TGP May 13 Barcelona

Joaquin Folch scored a dominant home victory at Barcelona in the TGP event supporting the Spanish GP. Held late in Saturday afternoon, the race attracted a great deal of attention from current members of the Formula One circus.

Following a disappointing early retirement at Hockenheim on his first appearance in Bernie Ecclestone’s BT49/10C, Folch took pole and led all the way. ‘The car is just a dream,’ he said.

Indeed it was like 1981 all over again as Williams led the chase of Brabham, in the shape of the FW08 of Richard Eyre and the FW07C of Peter Sowerby. Eventually, though, Eyre’s tyres went off, and his rival snuck past to take second place.

Fourth went to Dan Collins in the Classic Team Lotus Type 91, ahead of the Ensign N180 of David Abbott. John Crowson would have fought with these two, but after jumping from 10th to fifth on the first lap his N177 made a time-consuming trip across the gravel.

As at Hockenheim, Steve Hartley swapped his newer Arrows A6 for his Hesketh 308C, and won Class B in sixth overall. Class D honours went to Minardi-mounted Rodrigo Gallego in ninth, while John Delane’s Tyrrell 001 was the only Class A finisher, in 11th.

Results: 1 Joaquin Folch (Brabham (BT49C) 2 Peter Sowerby (Williams FWO7C) 3 Richard Eyre (Williams FW08) Fastest lap Folch 1m 38.971s