Jan came with his March CG911B as thirteenth over the finish line on 3laps from race winner Gerhard Berger. The team was ready to pack their cars, tools and other stuff and fly back the day later to Bicester where the winter was awaiting them. It would be a turbulent winter for the team. A winter that almost saw 20million coming, a winter that saw a Saudi almost purchasing the team. Only to appear at Kyalami with their cars though with no engines and tyres. The weekend that would almost bankrupt Jan Lammers.
Winter is coming, the period for most of the teams to work on their new cars, to find new sponsors or to find new drivers. The period where most of the teams know, they will be on the grid at Kyalami. It is the knowledge that the March F1 Team did not have. While the team was looking for a new sponsor, they saw the Bologna F1 sprint race as an opportunity to gain new sponsors. Behind Naspetti’s entry with the March CG911B is a DNA. The team decided to withdraw due to their financial situation and the fact there were no spare parts.
The story is becoming more personal while Jan Lammers explained that the two races in Japan and Australia were his first steps to return in the Formula One. By showing some decent results a seat for 1993 with the March team was luring for Jan. The last time he was offered a ride was with Tyrrell in 1989 to replace the injured Michele Alboreto.
The fact Lammers was positive about his chances for 1993 weren’t that strange. During the Marlboro Masters the 2nd of August 1992, Henny Vollenberg, at that time in contact with Tamoil, told the press the team already secured a 22million budget for next season. It was only a month previous his statement that a representative from Tamoil in Italy called Vollenberg. Tamoil was looking to expand it’s horizon and saw the Formula One as a logical step to expand. Therefore, they believed that March F1 would be the perfect team for them.
While Lammers made his comeback in Japan Vollenberg had his first meeting with the representative. The deal was simple. Tamoil was to invest for a period of three years every year 30million dollar in the team. Back in 1992, this meant a lot of money and more than enough to become a sub topper. It seemed that Tamoil would be their saviour. The plans seemed to go even further as Tamoil wanted their own their own team in the Formula One, with their base in Italy and England.
After a couple of meetings, the representative from Tamoil and Henny Vollenberg signed the contract. The Dutch ING bank was asked to oversee the signed contracts and to check it on strange facts and if it was legit. Everything seemed in order, and there was only a slight problem in late September 1992. A commission of 400thousand dollar had to be paid for the intermediaries. The solution was simple, but would be disastrous in the aftermath of the 1993 South African Grand Prix a Kyalami. Vollenberg went to suppliers Ilmor and Goodyear to discuss the plan of their new sponsor. Vollenberg asked them if the payments could be suspended for now so the commission money could be paid. Ilmor and Goodyear agreed.
The Formula One wouldn’t be the Formula One if eventually cracks started to appear in the agreement with “Tamoil”. While at first it seemed nothing was going wrong, eventually the little cracks became huge cracks showing the real intention from the representatives. At some point in late October Vollenberg was unable to reach the representative. Eventually the Italian police told him that it would be better to leave. As it was one big swindle from Italian Mafia. Was it a reality check? Were they stubborn? The fact is that March went back to start with out money, only spending money and a bill that’s growing at Ilmor and Goodyear.
Still March is not lost and another opportunity is appearing on the horizon. After the Tamoil debacle the Swiss businessman Per du Hane, who worked in 1991 for Larrousse where he brought in some new sponsors, appeared in late October. Offering his talent to find new sponsors for the team to eventually become part of the management. While Ken Marrable and Henny Vollenberg accept du Hane his offer the team continued to struggle. There was no money left to develop the now three-year-old car. The stillborn M93 only existed on paper and team members had to be fired to stay afloat during the winter.
It was du Hane whou brought in a new sponsor in November 1992, it was the Swiss company Lysys. This company was specialised in speculation on the stock exchanges. It is a similar taste with Moneytron a couple of years before with Onyx. However, Lysys seemed to be a serious partner for March. It is the company that brought in a richt Saudi Arabian citizen who was always dressed in a white suite. Lysys was to invest the money from this unknown Saudi to take over the March team.
While the situation didn’t improve the management of March had a meeting where they discussed the future of the team. They also discussed the offer that was made. Lysys on behalf of the Saudi brought in an offer of 10.5 million dollar. The team would be sold and only Henny Vollenberg would stay at the team as team manager for a pleasant amount of money.
Again, the Formula One wouldn’t be the Formula One if something would happen. It did, while the 10.5 million was offered. Lysys told the Saudi that the deal was 18million dollar. It would mean that 7.5million dollar would flow into the pockets of the company. As soon he understood, what was going on he withdrew his offer to purchase the team and simply left. With him leaving, also Lysys left the scene as quickly as the appeared. Again, March was back at the start and time was running out. A miracle was needed for the team. The miracle that would not happen. Henny Vollenberg went to the background while du Hane was running the team. More dead than alive.
It didn’t mean that the March team did not appear on the final entrant list from the FIA in February 1993. The team would race in 1993; both Jan Lammers and Jean-Marc Gounon were on the list. Where Gounon would be the saviour of the team. For his F1 adventure, he was ready to pay a million dollar for the first few races of the season. Obviously, Gounon did not have the money. As the contract, they signed stated that his sponsors could not guarantee the money. Due to a fax issue, this part of the fax was invisible. What happened that weekend is still to today a strange happening with cars stuck at the airport, Lammers paying Ilmor for the engine only to go almost bankrupt himself.
