Marcos in GT racing in 1996

The above photo and many other excellent images can be downloaded from the FIA BPR page.

1996 will see a privateer effort, backed in part by the factory, in both the BPR International series and the BRDC British GT championship. First blood in the BRDC championship went to the BPR running GT2 Marcos of Cor Euser/Thomas Erdos.

In the first round of the BPR, at Paul Ricard, France, Cor Euser outqualified 20 Porsches to take GT2 pole position (ahead of a number of GT1 cars). Unfortunately, his race lasted only 9 laps before gear linkage problems put him out. In the second race, at Monza, Italy, Cor and Thomas Erdos led GT2 for many laps, but a problem with brakes(?) meant they fell to 7th in class and 9th overall by the end.

Jarama, Spain, saw Cor Euser and Thomas Erdos confirm their earlier form by once again seizing pole position in GT2 and then winning the category ahead of the massed Porsche ranks and other GT2 runners. In addition, they took 7th overall after an excellent race.

At the Le Mans pre-qualifying day, Cor Euser and Thomas Erdos were once again fastest GT2 car to allow them to enter official qualifying in June. The second Marcos was the second reserve, so it may well be that there will be two Marcos at Le Mans again in 1996.

Euser and Erdos continued their winning ways at Silverstone in the BPR 4 hour race, after setting pole position again. Their margin of victory was a lap and they finished 10th overall.

In the BRDC championship at Donnington, Rob Schirle's car took an excellent 3rd place overall and 1st in GT2, whilst the LM500 of Andy Purvis and Chris Marsh won GT3.

In the third round of the BRDC GT championship at Brands Hatch, a Marcos (this time Rob Schirle and Dave Warnock's LM600)again beat a McLaren. On this occasion, it was only good enough for second overall as Win Percy's Harrier took victory, but a second class win and a second in class (in the first round to Euser's Marcos) put Schirle and Warnock in the overall lead of the championship. Steve Forster (taking over from Chris Marsh) and Andy Purvis took another good placing with 2nd in GT3 and 7th overall. The 2nd LM600 of Ian Jacobs and Simon Tate had an eventful meeting, but showed impressive pace at times, suggesting they are now on or close to Schirle/Warnock's pace.

June and July were not kind to Cor Euser and Thomas Erdos. Le Mans saw a disappointing engine failure after just 4 hours and the car then suffered retirements at both the Nurburgring and Anderstorp in the BPR. With the Roock racing Porsche scoring victories in GT2 at both rounds, a GT2 championship looked to be slipping away. The BRDC championship, however, continued to go well for the Schirle LM600, with GT2 victory again at the latest round at Donnington.

After the disappointment of France, Germany and Sweden, the long trip to Suzuka, Japan (for a 1000Km race) reaped a reward of third place in class for Cor Euser and two local drivers. The car battled for the lead, but lost a lap when it stopped to change brake pads, something which the 911s (unexpectedly) didn't have to do. Brands saw the arrival of a third driver, Ferdinand De Lesseps. As he is much taller than Cor or Thomas, he didn't fit comfortably in the car and his pace was slower than the others and the car was unable to consistently match Bob Wollek & Franz Konrad's pace in their Porsche. However, a fighting 2nd in class was well deserved. At Spa, De Lesseps was made more comfortable, but he still failed to match the other drivers' pace and the car once again finished 2nd in class; this time to the Roock Racing Porsche.

Meanwhile in the BRDC series, Thruxton saw a great overall victory for the BPR series car of Euser and Erdos, but a number of incidents saw a spate of punctures and subsequent poor finishing positions for the regulars. Matters didn't improve at Snetterton, where all the Marcos cars (along with half the finishers) were disqualified for noise infringements. The whole matter caused great controversy and ultimately decided the championship.

Nogaro proved disappointing for the Marcos team as the car had a rare failure and retired. However, Cor Euser and two paying drivers bounced back to take a GT2 victory in China at the BPR season finale giving Cor second in GT2 and 8th overall in the BPR championship.

Meanwhile Thomas Erdos put in some sterling drives (actually leading one race overall for a while) in the GT3 Marcos in the BRDC series in an attempt to deprive the giant killing Darrian of points. Those efforts failed, but the Snetterton exclusion of the Schirle/Warnock car was overturned, reinstating them in 2nd place in GT2 and overall and making them the 1996 BRDC GT champions. (Although they finally lost the championship after the RACMSA reinstated all competitors at the Snetterton round - Interestingly, an RAC sound tester told me most of the GT cars failed the noise test at Thruxton, earlier in the year, but that they'd decided to let them race anyway!).
Below : Rob Schirle and Dave Warnock's BRDC GT championship "winning" LM600 at Silverstone's BPR round