Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writer
Tommi Makinen Survives the Safari
Makinen took the lead on Stage 2, and it was a lead he'd never relinquish, storming home to a 12 minute victory over Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera. Suspension dramas and even a smashed windscreen from a bird strike could not stop the popular Finn. It could have been even better for Mitsubishi, but turbo failure struck down Freddy Loix and dropped him out of contention for third spot, eventually finishing fifth.
For Peugeot, Rovanpera's second place salvaged something from a very tough rally for them. Peugeot lost two cars on the first day of the event in Stage 4, when Marcus Gronholm retired with suspension failure and Didier Auriol rolled in the wet conditions, his car briefly catching fire.
The car Makinen took over the lead from rallied on for a remarkable third place. By the end of the rally, that team had run seriously short of spares, particularly suspension componentry and had taken to repairing rather than replacing. It was the best ever result for the ecstatic Skoda team and Armin Schwarz, especially after recently rallies and the disaster in Spain which saw the team's lead engineer seriously injured by an errant fire tender. And it could have been better for them with Bruno Thiry racing well into the last day until power steering failure started to seriously fatigue the Belgian. Thiry required medical attention after Stage 12 but rolled the car on the final stage, Stage 13. Thiry's navigator Stephane Prevot was taken to hospital after the rollover but was not seriously hurt.
It was even worse for Subaru, with all three cars retiring. Richard Burns deranged the left front corner on the first stage. Punctures to Toshihiro Arai's car would eventually lead to suspension collapse and retirement at the end of Day 1. Petter Solberg got to Day 3 but had wheel bearing failure. They retired the car before they did too much damage to it but tried valiantly to stay in the rally - even resorting to navigator Phil Mills climbing into the boot to help weight distribution.
Results of World Rally Championship Round 8, Safari Rally, Kenya:
Drivers' standings: Tommi Makinen 40, Colin McRae 30, Carlos Sainz 26, Harri Rovanpera 20, Richard Burns 15, Francois Delecour 14, Didier Auriol 10, Petter Solberg and Freddy Loix 9, Armin Schwarz 7 etc.
Manufacturers' standings: Mitsubishi 66, Ford 60, Subaru 28, Peugeot 26, Skoda 15, Hyundai 10
Debut Win For Carpentier As Team Rahal Crash Out
In a breathking final lap dive for the line, Patrick Carpentier took advantage of a favourable draft off the back of lapped teammate Alex Tagliani to arrive at the line first, after a fantastic late race dice between Carpentier, Dario Franchitti and Michel Jourdain Jnr. Franchitti and Jourdain arrived at the line side by side, with second place later being awarded to Franchitti by the smallest of margins. It was the debut CART win for Carpentier and an excellent follow up for the Player's/Forsythe squad after Tagliani's second place the week before in Toronto.
For Kenny Brack, it was a disappointing race. Brack and Team Rahal teammate Max Papis had dominated the race, leading for more than half the race between them, when with 17 laps to go, the two touched and locked wheels after Brack lost downforce in Herta's wake and understeered into Papis's car. While a mortified team watched in horror, both cars spun into the wall hard, throwing away a potential 1-2 result.
Among other drivers, Christian Fittipaldi spun while entering the pits from the lead of the race. His race would end later with a crash into the wall at turn 4. Memo Gidley received a stop-go penalty for pit lane speeding, while Michael Andretti retired while running in third place.
Despite two consecutive DNFs, Brack continues to lead the series, but Dario Franchitti has closed to within three points. Helio Castroneves and Michael Andretti are both within shouting distance. This title is a long way from being over.
Results of FedEx CART World Series, Round 11, Michigan Speedway, USA:
Michael Andretti Takes Seventh Win in Toronto
Andretti stalled his Reynard-Honda on the first lap of the race after a clash with Kiwi rookie Scott Dixon, which dropped the Team Green car to the tail of the field. From there, Andretti picked off cars one by one, and late in the race was picking off the cars in the top order at the rate of a position per lap, taking the lead with 24 laps to go.
Second was a career best finish for Alex Tagliani, all the sweeter for scoring the result in a home race for the young Canadian. 'Tag' spent most of the race fighting with Gil de Ferran for the lead. After the last pitstop, Andretti got in front of Tagliani, and much as he would have liked to attack the second generation champion, there was insufficient fuel for the job. In the end, maintaining second became the mission and that was succesfully achieved.
Penske dominated the first half of the race with Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves leading the first half of the race. Castroneves led during the first batch of pitstops, and was stopped early to set up for a long run to the finish but the engine expired 2 laps after his stop. De Ferran was called in for an extra pit stop and was fighting back through the field when he was punted out of the race by Cristiano da Matta. A late race collision also took Bruno Junqueira and Christian Fittipladi out of the fight for third spot.
Results of FedEx CART World Series, Round 10, Toronto, Canada:
Standings (after Michigan): Kenny Brack 84, Dario Franchitti 81, Helio Castroneves 75, Michael Andretti 73, Cristiano da Matta 67, Gil de Ferran 58, Scott Dixon 57, Paul Tracy 52, Jimmy Vasser 50, Christian Fittipladi 49 etc.
Biaggi and Yamaha Dominate Sachsenring
Max Biaggi re-established his claim on the World Motorcycle Championship, taking a lights to flag win in the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring. Yamaha dominated the event taking the top four positions with the only Honda rider providing any resistance being West Pons rider Alex Barros.
Biaggi led from the start with Norick Abe taking the fight to Biaggi initially. Biaggi's teammate Carlos Checa took second from Abe at around half distance. Shinya Nakano also kept pace in the battle for second and would relieve Abe of the final podium spot with two laps to go. Barros faded away to fifth over the course of the race, falling back into the clutches of the now fully-recovered Olivier Jacque, but the Frenchman ran out of laps to pass the Brazilian. Series leader Valentino Rossi was out of sorts and never in the hunt, just leading Loris Capirossi home for seventh ahead of the two Suzukis. Eleventh in his first race back from injury was Red Bull Yamaha rider Garry McCoy.
Biaggi has now cut Rossi's lead down to ten points. Rossi has consistently looked the better rider, but a couple of falls and this latest race has kept Biaggi in the hunt. Watching the races it seems there is little doubt Rossi will be world champion, but the points table tells a different tale.
Results of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 9, Sachsenring, Germany:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 170, Max Biaggi 160, Loris Capirossi 111, Alex Barros and Shinya Nakano 100, Norick Abe 87, Alex Criville 71, Carlos Checa 67, Kenny Roberts Jr 62, Sete Gibernau 60 etc
Bourdais's Bastille Day
Qualifying was won by Tomas Enge from teammate Justin Wilson, but was sharply contrasted by David Saelens, whose huge shunt left him with a fractured back and his immediate racing future in doubt, with at least a month on the sidelines. The European Minardi Lola was launched airborne across the gravel trap after running off at Becketts.
The start was all Nordic as Enge led Wilson away from the startline. Bourdais slotted into third with Mark Webber and Darren Manning battling close behind. Wilson was quickly looking for a way past Enge to consolidate his championship lead over Webber. Wilson started looking at Stowe each lap until finally attempting a pass, but the red cars touched, sending Wilson off the track and down to third.
Further back, Antonio Pizzonia was charging through the field, quickly dealing with Ricardo Mauricio and Darren Manning, with Mark Webber not holding the Petrobras driver back for long either. The top three though would be too far up the road for Pizzonia.
Wilson now leads Webber by four points and is nine ahead of teammate Enge. There are plenty of races remaining, so the championship race is far from over.
Results of International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 8, Silverstone, Great Britain:
Standings: Justin Wilson 43, Mark Webber 39, Tomas Enge 34, Sebastien Bourdais 18, Antonio Pizzonia and Bas Leinders 12, Darren Manning 9, Jaime Melo Jr and David Saelens 8, Ricardo Sperafico 6 etc.
Eleven Straight ALMS Wins For Audi
Le Mans winners Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen notched another ALMS win for Audi as the Joest Audi Sport North America team clocked up a 1-2 victory with Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro in second.
Fifth and sixth places were just reward for the GTS Le Mans champions, the Chevrolet Corvette team, with the Fellows/O'Connell car leading home the Pilgrim/Collins car. Early in the race the Corvettes had to give best to the Konrad team Saleen S7R, but the Saleen gradually dropped back during the race and a late race pitstop saw Franz Konrad and Terry Borcheller drop below the all-conquering GT BMWs down to 16th.
The remainder of the top ten was taken up by the GT class, all places filled by new BMW M3 V8s, completely swamping their Porsche 996 GT3 opposition with JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller taking the class victory in the BMW Motorsport car. The other three BMWs filled the top four positions, while their Porsche opposition conspired to ruin their own chances with a series of mechanical failures and crashes. Dirk Muller and Frederick Ekblom took second in class in the semi-factory car after Hans Stuck spun the BMW Motorsport car on the final corner of the race to drop to third in class. The first of the Porsches was the Alex Job Racing car driven by Sascha Maassen in eleventh place.
The LMP675 prototype class was won by the Reynard 01Q Judd of Didier de Radigues in 13th place after the Dick Barbour Lola-Judd was just not quick enough.
Results of American Le Mans Series, Round 3, Sears Point, California, USA:
RML Saleen Wins Controversial Estoril 1000
With the Audi out and the Courage disqualified, the new race winners were the Ray Mallock Limited Saleen S7R of Bruno Lambert, Ian McKellar Jr and Chris Goodwin. Despite a long history of sedan racing, including two recent British Touring Car Championships, it was RML's first sportscar race win. The battle for the GTS class amongst the Saleens had been closely contested, with the RML car gaining the upper hand over the Konrad entry at the first pitstop, with Bruno Lambert electing to double stint and save time in the pits. Eventually the Mallock car pulled out four laps over the Konrad car for what became the race win.
Henri Pescarolo has submitted an appeal to his team's disqualification.
Results of European Le Mans Series, Round 3, Estoril 1000, Portugal:
Rally
Tommi Makinen is now on track to claim a record fifth World Rally Championship after retirements decimated the factory contenders on the toughest event of the World Rally circus. Ironically, on a rally in the heart of Africa, it would be rain that would decimate the rally rather than the traditional toughness of the event.
Francois Delecour could be well pleased with his effort. It was the first time the French veteran had ever attempted the Safari, and fourth place was an excellent result. But for a host of gearbox dramas on the last day, the surviving Ford Focus could have been third. A propshaft bearing failure caused damage to the transmission tunnel. The welding and gearbox replacement added late penalties to Delecour's service. The Focus has earnt a reputation for toughness in this year's WRC, a reputation that failed them utterly when it counted most. Carlos Sainz had piston failure on the second day while a wrecked clutch ended Colin McRae's rally on the first day.
Sixth car home and first in Group N was a tremendous victory for Gabriel Pozzo. The Mitsubishi driver now has a stranglehold on the Group N World Championship. Seventh and second in Group N was Marcos Ligato in another Mitsubishi.
Pos Driver Car
1. Tommi Makinen Mitsubishi Lancer
2. Harri Rovanpera Peugeot 206
3. Armin Schwarz Skoda Octavia
4. Francois Delecour Ford Focus
5. Freddy Loix Mitsubishi Lancer
6. Gabriel Pozzo Mitsubishi Lancer
7. Marcos Ligato Mitsubishi Lancer
8. Rory Green Subaru Impreza
9. Azar Anwar Mitsubishi Lancer
10. Rudi Stohl Mitsubishi Lancer
CART
It was a sensational drive by Franchitti to second, having to come from the rear of the field to be fighting for the win in the dying stages, although the Scot was less than pleased with the Forsythe teammates' double act. For Franchitti, the result moves him up to second in the championship chase behind Kenny Brack, while for Michel Jourdain, long the journeyman of CART, it is a turning point in his career. Jourdain's form has improved dramatically this season, and a podium result is a career best by a wide margin.
So it was a dramatic farewell race for Michigan Speedway. The 500 miler set up as the US500 after the split with Indianapolis to run in direct competition to the great race becomes a round of the IRL series next year. Over 150 lead changes occurred over the 250 laps, with Kenny Brack, Max Papis, Tony Kanaan, Memo Gidley, Bryan Herta, Christian Fittipaldi, Oriol Servia, Dario Franchitti, Michel Jordain Jr and Patrick Carpentier all leading the race at one point or another in some frantic dicing. Carpentier was the last to take the lead, not doing so until two laps to go.
Pos Driver Car
1. Patrick Carpentier Reynard-Ford
2. Dario Franchitti Reynard-Honda
3. Michel Jourdain Jr Lola-Ford
4. Cristiano da Matta Lola-Toyota
5. Bryan Herta Reynard-Ford
6. Alex Tagliani Reynard-Ford
7. Paul Tracy Reynard-Honda
8. Helio Castroneves Reynard-Honda
9. Bruno Junqueira Lola-Toyota
10. Scott Dixon Reynard-Toyota
The man who has dominated the Toronto street circuit like no other claimed his seventh win with a remarkable last to first drive, putting Michael Andretti's title hopes back on track and within ten points of series leader Kenny Brack.
Third and fourth places were season best results for each driver. For third placed Adrian Fernandez it was also a best ever result for his new team and a first podium result. But for a stall caused by a race long problem with first gear, a debut win for Fernandez Racing was in the offing. Meanwhile, Alex Zanardi is at last starting to show some of the form that took him to the 1997 & 1998 CART Championships. It was also a best ever result for the new Mo Nunn run team as well. PacWest also enjoyed a good race with Scott Dixon in fifth and Mauricio Guglemin in seventh.
Pos Driver Car
1. Michael Andretti Reynard-Honda
2. Alex Tagliani Reynard-Ford
3. Adrian Fernandez Reynard-Honda
4. Alex Zanardi Reynard-Honda
5. Scott Dixon Reynard-Toyota
6. Paul Tracy Reynard-Honda
7. Mauricio Gugelmin Reynard-Toyota
8. Max Papis Lola-Ford
9. Shinji Nakano Reynard-Honda
10. Tony Kanaan Reynard-Honda
MotoGP
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Max Biaggi Yamaha YZR500
2. Carlos Checa Yamaha YZR500
3. Shinya Nakano Yamaha YZR500
4. Norick Abe Yamaha YZR500
5. Alex Barros Honda NSR500
6. Olivier Jacque Yamaha YZR500
7. Valentino Rossi Honda NSR500
8. Loris Capirossi Honda NSR500
9. Kenny Roberts Jr Suzuki RGV500
10. Sete Gibernau Suzuki RGV500
Formula 3000
Sebastien Bourdais, the young Frenchman from the DAMS team, broke the stranglehold on the F3000 championship held by the series top three drivers by winning at Silverstone in what has been the most dramatic weekend in Formula 3000 this year.
The skies were cloudy and rain threatened when Enge squandered his lead with an off at Copse, letting Bourdais through to lead with Wilson close but unable to do anything about the DAMS car as light rain began to fall. Enge continued in third until his engine cried enough on the last tour, dropping him to fifth as Antonio Pizzonia and Mark Webber both improved on lonely drives in the dash for the line. Manning held on for the final point.
Pos Driver Team
1. Sebastien Bourdais DAMS
2. Justin Wilson Coca-Cola Nordic Racing
3. Antonio Pizzonia Petrobras Junior Team
4. Mark Webber Super Nova Racing
5. Tomas Enge Coca-Cola Nordic Racing
6. Darren Manning Arden Team Russia
7. Ricardo Mauricio Red Bull Junior Team
8. Bas Lienders Keerbergs Transport Racing
9. Jonathan Cochet Prost Junior Team
10. Fabrizio Gollin Coloni F3000
Sports Cars
Third place was an excellent turn around for the lead Panoz pairing of David Brabham and Jan Magnussen. Panoz ran last year's LMP-1 cars, finally giving up on the unreliable LMP07 cars that the team have spent a troubled season trying to develop after some initial promise. Considering the cars havent run in over six months, to be able to beat the Champion Racing Audi to third place was a meritorious achievment. It was far from plain sailing though, with the team car of Franck Lagorce and Klaus Graf coasting to a halt with no gears less than half an hour into the race. Fourth home was Andy Wallace and Johnny Herbert in the Champion Racing Audi R8R. Fifth in the LMP900 class was the survivng Cadillac LMP01 Northstar, down in an uncompetitive 12th place, just ahead of the leading LMP675 car of Didier de Radigues (Reynard 01Q Judd).
Pos Drivers Car
1. Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen Audi R8R Roadster (LMP900)
2. Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro Audi R8R Roadster (LMP900)
3. Jan Magnussen/David Brabham Panoz LMP-1 Roadster (LMP900)
4. Andy Wallace/Johnny Herbert Audi R8R Roadster (LMP900)
5. Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS)
6. Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS)
7. JJ Lehto/Jorg Muller BMW M3 GTR (GT)
8. Dirk Muller/Frederick Ekblom BMW M3 GTR (GT)
9. Boris Said/Hans Stuck BMW M3 GTR (GT)
10. Bill Auberlen/Niclas Jonsson BMW M3 GTR (GT)
A Saleen took its first major sportscar race win after inheriting first place at the Portuguese round of the European Le Mans Series. The chequered flag was taken initally by the Pescarolo Sport Courage C60 Peugeot with Boris Derichebourg at the wheel. The Courage was then disqualified post-race as the result of a late race incident with the then race leader, the Gulf Johansson Racing Audi R8R. In the final hour of the race Derichebourg was trying to unlap the Courage from the Audi when the two cars touched, sending Tom Coronel in the Audi off track, into the barriers and out of the race. From there, the Courage, which Derichebourg had shared with Jean-Christophe Boullion and Larent Redon cruised to the chequered flag some 12 laps clear of the GTS Saleen run by Ray Mallock Limited.
The battle for the final podium spot was a fierce one with PK Sport and Freisinger teams separated by only seconds for almost the whole race, well clear of the rest of the GT3 Porsches in the GT Class. Eventually, Roman Dumas would take third in the Freisinger Porsche he shared with Xavier Pompidou, less than five seconds clear of the PK Sport Porsche with Robin Liddell steering.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Bruno Lambert/Ian McKellar Jnr/ Saleen S7R (GTS)
Chris Goodwin
2. Franz Konrad/Walter Brun/ Saleen S7R (GTS)
Charlie Slater
3. Xavier Pompidou/Romain Dumas Porsche 996 GT3 R (GT)
4. Mike Youles/Robin Liddell/ Porsche 996 GT3 RS (GT)
Piers Maserati
5. Adam Simmons/Terry Rymer/ Porsche 996 GT3 RS (GT)
Gavin Pickering
6. Geoff Lister/Magnus Wallinder/ Porsche 996 GT3 (GT)
Manuel Mello Breyner
7. Paco Orti/Jesus Diaz Villaroel/ Porsche 996 GT3 R (GT)
Bernardo Sa Nogueira
8. Luc Alphand/Luis Marques Porsche 996 GT3 R (GT)
9. Mark Humphrey/Fred Moss/ Porsche 996 GT3 RS (GT)
Basil Demeroutis
10. Sylvain Noel/Patrick Caternet/ Porsche 996 GT3 RS (GT)
Dirk Schoysman
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Volume 7, Issue 30
Atlas F1 Special
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