factory in Gram. However, on Sunday morning it was determined that the problem was not the injection rail but a faulty ignition coil, and with no replacement in stock, deft action was called for. An elderly BMW M3 was located at the Auto Forum dealership premises in Silkeborg, the coil was duly cannibalized, the mechanic returned to the track with it in all haste, and it was installed a mere minute and a half before the start of the first race!

It may well be that Alex hasn’t raced since the last century, but, in spite of a ‘conservative’ start which saw him in 3rd place at the end of the first lap, he certainly didn’t appear rusty at all! As Frederik Holm spins later in the race, Alex crosses the line in second position overall and as winner of the SP4 class. With Thomas Mortensen in 4th in his CR1, Aquila scored a 1-2 in the SP4 class!

Whereas Sunday’s first race may have appeared a bit processional, the second race would prove rather more exiting for Alex and Aquila! Starting from his 5th slot on the grid, Alex first had to beat his own Aquila CR1 team mate Thomas Mortensen. Alex overtook Thomas on lap 3 – or rather almost, because he lost it and spun just after having nosed ahead. Happily, Alex’s CR1 was still on the black stuff and pointing in the right general direction after his little faux pas, so he just booted the throttle and continued, having lost just one place in the process. Angry with himself, it didn’t take Alex long to regain lost ground, and soon the blue Aquila CR1 was right on the tail of white Aquila CR1 again. The second overtaking attempt was successful, and having passed Thomas, Alex soon opened a little gap to Thomas and set his sights on the leading trio who were now further up the road than he would have liked – in his pursuit of the leaders, Alex set the fastest lap, Alex being the only driver to record a sub-1:12 lap in that race.

Entering the last lap, Christer Giselrud and Frederik Holm touched under braking at the end of the main straight, Holm’s car coming to a sudden and very destructive stop against the barriers, Giselrud subsequently being penalized with a stop-and-go for his role in Holm’s very bumpy exit. Thus, Alex was 2nd again in the overall result of the second race, behind the ever-impressive Johannes Graversen in his superb turbocharged Fiat X1/9. Thomas Mortensen again did a sterling job, finishing his race in the same position he had started, 3rd, making it another fine 1-2 for Aquila in the SP4 class!

The entire Aquila team was a very happy band after the weekend’s racing, and they had proven beyond any doubt that The Aquila CR1 is fast and with much more to come – and that Alex hasn’t forgotten how to drive! The Aquila Team also wishes to express its sincere gratitude to Klaus Verner and Auto Forum for lending us the ignition coil which would turn out to be instrumental for the very successful weekend for Aquila Racing Cars!

På trods af at være blevet slået i tidtagningens sidste sekunder var det alligevel en meget tilfreds Alex Frederichsen som trillede bilen ned i teltet efter tidtagningen.

Under lørdagens tidtagning virkede det som om at der var bedre plads på banen og tiderne fik et gevaldigt ryk nedad, men der var også rigtigt mange andre som forbedrede deres tider – inklusive holdkammerat Thomas Mortensen, som satte 3. hurtigste tid i sin Aquila CR1, hurtigst i SP4-klassen! En kørerfejl fra Alex midt under tidtagning endte i sandkassen og han måtte tage til takke med en startplacering som nummer 5 i søndagens andet heat.

Under fredagens og lørdagens tidtagning havde Alex beklaget sig lidt over manglende trækkraft, og teamet besluttede at køre til fabrikken i gram efter en ny dysebro. Det viste sig dog søndag morgen at problemet var en defekt tændspole og med under en time til første løb var gode råd dyre. Det lykkedes dog at opspore en ældre BMW M3 hos Autoforum i Silkeborg så en mand blev sendt af sted for at låne en tændspole, han nåede lige tilbage inden løbsstart og med mindre end 1∏ minut til start var den nye tændspole monteret og bilen klar til race.

Det er meget muligt at Alex ikke har kørt ”rigtigt” race siden en gang i forrige århundrede men det så ikke ud til at holde ham tilbage, en lidt konservativ start resulterede i en 3 plads efter Christer Gislerud og Frederik Holm. Og da Frederik senere i heatet spinder, kører Alex Aquila'en over stregen som nummer 2 og som vinder af SP4 klassen. Thomas sluttede hvor han startede, nemlig på 4. pladsen generelt, og det blev dermed en fin 1-2 til Aquila i SP4-klassen!

Hvor søndagens første heat måske kunne opfattes som kedelig for Alex var det andet noget mere action præget, fra nummer 5 på startgridden gik jagten først på teamkammeraten i Aquila teamet Thomas Mortensen, som Alex overhalede på 3 omgang blot for at spinde. Alex var dog utrolig heldig for efter spindet vendte Aquila'en den rigtige vej og det var bare at køre videre. Dog var der mistet endnu en placering. Nu så det dog ud til at Alex var blevet hidset rigtigt godt op for der gik ikke længe inden Alex havde taget placeringen tilbage og endnu en gang pressede Thomas. Det andet forsøg på teamkammeraten gik dog noget mere smertefrit end det første. Herefter gik jagten på de tre forreste og under jagten formåede at sætte løbets hurtigste omgang. På sidste omgang ramte Christer Gislerud og Frederik Holm hinanden for enden af langsiden, Frederik udgik og dommeren takserede hændelsen til en stop’n’go til Christer og dermed blev det til dagens anden andenplads efter en meget velkørende Johannes Gravesen samt en tredjeplads til teamkammerat Thomas Mortensen, som igen sluttede hvor han startede, og dermed gav Aquila atter en 1-2 sejer i SP4-klassen!

Hele teamet var efter løbet tydeligt tilfredse, teamet fik vist at der for alvor er ved at være fart i Aquila'en og at Alex langt fra har glemt hvordan man kører race. Slutteligt skal det fra teamet lyde en kæmpe tak til Klaus Verner og Autoforum Silkeborg for lån at tændspole.

Aquilas, somewhat unintentionally, contributed in a very major way to the excellent entertainment this final was: Due to some niggling minor technical problems, our own Lars Erik Nielsen and Michael Jakobsen didn’t set times in the third timed practise, which decided the grid for the final (heat results would’ve made it a lot easier!). Thus, they had to start from the back and carve their way up through the field. This they duly did, throwing in an exiting and close tussle between the pair of them in the process, as you can see in the video!

For many laps it looked as if Michael just held the edge over Lars, as it was very difficult for Lars to both make his way through the traffic AND launch a decisive attack on Michael. However, in a split second’s loss of concentration near the end of the race, Michael took a long detour through the gravel trap entering the main straight, and thus demonstrated that the Aquila is at least partly suitable for cross-country use! Obvi-ously Michael lost a few places in the process, not least due to flat spotting his tyres on his own gravel (!), but Michael is a true fighter and he still finished the race well up, in spite of his little faux pas. But the car looked a right mess…

It is great to see the greatly varied, but high-quality, full grids in Danish Special Saloon Car racing this sea-son, financial crisis or not. It is as if the class is having a renaissance, and it’s also great to see some of our Scandinavian brethren skilfully joining the fray.

The fact that Johannes Graversen can still set the pace in a car that is over a quarter of a century old, but still appears completely up-to-date, is a living example of experience and evolution – but surely he, Schöne-mann in the very powerful 4WD Porsche and the others will be closely challenged once Holbæk get the en-gine management unit mapping on their M3/S65-powered sorted and the other Aquila drivers get a bit more running time under their belts?

Many thanks to Djurslands Motorklub Autosport for a fantastic and well organized event and friendly and helpful officials – you had even arranged perfect sunny weather over the best circuit in Denmark…