CHASSIS REGISTER

1971 LOLA T212 HU22

All pictures courtesy of Phil Clark.

HU22 in its Gunston livery in 2016.

After competing successfully in the hands of Neil Primrose and Isla Racing for several seasons HU22 passed to Andy Bruce until 2015 when it was bought by Germany's Frank Jacob and then, in late 2019, Gary Furst became the new owner with the chassis returning to the UK.

T212 HU22 was one of two cars (the other was HU23) run with great success by BG Racing in the 1971 European 2-litre Championship. It was delivered to Bonnier Racing with white bodywork on 25/2/71 in readiness for preparation for the European 2-Litre Championship.

The team got off to a flying start with Helmut Marko and Jean-Pierre Jabouille winning the Trophée Paul Ricard on the 18th April whilst the second car, also driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille together with Karl von Wendt, took 5th.

For round 2, the Taurenpokal held at the Salzburgring on the 23rd May, Gijs Van Lennep finished 6th in the two heat race whilst Marko retired with fuel pressure problems in the first heat. The next race was the Martini International Trophy at Silverstone on the 5th June, Marko in the only BG Racing entry finished second in heat 1 but was unable to start heat 2.

Hockenheim on the 4th July was the venue for round 4 of the European Championship and saw Marko totally dominant winning both heats and beating Vic Elford in the Scuderia Filipinetti T212 by over 30 seconds. It was the same story three weeks later at Imola for the Coupe de l'AC Bologne when Marko again took both heats, this time beating Jabouillle's Abarth by nearly 34 seconds.

There was a slight dip in fortune for BG Racing at the Nürburgring 500km on the 5th September when Jean-Pierre Jabouille could only manage 5th and Gijs Van Lennep finished 13th, three laps down, following transmission problems.

It was Zandvoort for round seven on the 26th September and in a Chevron-dominated race Marko took 4th in both heats to finish 4th overall.

The last outing for the BG Racing team (they missed the final round at Jarama) was the Trophée Ignazio Giunti at Vallelunga on the 31st October. Marko and the T212 were back on form to take 3rd in heat 1 and second in heat 2 resulting in 2nd overall.

Not surprisingly following his three race wins, more than any other driver, Marko won the Drivers Championship whilst, helped by the excellent results of the BG Racing team, Lola won the Constructors Championship from Chevron.

After its life with Bonnier/Marko it went to Greece where, sponsored by the well-known Greek alcoholic beverage Ouzo, it won its class in the Greek Hillclimb Championship.

HU22 at the Silverstone Walter Hayes meeting, October 2012...



...where it qualified 2nd fastest in the hands of Andy Bruce.



HU22 at the 2012...



...Classic Le Mans.