Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
The Gift
"Half way through the race no one had crashed and I thought that I would probably finish sixth and get some good points," explained Kiesa. "Then people started crashing as they became tired and some of the drivers were going really wild. I saw Toccacelo and Luizzi in front of me fighting for third position so I took a risk and pushed harder to get closer to them and nearly ended up in their shunt. Then when Pantano crashed I moved up into second and I started to drive safely. When I came around the last corner I went over to congratulate the team but then I realised that Wirdheim hadn't passed the flag yet so I nailed it to the line. I didn't know if I had won or not until I could see the team on the big screen going mad and I saw some Danish fans going wild in the grandstand on the slowdown lap."
The thoroughly bizarre weekend for Formula 3000 started badly after new BCN driver Alex Piccolo crashed heavily at Casino Square, putting him out of racing for three months with cracked vertabrae. While eleventh grid position would be vacant on race day, pole was not. Bjorn Wirdheim was three tenths clear of Ricardo Sperafico on the front row of the grid. Giorgio Pantano was third ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi, Enrico Toccacelo and Kiesa. The first eight grid positions were taken by drivers from eight different teams. The gap from Toccacelo to Kiesa suggested a race in five though.
Toccacelo leapt past Liuzzi at the start but otherwise the field screamed up the hill towards Casino Square in grid order. Phil Giebler was soon out, spinning into the barriers just before the swimming pool. Wirdheim bolted clear of the field and quickly established the race as his. Sperafico in second was holding up Pantano and the Italian ran out of patience just past half distance, shouldering his way through at Anthony Noghes. Sperafico almost immediately lost two more positions to the battling pair of Toccacelo and Liuzzi, and pitted to have the car inspected.
When the race resumed any chance Pantano might have had ended after Pantano clashed with Sperafico, a lap down but trying hard to unlap himself. The move forced Pantano into the barriers at Mirabeau and subsequently Sperafico was black flagged out of the ninth place he'd climbed into. Now Kiesa was second but Wirdheim was too far up the road and the race comfortably his. The Swede looked for his Arden International crew as the finish line approach and slowed to share the win with his team, which were located before of the finish line. Kiesa rounded the Rascasse and slowed looking for his own crew to acknowledge the unexpected second, but quickly processed the vision of the Arden car ahead of him and stormed past the near idle Wirdheim to take victory to end the strangest Formula 3000 race in years.
Raffaele Gianmaria was over three seconds distant in third, just clear of Jaroslav Janis. Another second drifted back to Zsolt Baumgartner and Townsend Bell, the second Arden driver delayed by a rear of grid start with Yannick Schroeder and Jeff van Hooydonk completing the points finishers with only Bernhard Auinger and Will Langhorne still mobile of the rest of the field.
With all of his points rivals standing in the pits staring balefully at one of their fellows, Wirdheim has expanded his championship lead almost despite himself, and now leads Pantano and Sperafico by 18 points with Toccacelo a further two points adrift. Kiesa's win brings him to within a point of Toccacelo. With Formula One next racing in Canada, the Formula 3000 teams next gather at the Nurburgring in four weeks' time.
Result of FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 4 of 10, Monte Carlo, Monaco:
Standings: Bjorn Wirdheim 34, Giorgio Pantano and Ricardo Sperafico 16, Enrico Toccacelo 14, Nicolas Kiesa 13, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jaroslav Janis 10, Patrick Freisacher and Raffaele Gianmaria 8, Yannick Schroeder and Zsolt Baumgartner 6 etc.
Formula 3000 points distribution
Worth The Wait
"This is so perfect," said Jourdain. "It means a lot to me to get my first win here at Milwaukee, especially because I have had so much trouble here in the past. Someday I will be able to tell my grandchildren that I won the first night race in CART and that I won the 100th race at the Milwaukee Mile. This is so sweet, especially after the disappointment at Long Beach. We had a dominant car there just like we had tonight. There are so many things that can go wrong on a short oval that I just kept thinking to myself what will go wrong tonight, but nothing did. The car was so good and we were able to pull out to a big lead on everybody so I just had to concentrate and not make a mistake. I knew we had the fastest car and so if I didn't make a mistake no one would get past me."
After rain removed qualifying from the weekend's activities practice times put Alex Tagliani on pole from Jourdain. Under lights for the first time in CART's history, the field spent the first three laps of the race under yellows warming their tyres. On the fourth Jourdain jumped away while behind Bruno Junqueira, Patrick Lemarie and Roberto Moreno came together. While Junqueira and Moreno rubbed each other out, Lemarie lurched into Mario Dominguez's path. Only Dominguez was able to continue.
Dominguez pitted to have his car inspected, but started a trend, as the yellow period wore on and more and more cars pitted. The race finally went green on lap 20 as Tracy dived at Jourdain to try and wrest the lead from the Mexican, while behind Oriol Servia lost third to Tagliani. Last start winner Sebastien Bourdais was in trouble, having pitted early he had been left at the tail of the field and was the first car to go down a lap under the blowtorch of Jourdain's charge. Behind Servia picked up another spot as the race passed through 46 laps, passing Tracy for second. Behind Tracy, Darren Manning was showing good form, climbing to fourth ahead of Fernandez as Tagliani faded down field.
The yellows re-emerged on lap 87 as Ryan Hunter-Reay slid up into the turn two wall grinding along the back straight to a halt. Hunter-Reay had been in the points and racing well. The leaders had their second round of pitstops under the yellows, which lasted 22 laps. Jourdain led at the green with Servia having regained second from Tracy during the pitstops only to lose it again at the restart. Similarly Fernandez would lose fourth to Carpentier, while Manning was next. Despite the best efforts of Servia the top ten positions didn't change until lap 133. Four laps later, Servia had his scalp and pushed the Canadian down to third.
As the leaders pitted on lap 154 Joel Camathias put his Dale Coyne Lola into the wall. The leaders emerged from the pits to find the Safety Car waiting to greet them. Tracy regained second at the restart again. The field remained stable once the race went green as once again Servia put pressure on Tracy as the stint wore on, retaking second on lap 207. Tracy's challenge ended when his right rear wheel parted company with his Lola on his outlap from his last pitstop, which in turn had been a disaster after being dropped from the jacks too early, which caused the drama as the wheel was not secured correctly. Servia, his second position finally secure, could look for Jourdain.
The win allowed Jourdain to leap past Tracy and Junqueira to hold a ten-point lead over the Canadian, and eleven on the Brazilian. Bourdais still holds fourth spot, some 24 points adrift. The series next moves to Laguna Seca, California in two weeks.
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 6 of 19; Milwaukee Mile 250, The Milwaukee Mile, Wisconsin, United States:
Standings: Michel Jourdain Jr 77, Paul Tracy 67, Bruno Junqueira 66, Sebastien Bourdais 53, Patrick Carpentier 48, Mario Dominguez 45, Oriol Servia 40, Adrian Fernandez 37, Darren Manning 34, Alex Tagliani 32 etc.
Hodgson Hounded By Chili, Halted By Toseland
The unthinkable has happened. Yes, Neil Hodgson has finally been beaten to a race win in this year's Superbike championship. In fact, as well as being beaten by James Toseland in race two, Hodgson had to withstand race-long pressure from Pierfrancesco Chili in race one including a final corner attempt on the lead. But first and second is still a pretty good result, and so Hodgson's lead over the rest of the pack has grown larger, though James Toseland is now in second place after podiums in both races despite falling back to last at the start in race one.
As usual, Neil Hodgson was on pole with several Ducatis close by, but his teammate Ruben Xaus again wasn't one of them, back in eighth place. At the start it looked like being a close and exciting race into turn one, but Gregorio Lavilla's dive down the inside soon turned into a cartwheeling fall, causing disarray in the middle of the pack and forcing James Toseland through the gravel before he rejoined the track on the other side in 22nd, last place. Up front Chris Walker had taken the lead, with Pierfrancesco Chili in second, Xaus third and Hodgson fourth. Lap two and Chili moved on to Walker's tail, before zipping past at the end of the back straight, as Hodgson looked at and then passed teammate Xaus for third place.
Chili began to open a lead on Walker as Hodgson closed in on Walker. When he got there on lap four, he didn't take his time getting past, Hodgson taking second at the end of the back straight. Teammate Xaus soon closed in on Walker and looked for a way past him into third place. Meanwhile Walker's teammate James Toseland had been flying since his lap one excursion, and was already up to tenth after six laps. Up at the front Hodgson closed in onto Chili's tail, sitting there for a lap or so before Chili waved him past down the back straight, as a little further back Xaus had already taken third from Walker. However this position change was only temporary, Walker taking the place back a couple of laps later when Xaus crashed (again).
Once Hodgson took the lead however, it wasn't the usual case of earlier in the year of 'how far Hodgson'. In fact, Chili was right on Hodgson's tail as Walker fell back, while Toseland was now up to sixth after ten laps, as he continued to lap faster than everyone else. Toseland continued to push, taking fifth on lap 14 from Steve Martin, and then Regis Laconi and Toseland's teammate Chris Walker both late on lap 19 to move up into third place. During all this time the two leaders were still inseparable, Chili hoping to make a last lap move to steal the win. Lap 23 saw Walker lost fourth to Laconi. Toseland was still closing in on the leaders, but would run out of time. And so it quickly wound down to the last lap, Chili waiting to make his move. Into the last corner Chili ran wide, and tried to drive up inside Hodgson. But Hodgson was ready and was right on the piece of track Chili needed on the exit, Chili backing out of the move, so Hodgson took a narrow win from Chili, with Toseland an impressive third.
Race two began a little less spectacularly than race one, particularly for Toseland, who grabbed the lead ahead of Hodgson and Walker, the top three breaking away but followed by Xaus, Laconi and Chili. Hodgson quickly moved onto Toseland's tail as they began to drop Walker. At the end of the back straight Toseland led, but Hodgson rode around the outside into the lead through the right hander of the esses at the end of it. There also was the left hander of it to negotiate, and through this part Toseland was able to get back inside Hodgson as they exited the bend side-by-side. Actually, they got a little bit too close on the exit, the duo banging bikes, with Hodgson dropping to third as he fixed a minor problem with his clutch lever as a result of the contest. While all this was happening Chili had passed Laconi and was looking for a way past Xaus.
Hodgson took second back from Walker at the very point he had temporarily taken the lead one lap earlier, and began to close in on Toseland again. Meanwhile Chili was having a hard time getting past Xaus, the 999's superior straightline speed making things difficult for Chili, the duo quickly catching Walker while Laconi tacked on at the back to make it a four-way battle for third. After several laps of trying, Chili finally made the move on Xaus on lap nine and moved up to Walker's tail. Hodgson was still on Toseland's tail at the front, but was either waiting to make a late race move or not able to make a pass.
Just before half distance the fight for third split into two packs of two, Laconi taking Xaus for fifth on lap 15 at the final corner. It was not long after this that the three packs of two all began to split up. At the front, Toseland was beginning to edge away from Hodgson. Third place was now Walker's as Chili began to suffer problems with his bike, which was slowly sending him back towards Laconi, with Xaus a little further behind. Lap 19 and Laconi was through past the troubled Chili, Xaus taking Chili two laps later. By this point Toseland had moved a couple of seconds clear of Hodgson.
Throughout the remaining laps not much happened except the margins increased, Toseland stopping Hodgson's winning streak at nine as he beat his 2002 teammate by a comfortable margin, with Toseland's teammate Chris Walker filling out the podium. Fourth was Laconi, ahead of Xaus in fifth, making it to the finish of a race for the first time in his last three attempts. Pierfrancesco Chili did make it to the finish, but ended the race in eleventh place, when a podium had been possible, while an early casualty in race one, Gregorio Lavilla, retired around half distance.
Result of World Superbike Championship, Round 5 of 12, Oschersleben, Germany:
Standings: Neil Hodgson 245, James Toseland 132, Ruben Xaus 126, Regis Laconi 122, Gregorio Lavilla 111, Chris Walker 95, Pierfrancesco Chili 84, Steve Martin 78, Marco Borciani 64, Lucio Pedercini 57 etc.
Superbikes points distribution
Newman Does It At Dover
On the pole again, Ryan Newman fought out the early part of lap one side-by-side with teammate and fellow front row starter Rusty Wallace before conceding to Wallace. The first caution wasn't far away however as Casey Mears hit the turn four wall, with seven other cars suffering varying amounts of damage in the aftermath, bringing out the first caution on lap 3, Mike Skinner going behind the wall as the other damaged cars pitted. Light rain fell at this point, delaying the restart until lap 23 with Newman running with Wallace as Jeff Gordon began to move forward, up to fifth on lap 28 fourth on lap 32 and third past Matt Kenseth on lap 34, who waved him through, after starting the race ninth. The caution came out soon after on lap 40 when Jimmy Spencer was spun down the frontstretch by Jack Sprague. In came the field, Newman beating Wallace, Kenseth, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson out of the pits.
The race went back to green on lap 45, Gordon taking third back one lap later, Kenseth losing two more places to Johnson and Tony Stewart on the next lap. Gordon quickly caught Wallace, taking second from him on lap 50 as Stewart tailed Johnson, taking fourth from him on lap 54, and third from Wallace two laps later as Wallace fell back through the top ten, quickly moving onto Gordon's tail, Gordon waving him through on lap 61. Ten laps later and Newman let Stewart through into the lead. Lap 78 and the caution came out again as the rain, which had lightly sprinkled at times during the green, began falling harder again. In came the leaders again, Stewart beating Newman, Johnson, Sterling Marlin and Wallace while the big loser was Gordon, dropping from third to ninth.
It was back to green on lap 120 with Stewart flying past Gordon around turns three and four to retake the lead as Robby quickly faded back, while namesake Jeff was quickly up to fourth. The caution was out not too long after on lap 139 when Greg Biffle spun through turn four, hitting the wall lightly on the frontstretch. And in came the cars to the pits again, Newman leading Kenseth, Johnson, Wallace and Ricky Craven off pit road. Meanwhile former leader Stewart was held a lap by NASCAR as he was penalised for having an inch or two of the nose of his car outside the pit box when he pitted. Back to green on lap 143, with Gordon once again on the move, back into the top five past Craven on lap 146 and soon after up to fourth.
As the race passed the lap 180 mark Kenseth lost a couple of places to the teammates of Johnson and Gordon. Meanwhile Stewart was still a lap down (just). Soon after a caution came out on lap 203, the leaders pitting once again, Johnson taking the lead ahead of Newman, Wallace, Gordon and Kenseth. The race restarted on lap 209, with Gordon taking Wallace for third soon after just as Jack Sprague got high off turn four and hit the wall hard, with a similar situation to the first caution occurring as six other cars had an accident as the field avoided Sprague's car, including Kurt Busch who suffered damage to the rear of his car, bringing out the caution on lap 212.
In came the field to the pits, Gordon leading Bobby Labonte, Newman, Kenseth and Wallace off pit road. Tony Stewart was now back on the lead lap in 16th position. The race restarted on lap 282, the leading duo jumping away from the pack, Labonte taking the lead from Gordon on lap 286 and began to run away. A steady drive meant that Johnny Benson was now up to sixth place and on Wallace's tail. Bobby Labonte led for a while but with less than 80 laps remaining of the 400 lap race, Gordon retook the lead, Newman taking second just a few laps later and closed on Gordon. Meanwhile Tony Stewart had been on the move since the restart, and was up to seventh place with just over 75 miles to go.
73 to go saw Stewart take sixth from Kenseth and Newman take the lead from Gordon, the third leader in less than ten laps as Gordon fell back towards Bobby Labonte again, Labonte quickly onto Gordon's tail but unable to pass. Still Benson was moving up the field, now up to fourth place, though passed with less than 50 miles to go by Stewart. Soon after Gordon and Kenseth were the first to pit under green with 36 laps remaining, the other leaders pitting in the next couple of laps. After the stops were completed the order became Newman, Gordon, Stewart, Labonte and Wallace, Stewart gaining a couple of seconds at his stop.
Six to go and it was back to green, Newman getting a slow start which saw Gordon on his rear bumper. Through turn one Gordon dropped back after trying to pass Newman into it, Stewart looking inside through turn two before he ran out of road, allowing Stewart's teammate Labonte to get a run on Stewart down the backstretch, taking third as Newman escaped. Gordon closed back in a little but Newman was safe, taking the win, Gordon second, teammates Labonte and Stewart fourth, with Johnny Benson getting his first top ten of the year by finishing fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr suffered the most by not taking tyres at the last caution, dropping from eighth to eleventh.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 13 of 36, Dover Downs International Speedway, Delaware, United States:
Standings: Matt Kenseth 1945, Dale Earnhardt Jr 1774, Jeff Gordon 1758, Bobby Labonte 1716, Kurt Busch 1698, Michael Waltrip 1631, Jimmie Johnson 1606, Rusty Wallace 1556, Kevin Harvick 1539, Robby Gordon 1473 etc.
Opel Wins At The 'Ring
The Abt team inherited second at the end however, after the dual defending champions, the Zakspeed Chrysler Viper of Pedro Lamy, Peter Zakowski and Robert Lechner were penalised five laps for having an oversized fuel tank. The penalty demoted the team to fifth place overall and behind two Porsches in class. The team have protested against the penalty.
Third was the Porsche 996 GT3-RS of regular ALMS competitors Lucas Luhr, Timo Bernhard and Emmanuel Collard, who despite continuing problems finished only a lap behind the big budget Audi. Fourth was the similar car of Harald Grohs, Peter Scharmach, Werner Fischer and Thomas Reisert.
BMW's big campaign to match the DTM-based teams of Opel and Audi failed after crashing out of fifth and tenth positions respectively for both cars after recovering from mechanical dramas early in the race.
Result of Nurburgring 24 Hours, Germany:
Piquet Wins, Van der Merwe Confirms
Nelson Piquet Junior won his second consecutive race in the first of two races held at Silverstone allowing him to improve his stature in the benchmark young talent open wheeler class. Series leader Alan van der Merwe won the second race though, limiting Piquet's gain to two points.
Carroll pushed hard but Piquet was too good, taking victory by almost a second. Danny Watts had a career best drive to take third place in the Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara ahead of ADR's Will Davison. The first Carlin finisher was Richard Antinucci in fifth with van der Merwe seventh. A surprise eighth was Karun Chandhok in the T-Sport Scholarship car.
Carlin had their revenge on the results in race two. Again Piquet was slow away, this time caused by a disintegrating gearbox. Van der Merwe needed no second invitation and took off. Antinucci and Carroll took up the fight for second and were later joined by Jamie Green. Carroll lost fourth to Green and spun trying to regain the position. Rob Austin took advantage of a Green mistake to claw into third place, upsetting the all Carlin podium. Piquet faded to sixth behind Watts.
Van der Merwe now sits on 145 points, forty points clear of teammate Green. Piquet is breathing down Green's neck, only four points behind. Antinucci leads the rest, over sixty points behind van der Merwe. The teams have a month's break before gathering again at Castle Combe.
Result of British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 9 and 10 of 24, Silverstone, Great Britain:
Standings: Alan van der Merwe 145, Jamie Green 105, Nelson Piquet Jr 101, Richard Antinucci 77, Rob Austin 73, Ronnie Bremer 59, Will Davison 51, Danny Watts 46, Michael Keohane 38, Clivio Piccione 35 etc.
British F3 points distribution
BMW Victorious, But Alfa Gains
Former Formula Nissan driver Antonio Garcia scored his first touring car pole position for the first race and did not waste it, sprinting away to an early lead from Dirk Muller, Andy Priaulx, Fabrizio Giovanardi with Gabriele Tarquini already up a spot past Patrick Huisman, while Rickard Rydell was out with damage to the front of the car. Giovanardi was in an impatient mood and soon was past Priaulx with Larini following shortly after. Jorg Muller was past Priaulx as well and diced with Larini. Larini was spun around by Muller and then smashed by the following Tarquini. The battle-scarred teammates rejoined.
With everything that was going on in the desperate battles behind, Dirk Muller had cleared away with Garcia alone in second. Giovanardi just held off Priaulx for third who benefited by the pushing ahead of him. Jorg Muller briefly held fifth until he was disqualified for the incident with Larini, allowing Huisman, Tarquini, Alessandro Balzan and Roberto Colciago an extra point each.
Balzan and Tarquini held the front row for the second, reverse top eight grid, which saw Jorg Muller's spot left vacant, Muller starting at the rear of the field. Balzan crawled away, allowing Tarquini to lead from Giovanardi and a fast starting Priaulx. Balzan was struck from behind by Huisman in the confusion of the start and both were out. BMWs pushed to the fore as first Giovanardi then Priaulx pushed past Tarquini. Just behind Dirk Muller and Garcia clashed, sending both downfield.
Under pressure the defending champion couldn't hold back the exuberant Priaulx who took his first ETCC victory. Giovanardi still managed his best ever finish for BMW with Dirk Muller completing the trifecta. The Alfas of Tarquini, Larini and Colciago were next; fourth enough for Tarquini to take the series lead with a late charge by Balzan knocking Rydell out of his first points for the year for him and for Volvo. In between Gene claimed a point for SEAT.
Tarquini has a five point lead over Priaulx and Dirk Muller with the hapless Jorg Muller a further four points adrift. After a frantic start to the season, the ETCC takes a month's break while the majority of its sister series, the FIA-GT Championship, prepares for their assault on Le Mans.
Result of European Touring Car Championship, Rounds 7 & 8 of 20, Brno, Czech Republic:
Standings: Gabriele Tarquini 45, Andy Priaulx and Dirk Muller 40, Jorg Muller 36, Nicola Larini 31, Roberto Colciago 29, Fabrizio Giovanardi 28, Antonio Garcia 21, Duncan Huisman 14, Tom Coronel 10 etc.
Unstoppable!
Pole position was taken by Jean-Marc Gounon in the Saleen S7R, the American coupe scorching around Brno in 1:56.695. Alongside would by the Lister of Jamie Campbell-Walter. The second row contained the two BMS Scuderia Italia Ferraris of Matteo Bobbi and Fabrizio Gollin. Andrea Piccini was fifth in the second factory Lister with Mike Hezemans in sixth in the Force One Chrysler Viper.
Gounon made the best of the start to lead Campbell-Walter, Bobbi, Hezemans, Gollin and Piccini. Gounon quickly built up a significant lead as the race settled down into the early stint. The first to pit of the leading cars was Pedro Chaves in the Graham Nash Saleen. The crew however forget to remove one of the rattle guns after the stop. The Saleen stopped again to have the gun removed. Hezemans punctured a tyre ending Force One's challenge and Phillip Peter retired JMB's 550 Maranello.
On lap 30 Gounon pitted for Toni Sielar along with Bobbi and BMS team mate Enzo Calderari. BMS serviced their car quicker than the Konrad crew, vaulting Thomas Biagi past the Saleen. Jamie Campbell-Walter held the lead for another three laps before stopping for Nathan Kinch. Kinch rejoined in third behind Biagi and Seilar and started hunting down the Saleen. Kinch took second just past half distance. Seilar continued to slide down field, gradually falling into the clutches of Jean-Denis Deletraz in the Lister.
Bobbi cleared away to an untroubled win while Gollin closed right in on the back of Piccini with Campbell-Walter hunting both down rapidly, but time would run out for the two closing cars. In N-GT, Freisinger Motorsport Porsche of Stephane Ortelli and Marc Lieb led most of the day on their way to eighth outright, 15 seconds ahead of the JMB Ferrari 360 of N-GT series leaders Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio de Simone. Biagi and Bobbi now have a maximum 40 points and sit 17 points clear of the Lister pairing of Deletraz and Piccini and 18 points ahead of BMS team mates Cappellari and Gollin.
Result of FIA GT Championship, Round 4 of 10, Brno, Czech Republic:
Standings: Thomas Biagi and Matteo Bobbi 40, Jean-Denis Deletraz and Andrea Piccini 23, Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin 22, Lilian Bryner, Enzo Calderari, Stefano Livio, Jamie Campbell-Walter and Nathan Kinch 16 etc
N-GT: Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio de Simone 28, Jamie Davies and Tim Mullen 20, Stephane Ortelli and Marc Lieb 18 etc
Briton Jeffries Dies After Isle of Man Crash
British rider David Jeffries was fatally injured last Thursday in a crash during practice for the Isle of Man TT races, his Suzuki team said.
The 30-year-old, who was the outright lap record holder at the TT, sustained the injuries while on his second lap of the circuit on his 1000cc Suzuki.
"The death of David has left the team shocked and devastated," Suzuki spokesman Philip Neill said in a statement. "Not only had David become a very close personal friend of the whole team, but he was a fantastic motorcycle rider and a real ambassador for our sport."
The organisers of the event said they had instituted an immediate enquiry into the incident.
Report provided by Reuters
McRae Aims For Fourth Acropolis Win In A Row
Colin McRae, yet to win a rally this season, sets out from the Acropolis on Thursday determined to revive his World Rally Championship hopes in the heat and dust of Greece. The Scot has won the toughest event of the European calendar for the past three years and five times in his last seven outings.
McRae's Citroen Xsara was destroyed by fire in the last Argentina round and Greece, with the in-car temperatures regularly above 55 degrees Celsius, will be no breeze. But the 1995 world champion believes he can win the Acropolis, sixth round of the season, again.
"It's an event I like and it's fun to do," said the Scot. "You have to gauge the ideal pace and that's an interesting exercise. These past three years I think I've found the knack, but I've also had a little luck.
"I think it should be a good rally for us. The Xsara has shown that it is quick on all types of surface, and that it's both strong and reliable. On paper I believe we have a good chance of winning."
Burns has also won in Greece before and will be keen as ever to beat McRae while champion Gronholm, winner of the last two rounds, is not a big fan of the car-breaking Acropolis with its boulders and sharp-edged rocks. The Finn is still an awesome opponent.
"Gronholm is proving a problem to all his rivals," said Citroen team boss Guy Frequelin. "He is currently a shade above everybody else."
Ford hope Estonian Markko Martin can provide their fourth Acropolis win in a row - McRae drove for them last year - with his first triumph on the world stage. Martin led last year before a puncture dashed his hopes.
"I will go out and do the best I can this year and I won't be thinking about what happened in 2002," he said.
Ford will also be backing 18-year-old Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, who becomes the youngest driver of an official works-entered car in the world championship. "It's a big challenge for me and I haven't been able to prepare as fully as I would like because I've been busy at school," said Latvala.
The ceremonial start of the rally, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is on Thursday in front of the Acropolis in Athens. There are then two legs over the mountains near the Parnassos national park and a third around the Timphristos mountains in northern Greece.
Report provided by Reuters
Formula 3000
Nicolas Kiesa experienced the greatest moment of his young career through the ineptitude of another as the scarcely believing Dane drove past the slowing Arden International entry of series leader Bjorn Wirdheim. There was nothing wrong with Wirdheim's car. He had merely slowed to acknowledge his pit crew. And it had cost him dear.
Pantano settled into clear air while behind Liuzzi continued to harry Toccacelo. With a podium on offer Toccacelo had a desperate moment at the swimming pool, skipping across the new chicane in order to get past the lapped car of Will Langhorne before the slow exit corners to the pool section ahead of Liuzzi. It earned him a drivethrough penalty. Toccacelo didn't make it back to the pits though as Liuzzi slammed into the back of Toccacelo at the entry to Casino Square. Each blamed the other but both were out. Over a second slower in qualifying Kiesa was now third as the Safety Car came out.
Pos Driver Team
1. Nicolas Kiesa Den Bla Avis
2. Bjorn Wirdheim Arden International
3. Raffaele Gianmaria Durango Formula
4. Jaroslav Janis Superfund-ISR-Charouz
5. Zsolt Baumgartner Coloni Motorsport
6. Townsend Bell Arden International
7. Yannick Schroeder Superfund-ISR-Charouz
8. Jeff van Hooydonk Team Astromega
9. Bernhard Auinger Red Bull Junior Team
10. Will Langhorne BCN F3000
CART
Michel Jourdain Jnr has been a championship threat before. He's led races before. But after 126 starts he finally wins his first CART event at the Milwaukee Mile and takes control of the CART series points standings from a hapless Paul Tracy, who at one point had a wheel part company from the car and Bruno Junqueira who crashed out of the event.
Those drivers who stayed out during the yellows started to pit on lap 59, led by Jourdain himself. Jourdain led the group out of the pits as Tracy regained second position after Servia had a slow out lap and Manning careered across the grass exiting the pits. New race leader was Carpentier who held it until he pitted on lap 73, handing it to Dominguez who held it for a lap before pitting and allowing Jourdain to resume command. Carpentier was in good form, having rejoined in fifth behind Fernandez.
The race went green on lap 226 but went yellow again immediately as Rodolfo Lavin had a cold tyre moment and slammed the wall in turn two. Jourdain took off too early at the first restart attempt and finally the race restarted but there was only nine laps to the flag in which Jourdain held the lead he had held for the majority of the race, correcting years of ill luck for the Mexican. Servia flashed over the line less than half a second behind with Carpentier third. Manning's race long consistency rewarded him with fourth place ahead of Tagliani and Fernandez.
Pos Driver Team
1. Michel Jourdain Jr Team Rahal Lola-Ford
2. Oriol Servia Patrick Racing Lola-Ford
3. Patrick Carpentier Player's/Forsythe Racing Lola-Ford
4. Darren Manning Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
5. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
6. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing Lola-Ford
7. Mario Haberfeld Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard-Ford
8. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
9. Sebastien Bourdais Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
10. Tiago Monteiro Fittipaldi-Dingman Reynard-Ford
Superbikes
Race One
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Neil Hodgson Ducati 999F03
2. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998RS
3. James Toseland Ducati 998F02
4. Regis Laconi Ducati 998RS
5. Chris Walker Ducati 998F02
6. Steve Martin Ducati 998RS
7. Marco Borciani Ducati 998RS
8. Vittorio Iannuzzo Suzuki GSX 1000R
9. Lucio Pedercini Ducati 998RS
10. Giovanni Bussei Yamaha YZF R1
Race Two
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. James Toseland Ducati 998F02
2. Neil Hodgson Ducati 999F03
3. Chris Walker Ducati 998F02
4. Regis Laconi Ducati 998RS
5. Ruben Xaus Ducati 999F03
6. Steve Martin Ducati 998RS
7. Juan Borja Ducati 998RS
8. Vittorio Iannuzzo Suzuki GSX 1000R
9. Marco Borciani Ducati 998RS
10. Lucio Pedercini Ducati 998RS
NASCAR
In a race that was closely fought all night, Ryan Newman held off Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte to win the NASCAR event at Dover. After several DNFs this year, including a couple of spectacular crashes and retiring while leading at Richmond, the win must have been sweet for Newman, as well as for teammate Rusty Wallace, who finished the race sixth after some troubled races recently. Tony Stewart's fourth place was all the more remarkable considering the lap penalty he suffered mid-race after pitting outside his box in pitlane under caution while leading. In the title race not much changed, Kenseth edging out a little further in front after Earnhardt Jr struggled a bit all day and finished just outside the top ten, with Kenseth's teammate Kurt Busch finishing down in 15th.
The race restarted on lap 90, Gordon and teammate Terry Labonte making their way forward soon after, quickly slotting in behind fellow teammate Johnson in fourth as Stewart pulled away at the front. Lap 103 and Gordon was up to fourth, three laps later Labonte took fifth as Johnson began to drop back. Gordon and Marlin were soon battling side-by-side, but unfortunately the battle brought out the next caution on lap 116 when Gordon washed up off turn two and spun Marlin into the backstretch wall. Once again the field pitted, Robby Gordon taking two tyres beating Stewart, Kenseth, Newman and Labonte as Jeff Gordon's pit choice near Stewart and teammate Labonte cost him time.
Back to green on lap 219. Several laps after the restart Newman's car began to smoke, but it wasn't affecting his pace as he drew up to leader Johnson's rear bumper, Gordon quickly joining the duo, taking second from Newman on lap 238 and the lead a few laps later, Johnson dropping back to third while Newman's car in second stopped smoking. Further back Matt Kenseth eventually took fourth from Wallace on lap 253 as Wallace began to fade. Within laps of each other teammates Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler went behind the wall. Lap 278 and the race was under caution when third placed runner Jimmie Johnson spun coming off turn two hard into the backstretch wall, possibly on oily water being sprayed out the overflow of Ward Burton's car, ending Johnson's day.
20 to go and Gordon was edging slightly closer, as was Stewart. Meanwhile Benson was up to fifth. 16 to go and Gordon was right on Newman, 14 to go and traffic helped him open up the gap again although Stewart was closing in to join them. All this didn't mean quite as much when Casey Mears bookended the race by crashing at both the start and end of the race, bringing out the caution on lap 390 when he pulled across the front of Greg Biffle's car on the frontstretch well before he was clear. Ninth and further back at the tail of the lead lap pitted, while the rest of the lead lap cars stayed out.
Pos Driver Car
1. Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid
2. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
3. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Tony Stewart Chevrolet Monte Carlo
5. Johnny Benson Pontiac Grand Prix
6. Rusty Wallace Dodge Intrepid
7. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
8. Ricky Craven Pontiac Grand Prix
9. Robby Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Terry Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Endurance
Opel DTM Squad OPC Team Phoenix has won the Nurburgring 24 Hours with one of their modified DTM Astra V8 Coupes. Regular DTM drivers Manuel Reuter and Timo Scheider were joined by Marcel Tiemann and Volker Strycek in the Astra which completed 143 laps of the giant German circuit, five laps ahead of another modified DTM vehicle, the Abt Audi TT-R of Karl Wendlinger, Christian Abt, Kris Nissen and Marco Werner. It was a trial by fire for the sprint-oriented DTM cars, more used to much shorter distances. The two cars had a hard-fought duel for much of the race before the Audi started to lose ground in the final third of the race.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Manuel Reuter/Timo Scheider/Marcel Tiemann/ Opel Astra V8 Coupe
Volker Strycek
2. Karl Wendlinger/Christian Abt/Kris Nissen Kris/ Abt Audi TT-R
Marco Werner
3. Lucas Luhr/Emmanuel Collard/Timo Bernhard Porsche 996
4. Harald Grohs/Peter Scharmach/Werner Fischer/ Porsche 996
Thomas Reisert
5. Peter Zakowski/Pedro Lamy/Robert Lechner Dodge Viper
6. Johannes Scheid/Oliver Kainz/Mario Merten BMW
7. Jorg Otto/Georg Weiss/Thomas Zinnow/Artur Erkes Porsche 996
8. Edgar Doren/Carl Christian Luck/ Porsche 996
Dr. Ernst-Paul Wawer/Franjo Kovac
9. Rudi Adams/Andreas Fries/Sepp Wenger/ BMW M3
Werner Riess
10. Willie Moore/David Cox/Nick Barrow BMW E36
British F3
Piquet was the dominant form of qualifying, taking both pole positions. But for the ninth round of the championship it was fellow front row occupier Robert Dahlgren who took the lead at the start from Adam Carroll, who has made quick gains since moving to Menu F3 Motorsport, while Piquet moved into third. Piquet made amends for his slow start, retaking second from Carroll, which soon became the lead after starting officials decided that Dahlgren's start was a little too good and penalised him a drivethrough for creeping on the grid.
Round Nine
Pos Driver Car
1. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Adam Carroll Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
3. Danny Watts Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
4. Will Davison Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Richard Antinucci Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Rob Austin Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
7. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
8. Karun Chandhok T-Sport Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
9. Clivio Piccione Manor Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
10. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
Round Ten
Pos Driver Car
1. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Richard Antinucci Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Rob Austin Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
4. Jamie Green Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Danny Watts Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
6. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
7. Will Davison Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
8. Ernani Judice Promatecme F3 Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
9. Clivio Piccione Manor Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
10. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
ETCC
Last year Andy Priaulx was making the best of his situation driving a Honda Civic in Britain. Now as the driver for the British BMW team in the ETCC, he took victory in race two at Brno for his debut ETCC race victory. Dirk Muller took the win in race one, in what on the surface looked like a good day. Series leader Jorg Muller scored no points at the Czech Republic circuit of Brno, conceding his championship lead to Alfa Romeo's Gabriele Tarquini.
Jorg Muller scythed through the field from the rear until he reached tenth where he found his sparring partner Larini and they clashed again. No black flag this time but a drivethrough penalty ended Muller's hopes of hanging on to his hard fought series lead. Dirk Muller had quickly recovered from his clash with Garcia, passing Jordi Gene, Colciago and Tarquini.
Round Seven
Pos Driver Car
1. Dirk Muller BMW 320i
2. Antonio Garcia BMW 320i
3. Fabrizio Giovanardi BMW 320i
4. Andy Priaulx BMW 320i
5. Duncan Huisman BMW 320i
6. Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
7. Alessandro Balzan Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
8. Roberto Colciago Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
9. Jordi Gene SEAT Toledo Cupra
10. Frank Diefenbacher SEAT Toledo Cupra
Round Eight
Pos Driver Car
1. Andy Priaulx BMW 320i
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi BMW 320i
3. Dirk Muller BMW 320i
4. Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
5. Nicola Larini Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
6. Roberto Colciago Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
7. Antonio Garcia BMW 320i
8. Jordi Gene SEAT Toledo Cupra
9. Rickard Rydell Volvo S60
10. Frank Diefenbacher SEAT Toledo Cupra
FIA GT
Four starts, four wins. That's the tale of Thomas Biagi, Matteo Bobbi and Scuderia Italia in the FIA-GT series. While challenged this time at Brno in the Czech Republic, the former Formula One outfit cut through the pack to score a 31 second victory over the closely battling factory Lister Storm of Jean-Denis Deletraz and Andrea Piccini and the Ferrari 550 Maranello of Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin.
Seilar held third all the way to the second pitstop, pitting just behind Kinch. Biagi took up the lead, pitting three laps later along with Deletraz. The BMS crew again displayed superior pit work and put Bobbi back into the race without losing the lead with Piccini now second ahead of Gollin and Campbell-Walter. Franz Konrad, now aboard the Konrad Motorsport Saleen, pitted and the team opened the car up, chasing an electrical problem.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Thomas Biagi/Matteo Bobbi Ferrari 550 Maranello
2. Jean-Denis Deletraz/Andrea Piccini Lister Storm
3. Luca Cappellari/Fabrizio Gollin Ferrari 550 Maranello
4. Jamie Campbell-Walter/Nathan Kinch Lister Storm
5. Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari/ Ferrari 550 Maranello
Stefano Livio
6. Bobby Verdon-Roe/Marco Zadra Lister Storm
7. Ni Amorim/Pedro Chaves/Miguel Ramos Saleen S7-R
8. Stephane Ortelli/Marc Lieb Porsche 996 GT3-RS (N-GT)
9. Andrea Bertolini/Fabrizio De Simone Ferrari 360 Modena (N-GT)
10. Jamie Davies/Tim Mullen Ferrari 360 Modena (N-GT)
Motorcycling
Rally
Although without a victory this season, he is still fifth in the championship, 15 points behind overall leader Britain's Richard Burns who is looking for his first win with Peugeot since he took the title in 2001 for Subaru.
McRae's teammate Carlos Sainz had his first career win in Greece in 1990 with two further victories since then. "The car is good, reliable and quick," he said. "We have everything we need to put in a strong performance."
Briefs
Upcoming Events Calendar
Please Contact Us for permission to republish this or any other material from Atlas F1.
 Email to Friend
Volume 9, Issue 23
Atlas F1 Exclusive
Keeping Track: Mike Doodson Turns 500
Ann Bradshaw: View from the Paddock
Monaco GP Review
2003 Monaco GP Review
Crossing Over the Jordan
The Forgotten Men
Stats Center
Qualifying Differentials
SuperStats
Charts Center
Columns
Season Strokes
On the Road
Elsewhere in Racing
The Weekly Grapevine
> Homepage |
