Once again the sun shone, and once again it was windy in Assen for the first 18 lap race, race three of the 2022 championship.
The lights went out and it was Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement who took control at the front from Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau with Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kolsch third. Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries were in fourth. Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood had made a reasonable start but had some work to do as Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes were just in front with Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer breathing down their necks. Ted and Vincent Peugeot were right on their tail too. Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson were next up with Cleude Vinet and Sebastien Arifon right with them. Cedric and Arnaud Pierard were next with Philippe Gallerne and Jean-Philipe Bouchard next.
Paul Leglise and Melanie Farnier and Janez Remse with Manfred Wechselberger did not start the race due to electrical problems.
The first few laps of the race saw Ellis/Clement fight off passing moves from Reeves/Rousseau, but Reeves/Rousseau did get by with Ellis/Clement re taking the lead, it was a great scrap between these two teams.
Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kolsch were fighting hard to get up with the leading pair but had to defend their third spot from Schlosser/Fries.
Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood were in battle with Payne/Wilkes a small distance back from Schlosser/ Fries.
Ted and Vincent Peugeot were now locked in battle with Wyssen/Hofer, this was to be a race long battle.
Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson were fending off Vinet and Arifon and had control of this battle. Cedric and Arnaud were on their own as was Gallerne and Bouchard.
By half distance, Reeves and Rousseau were still out in front from Ellis and Clement, but Schlosser and Fries were on the move they had passed Streuer and Kolsch for third spot and were charging down on the leading pair. Kershaw and Charlwood had by now passed Payne and Wilkes and were putting pressure on Streuer and Kolsch for fourth spot.
Lap eleven saw Schlosser and Fries take second spot from Ellis and Clement, they gave chase to Reeves and Rousseau who were still out in front, but Ellis and Clement stuck to the tail of Schlosser/Fries which was to pull them up to Reeves and Rousseau. This was a good battle with the top three teams.
Getting to the closing stages of the race, Schlosser and Fries managed to get passed Reeves and Rousseau for the lead and took with them Ellis and Clement putting Reeves and Rousseau down to third.
Kershaw and Charlwood were still holding fourth spot in front of Streuer and Kolsch fifth. Payne and Wilkes were still sitting in sixth with the race long battle between Peugeot/Peugeot and Wyssen/Hofer seventh and eighth. It was Wyssen and Hofer who were to make a pass on Peugeot/Peugeot and reverse the standing for them, Wyssen/Hofer were up to seventh now.
On lap seven of the race Vinet and Arifon who had been in battle with Cable/Richardson were to DNF with a mechanical problem. Cable and Richardson had some breathing space now between them and Pierard/Pierard. But lap twelve saw Pierard/Pierard close the gap and they eventually made the pass.
By the end of the race all the teams were basically out of their battles and on their own.
Schlosser and Fries were to take the chequred flag for the race win only 0.622 ahead of Ellis and Clement second. Ellis and Clement did have the fastest lap of the race a time of 1:43.617. Reeves and Rousseau took third spot. After the race it turned out that driver Reeves was having problems with his neck, he has had this problem for a couple of days now, he will rest and hope tomorrow will be better for him.
Fourth spot went to a delighted Kershaw and Charlwood, who had broken away from the perusing teams in the final stages of the race.
Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kolsch took fifth place, it turned out that there was contact between them and another team in the early stages of the race which was the reason for them falling back. But they were happy enough with the result.
Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes took sixth place, they and the team were delighted with this result, after the nightmare time they had only one week ago in Le Mans.
Wyssen and Hofer took seventh place and were also delighted with this result.
Ted and Vincent Peugeot took eighth place, the team were happy with this but young driver Ted a bit down hearted, he thought he should have done better, but this is only his second time racing here. He will have another go tomorrow, but still a great result today.
A good ninth place for Cedric and Arnaud Pierard, they were happy with this result and look forward to another race tomorrow.
Tenth spot went to Kevin Cable and Charlie Richardson, the team wanted more, but were happy with how the race went for them.
Eleventh place went to Phillippe Gallerne and Jean- Philipe Bouchard.
The second 18 lap race will be at 16:15 local time tomorrow.
Race 1 Classification click HERE
Mark Walters