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 The Le Mans AutoItalia championship kicked off the
2003 season in fine style on March 30th with a double header at a gloriously sunny Brands Hatch. There was an extraordinary grid that saw a Ferrari 360 challenge line up against a Fiat Panda, a
genuine Lancia 037 Evo and an Alfa 156 Sportwagon turbo diesel as well as a variety of Fiats and Alfa Romeos. Predictably the 360 of Phil Burton set the early pace in qualifying however any one of the top
five had the potential to take race wins. These included a welcome return of Tim Lewis whose lightweight Alfasud Sprint features a screaming 220bhp 1800cc flat four boxer, followed by Andy
Thompsons Minari (which is an Alfa based kit car). Both of these are powered by AHM (Adie Hawkins Motorsport) engines. The Lahoma engineering Alfa 33 of Nick Sismey was next, this packs what must
be the ultimate evolution of Alfa's boxer engine at nearly 2000cc displacement and over 250bhp.
If the spectators thought the Ferrari would blast to an easy victory they were wrong. With it's
unique starting procedure that see's the fast cars starting from the back of the grid race one looked good for Tim Lewis who cut to the front of the grid in one lap, shadowed by
Sismey. Next through was Thompson's Minari but Burton's Ferrari was struggling to make headway. We lost Sismey mid race due to transmission failure and it was soon clear that
Lewis had cooked his tyres, allowing the Minari to take the lead with four laps remaining. By now the traffic had cleared and Burtons howling Ferrari was closing the gap, and on the
penultimate lap was able to cruise past a helpless Thompson to take the first win of 2003 by just 2.0 seconds. Birthday boy John Rutter brought the Hawk Stratos home in fourth position.
 Race two saw the same result and
whilst Burton had learnt the lesson of clearing the traffic early he only enjoyed a 3.5 second margin over Thompson's Minari. The Alfa 156 sportwagon turbodiesel showed massive potential on
it's track debut, lapping within just 0.5 second of class winner Roger Donnan's Alfa 33. Entered by Bryn Griffiths of Monza Sport this 156 was a road car just three weeks prior to the first race.
You can also read Trevor Nicosia's driver's-eye view of the meeting by clicking here.
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