| Cars Entered by Chamberlain | Chassis C3 |
| Drivers | Ni Amorim & Luis Perez Sala - C3 - Car Number 10 |
| Qualifying | Race 1 - 2nd Race 2 - Pole |
| Race 1 | 1st place |
| Race 2 | Not classified |
| Brief Synopsis
of events (official) - Qualifying & Race1 |
The Chamberlain
Motorsport Chrysler Viper GTS-R which had carried its drivers Ni Amorim and Luis
Perez-Sala to victory in both previous rounds in Vila do Conde was expected to be the only
realistic opposition to series leader Carols J Palau in the Ford Mustang. Free practice
showed just this with the Viper, backed by Chrysler-Jeep Iberia and run under the
"Team Chrysler Viper" name, being quickest. The first official practice was very
wet to start with and Perez-Sala was fastest until he gambled on slick tyres and lost out
on the drying track to the Mustang. The second session was much dryer and Ni Amorim was
1.5 seconds clear of the opposition. The first race was over before it really began as there was a minor skirmish between Perez-Sala and Palau which saw the Mustang firmly embedded in the gravel trap on the first corner. The Chamberlain car went serenely on to win by a country mile. Afterwards, however, there was a protest from the Ford garage and, despite the officials at the scene and the video tape of the incident apparently showing evidence to the contrary, the Viper was disqualified. An appeal was lodged and the car was re-instated in 1st place During this race Perez-Sala managed to get himself run over in the pit lane but without any lasting or serious damage and so it was believed that the second race could not be worse. Wrong! |
| Brief Synopsis
of events (official) - Qualifying & Race 2 |
Driving to the grid Ni Amorim felt the clutch pedal go to the floor. Not in itself a complete disaster but when the mechanics investigated it was found that the clutch reservoir had broken. There was no time to replace it and so the Viper's race was effectively run. We saw a bold effort by Ni at the start when he managed to start the clutchless vehicle and lead until his half way pit stop, the difficulty being of course that no-one can start a vehicle from stationary without a clutch and so Ni had to pit for repairs before the bruised Perez-Sala could take over. The repairs took a very long six minutes and this was enough to cause a non-classification. |
| Brief Synopsis of events (unofficial) | We came, we saw,
we did not conquer, as in Vila do Conde. But the next championship race beckons. A considerable amount of time and effort were expended without anything to show. The team mechanics were down-hearted but were considerably happier when the men from Chrysler Iberia appeared with bottles of wine and an offer of a large lunch. We all like to win but it’s not the only thing in the world – or is it? |
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