Round 7: Brands Hatch 1,000 Kilometers, Brands Hatch circuit, Kent, England, July 26th, 1987

The focus now shifts to the attractive raceway in Kent, England, known as Brands Hatch, for the second and final British round of the ’87 WSC season.  Last year, in 1986, Mauro Baldi and Bob Wollek were victorious for Porsche and Richard Lloyd Racing.  Now, some major developments have taken place since the Norisring sprint races last time out.  The Porsche factory has withdrawn from Group C for the remainder of the 1987 campaign!  This means that the points leaders, and Le Mans winners, Hans Stuck and Derek Bell, are left out in the cold, without a drive.

Fortunately, for Bell and Stuck, they are picked up by Joest Racing at Brands Hatch, and the team’s #7 machine will run in Rothmans colors, but with AutoGlass and Gemini Oils sponsorship.  It’s an all Jaguar front row with the Joest car, third.  Green light, and away we go!  We’re racing at Brands Hatch!  35,000 fans have packed Brands Hatch in anticipation of seeing their home team take it all.  Eddie Cheever is racing in Formula 1 in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim this weekend.  So, Dane John Nielsen is the second driver, partnering Raul Boesel.

The cars plunge down Hailwood’s Hill for the first time.  Jan Lammers leads Mauro Baldi, Raul Boesel, and Hans Stuck.  Tiff Needell leads in C2, again with the Nicholson tuned Ford Cosworth 3.3 liter V8 in the back of it.  Needell is sharing with fellow Brit Ian Harrower.  Jochen Mass has brought the #2 Torno Brun Porsche up to fifth spot.  He is sharing that particular Porsche 962 with Oscar Larrauri.  Meanwhile in C2, Tiff Needell is putting some daylight between himself and Gordon Spice.  The main scrap of the race is on in earnest, though.  Raul Boesel and Mauro Baldi are going at it, hammer and tongs, folks!  It’s Porsche vs. Jaguar!

On the main straight, Boesel tries to move in on Baldi to make a pass.  Baldi is having none of it, slamming the door in Boesel’s face, and Boesel spins the Jaguar into Druids!  Boesel gathers it up, but has to head for pit lane with flat spotted tires.  But, Baldi continues on his merry way, unscathed, in second place.  In C2, it’s all about Swiftair Ecosse.  Ray Mallock is leading Mike Wilds, and surely, their respective co-drivers, Marc Duez, and David Leslie, love it!  It looks like Mallock and Wilds are about to get into some argy bargy.  Gently, boys!  Rule #1 in racing is, never, ever take your team mate out.  So, just be careful.  Raul Boesel has made his way to pit lane to repair the Jaguar after his off.  Meanwhile, the sister #5 Jaguar with Jan Lammers at the controls, the Dutchman wants by Tiff Needell, still leading C2, before he’s slated to hand the car to co-driver, John Watson.

Boesel rejoins the race, but he can’t help thinking, “dang it!  I’ve ruined my own race!”  Jochen Mass inherits fourth, and this becomes third as Jan Lammers is back in pit lane.  The #5 Jaguar has a wheel bearing failure.  Boesel is about to get the lucky dog here, as it were, when Rudi Seher smashes the URD at Paddock Hill Bend.  For Seher, and team mates Hellmut Mundas, and British guest team mate Sean Walker, it is game over.  We can see that the car is heavily damaged, destroying the tire wall, and this brings out the safety car.  Now, Boesel has unlapped himself.  That lucky dog worked, and he’s back into the fight.

Mauro Baldi still leads this motor race as he pits for service and a driver change, handing the Liqui Moly #14 Porsche over to Johnny Dumfries.  Jaguar #5 is held by a marshal at the end of pit lane so the safety car crocodile can play through.  Dumfries is now right behind Boesel.  It’s the battle between the Brazilian and the Scottish Earl.  Mallock and Leslie have inherited second in C2 behind Gordon Spice and Fermin Velez after the initial class leader, the Needell/Harrower ADA, has run into a litany of mechanical problems.  This race is almost over.  Johnny Dumfries regains the lead, but it’s short lived as Jaguar is going to win in Britain again, with Raul Boesel and John Nielsen!

After five and a half hours of racing, Jaguar’s margin of victory is over a minute.  Let’s check the top ten places.

1. #4 Boesel/Nielsen Jaguar XJR-8       Silk Cut Jaguar
2. #15 Baldi/Dumfries Porsche 962C     Liqui Moly Equipe/BLR
3. #5 Lammers/Watson Jaguar XJR-8       Silk Cut Jaguar
4. #7 Stuck/Bell Porsche 962C     Joest Racing
5. #2 Mass/Larrauri Porsche 962C     Brun Motorsport
6. #10 Nissen/Weidler Porsche 962C     Porsche Kremer Racing
7. #102 Mallock/Leslie Ecosse C286 Ford Cosworth     SwiftAir Ecosse*
8. #111 Spice/Velez Spice SE87C Ford Cosworth         Spice Engineering
9. #1T Pareja/Brun Porsche 962C     Brun Motorsport
10. #101 Duez/Wilds Ecosse C286 Ford Cosworth         SwiftAir Ecosse

*C2 winners

Mallock and Leslie win in C2.  A great effort, too, by their team car to finish tenth overall, and also that of the Brun Motorsport Porsche for Jesus Pareja and Walter Brun, who used a spare car for this race.  For Raul Boesel and John Nielsen, celebration time, and especially for Nielsen, because he becomes the first ever Danish driver to win a FISA sanctioned race of any kind.  Ecosse goes first and third in C2 after Spice had to deal with a dead battery on the car.