Race Report
Circuit van Zandvoort
02/25/99
Pat Dotson made it clear the changes that Team Lotus made to his Lotus 49
suited him just fine as he laid down a blistering time to beat of 1:24.88.
Dotson had seen an overnight improvement in his qualifying time of 1.58
secs. thanks to a few chassis tweaks and gearing changes that he had
recommended to Colin Chapman. The changes made to the Lotus cars seem to
help Steve Blankenship, as well, as he dropped his qualifying time by 1.40
secs. from his Tuesday outing, taking the second spot on the grid with a
1:25.48. Ferrari driver Karl Ikonen rounded out the top three grid positions
with a time of 1:26.15.
Dotson escaped at the start, but following a little start line/first lap
mayhem, teammate Blankenship found himself in 7th on the second lap. In the
mean time, hard-charging Lotus driver Hans Buscher, who had experienced
electrical difficulties in qualifying and had started 11th on the grid, dove
into 2nd place ahead of Eagle driver Jeff Burrowes, only to be clipped by
the careening Burrowes, who had braked slightly too late going into
Tarzanbocht in his attempt to hold off Buscher. The contact allowed Vic
Eiland to sneak his Lotus into the second spot, which he held until lap 5
when he was overtaken by Buscher following a spin approaching the
Hugenholtzbocht hairpin.
Eiland and Burrowes subsequently retired, leaving Dotson, Buscher, and
Blankenship to cruise home for a 1-2-3 sweep for Lotus. But the sweep
appeared to be in doubt for a moment when a hard-charging Blankenship,
hoping to erase the full lap lead held by Dotson as he entered the final
turn of the race, inadvertently tapped the slower moving Dotson who was
still recovering from a last lap off-road excursion at Panoramabocht. Dotson
recovered from the scary incident to take the chequer.
Colin Chapman admitted to having to separate the two drivers in the paddock
after the race and commented, "The boys have gathered their wits and
realized that it was just one of those unfortunate racing things. By later
this evening, they'll be the great chums they've always been."
Grand Prix Legends
Circuit van Zandvoort
02/25/99
Official Standings
1 15 P. Dotson LOT 107.0 mph
2 0 H. Buscher LOT 1:04.76
3 13 S. Blankenship LOT 1:15.94
4 4 J. Rambo FER -2L
5 20 B. Tillman REP -2L
6 18 V. Wood FER -4L
7 0 J. Campbell FER DQ
8 0 B. Bruce FER -17L
9 0 V. Eiland LOT -23L
10 6 J. Burrowes EAG -24L
11 14 K. Ikonen FER -26L
12 11 G. Steele FER Retired
13 16 J. Dawson LOT -27L
Fastest Lap
15 P. Dotson LOT 1:24.94
Practice
1 15 P. Dotson LOT 1:24.88
2 13 S. Blankenship LOT 1:25.48
3 14 K. Ikonen FER 1:26.15
4 2 L. Hogan LOT 1:27.77
5 3 R. Moedt LOT 1:27.79
6 6 J. Burrowes EAG 1:28.39
7 1 N. Walker EAG 1:29.01
8 16 J. Dawson LOT 1:29.47
9 20 B. Tillman REP 1:30.10
10 4 J. Rambo FER 1:30.28
11 0 H. Buscher LOT 1:30.43
12 0 V. Eiland LOT 1:30.55
13 5 D. Lung LOT 1:30.66
14 18 V. Wood FER 1:34.45
15 11 G. Steele FER 1:35.32
16 0 B. Bruce FER 1:36.08
17 9 M. Eaches EAG 1:42.65
18 0 J. Campbell FER 1:50.17
