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.
Arden's Day
On a Saturday afternoon in, appropriate the Ardennes, Arden Motorsport celebrated a debut victory for their first year driver. Less than a minute later their team leader crossed the line and the team had a series champion to celebrate.
The remarkable double triumph was hinted at in qualifying. Liuzzi sat on his near customary pole position with his teammate alongside for the first time. Doornbos was just seven hundredths behind his team leader. The only driver who could deny Liuzzi's title aspirations, Enrico Toccacelo, was buried in seventh position. Veteran Tomas Enge was third fastest alongside the first of the Coloni fettled drivers, Jose Maria Lopez.
Esteben Guerrieri was next with series newcomer Matteo Grassotto putting an IE Engineering car into the top six. Last start winner Patrick Friesacher was down in tenth while the other two first time starters in the series were at the back in Chanoch Nissany and Matteo Meneghello, while Olivier Tielemans had to be granted special dispensation to start after crashing on his out lap in qualifying.
For the second consecutive race the field was guided away behind the safety car, as rain washed across the Belgian circuit. Once the race got under way Doornbos was quickly pressuring Liuzzi for the lead on the drenched circuit, moving into the lead on lap three into Blanchimont. A last minute set-up change proved the right choice as Doornbos bolted rapidly away from all pursuers. The field was otherwise static for the first half of the race, with only Jeff van Hooydonk making progress, passing three cars in four laps starting from lap eight.
Grassotto was the first to pit, on lap 12, one past half distance. Next lap Friesacher, who had passed Schmidt and a miserable Toccacelo who dropped a couple of spots with an early off, made his stop. Out on the track Liuzzi finally fell to Enge who had been pressuring him for some laps as all the while Doornbos was racing away to the tune of two to three seconds a lap.
Doornbos's lead was huge. Enough time to make sure the pitstop, eventually taken on lap 19, was done right. Second placed Esteban Guerrieri had no such luxury with Liuzzi, Enge and Lopez closing. The stop was smooth for Arden and a disaster for BCN with Guerrieri losing thirty seconds and resuming in eighth. A focussed Guerrieri quickly passed Grassotto but the chance of a podium finish was long gone. The same lap Lopez was through Enge but Liuzzi was lapping faster than anyone and had pulled a small gap. With only a couple of laps left Lopez had to settle for third.
With a lap to go Doornbos recorded the fastest lap before savouring a masterful win. Liuzzi followed him home by 28 seconds at the end. With Toccacelo circulating in a fruitless twelfth, the title was no longer in doubt. Behind Enge was Patrick Friesacher, only just ahead of a flying Tony Schmidt. Guerrieri claimed two points for seventh with Grassotto taking a point on debut.
With the last ever International Formula 3000 race less than two weeks away, the top two positions are decided - Liuzzi and Toccacelo cannot be moved. Doornbos's win gives him a five point buffer over Friesacher and eight points to Enge in the battle for third. One more race before GP2 beckons. At no less of a circuit than motor racing's living cathedral of Monza.
Result of International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 9 of 10, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium:
Standings: Vitantonio Liuzzi 76, Enrico Toccacelo 56, Robert Doornbos 38, Patrick Friesacher 33, Tomas Enge 30, Jose Maria Lopez 28, Esteban Guerrieri 24, Raffaele Giammaria 22, Yannick Schroeder 13, Tony Schmidt 11 etc
Junqueira's Back
Looking at the points table you would not think that all of Newman-Haas victories this year have belonged to Sebastien Bourdais. Bruno Junqueira, at the beginning of the year the team's theoretical team leader, has been sitting snugly in second place in the points standings almost all season. The Brazilian had not taken a race victory since Denver last year. Champ Car's Mr Consistency brought that statistic to an end, cruising to a six second victory over the local hero Patrick Carpentier at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
The first yellow would take six laps as Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed bringing the fleeing Bourdais back to the pack, with Dominguez, Junqueira and Tracy heading the queue. Once released Bourdais once again edged away from the field. Upon reaching lap 20 the majority of the pack dived pitward with the leaders pitting a lap later. After his early troubles Allmendinger spent six laps in the lead before stopping, handing over to Dominguez who passed Bourdais just after the pit stops.
The gap blew out to two and a half seconds before reaching the end of the yoyo string, and Bourdais started reeling the Mexican in again. Dominguez made his second stop on lap 36, early as it turned out, no-one else pitting for another three laps. Even more costly is the stop itself. A sticking wheel gun slows the stop and drops Dominguez down the order. Bourdais is now back in the lead ahead of teammate Junqueira, Alex Tagliani and Tracy. When the second stops arrive, a front wing problem on Tagliani's Lola is addressed, slowing the stop.
Bourdais emerges from the pits with Allmendinger bearing down on the Frenchman. The pair clash and the series leader heads pitward to retire with deranged suspension. Allmendinger too headed pitwards to serve a five second black flag penalty in his pit bay, handing the lead to Junqueira. Two laps later Allmendinger stopped again for his second pitstop, but the pit window did not open until the following lap, earning the RuSPORT driver an additional penalty.
Last month Bourdais overcame a spin in front of the field on the opening lap to take a remarkable victory at the Denver Street Circuit. Paul Tracy was best of the rest ahead of Junqueira and Dominguez.
Bourdais' lead has been reduced to 34 points, a catchable margin for teammate Junqueira. Tracy has regained third from Tagliani and sits 55 points off the lead, a lead starting to look tough to bridge for the reigning champion.
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 9 of 15, Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver, Denver Street Circuit, Colorado, United States:
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 10 of 15, Molson Indy Montreal, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Quebec, Canada:
Standings: Sebastien Bourdais 258, Bruno Junqueira 224, Paul Tracy 203, Alex Tagliani 183, Patrick Carpentier 181, Mario Dominguez 175, A.J. Allmendinger 159, Ryan Hunter-Reay 147, Jimmy Vasser 146, Oriol Servia 138 etc
Dale Jr Domination
Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne sat on the front row, Gordon taking the lead at the start, and still led as the first caution came out on lap 21 after Jimmy Spencer bounced off the wall. The race went back to green on lap 25 but was back under caution on lap 34 when Scott Wimmer spun and clipped Joe Nemechek, badly damaging both cars. Back to green on lap 41 but another caution wasn't far away, coming out on lap 58 when Ricky Rudd hit the wall after moving over on Mike Wallace.
Most of the field pitted now, while a few who had pitted at the earlier cautions stayed out. This meant that Rusty Wallace now led from Dale Earnhardt Jr, Bobby Labonte, Jimmie Johnson and Kenny Wallace, while the best placed of those who pitted was Sterling Marlin in seventh who took two tyres while Gordon took four and was now eleventh. The race went back to green on lap 62, Earnhardt Jr passing Wallace for the lead two laps later. Meanwhile Marlin and Gordon moved their way forward, Marlin up to third by lap 75 while Gordon was up to fourth by lap 81. The next caution was just around the corner on lap 84 after Ricky Craven hit the wall.
The race restarted on lap 89 but was back under caution a lap later after a four car incident at the restart. Back to green on lap 99, Earnhardt Jr leading Wallace at the restart, swapping positions on lap 105, 128 and 132 and 191, Earnhardt back in the lead as they approached green flag stops. They began around lap 205 and finished around lap 240. During these stops top five runner Mark Martin ran down the other pit lane after his stop, which he only needed to do if the stop was under caution, Rusty Wallace's car stalled and took a long time to refire while Jeff Gordon also lost some time as he slight overshot his pit.
Racing resumed on lap 338, Jimmie Johnson taking the lead from Earnhardt Jr on lap 358 just a lap before another caution a lap later for debris. Johnson and Jarrett stayed out but the rest of the field pitted, Earnhardt Jr, Kenseth and McMurray pitting and filling out the top five. Back to green on lap 364 and back to caution two laps later when Robby Gordon tipped Jarrett into a spin, Marlin and Tony Stewart also spinning but only suffering light damage. Back to green again on lap 374 with Johnson leading Earnhardt Jr, Kenseth, McMurray and Elliott Sadler, Earnhardt Jr back in the lead two laps later.
The next caution came out on lap 389 after a multi-car crash which included among others Rusty Wallace, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart, the damage to cars in this wreck generally more substantial. Most of the lead lap cars pitted, but Jeff Burton and Ryan Newman stayed out and took over the top two spots, with Earnhardt Jr, Johnson and Sadler completing the top five. Racing resumed on lap 400, with Jeff Gordon back on the lead lap after being the 'lucky dog'. It didn't stay that way for long, as he was soon given a drivethrough penalty for not being in the right place at the restart.
At the front it wasn't long before Earnhardt Jr moved back into the lead, taking second from Newman on lap 407 and the lead from Burton nine laps later. Burton lost second to Newman on lap 448 and third to Johnson on lap 482, but neither could catch Dale Earnhardt Jr as he took his first win since suffering burns about a month ago, with Ryan Newman second, Jimmie Johnson third, Jeff Burton in his second race for RCR fourth and Elliott Sadler rounding out the top five.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 24 of 36, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee, United States:
Standings: Jeff Gordon 3380, Jimmie Johnson 3356, Dale Earnhardt Jr 3305, Tony Stewart 3195, Matt Kenseth 3156, Kurt Busch 3051, Elliott Sadler 3019, Kevin Harvick 2923, Bobby Labonte 2919, Ryan Newman 2918 etc.
AGR Trifecta
An impressive 1-2-3 finish for Andretti Green Racing at Nazareth Speedway has all but sealed Tony Kanaan's Indy Racing League Championship with title challenger Buddy Rice again losing ground, finishing in fourth position. Kanaan was second in the trifecta with teammate Dan Wheldon taking the win and moving past Rice by three points. Dario Franchitti continued his recent form reversal to trail his teammates home and keeping Rice from another two points.
Helio Castroneves had led the field at the start in the Team Penske Dallara with teammate Sam Hornish Jr riding shotgun in the early laps. The race ran green for the first sixty laps before Mark Taylor and Bell touched, sending the British driver up into the turn three wall, the yellow arriving just in time for the majority of the field to make their pitstops, although usual low mileage racer Tomas Scheckter had already stopped. In the stops the AGR crew serviced Kanaan quicker, vaulting the Honda powered Brazilian into second behind Castroneves, although once green Hornish shoudlered his way forward to take the lead on lap 101.
Again a yellow arrived to save the majority of the field, again with the exception of Scheckter and Ed Carpenter who caused the yellow by crashing in turn two on lap 143 ahead of the final yellow on lap 182.
A week earlier at Pikes Peak, Dario Franchitti confirmed his return to good racing results after a motorcycle accidnet ruled him out of most of the 2003 season. Franchitti won from Adrian Fernandez, the Mexican driver storming up the points standings while series challenger Buddy Ricer had a severe set back crashing into the turn two wall on the opening lap. With Tony Kanaan finishing in fifth place this brought an end to Rice's gradual closing of the lead. Wheldon finished third ahead of Darren Manning.
With only three races left Kanaan holds a 72 point lead over Wheldon with 75 points over title rival Rice. Castroneves still holds fourth place in the Penske-Toyota but is some 144 points behind his fellow countryman.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 12 of 16, Honda Indy 225, Pikes Peak International Raceway, Colorado, United States:
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 13 of 16, Firestone Indy 225, Nazareth Speedway, Tennessee, United States:
Standings: Tony Kanaan 502, Dan Wheldon 430, Buddy Rice 427, Helio Castroneves 358, Dario Franchitti 354, Sam Hornish Jr 314, Adrian Fernandez 312, Vitor Meira 302, Darren Manning 296, Bryan Herta 295 etc.
The GTS division was claimed by the Larbre Competicion Ferrari 550 Maranello of Christophe Bouchut, Pedro Lamy and Steve Zacchia with Stephane Daoudi and Roman Rusinov upsetting the Porsches in GT division with the JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena.
Standings: Allan McNish and Pierre Kaffer 28, Pedro Lamy, Christophe Bouchut and Steve Zacchia 25, Jamie Davies and Johnny Herbert 24, Marc Rostan and Pierre Bruneau 23 etc
Third and fourth were the pair of factory supported GTS Chevrolet Corvettes of Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin and Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell. The Courage C65 MG of Ian James and James Gue were fifth, taking the P2 division with the Alex Job Racing Porsche of Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister winning the GT class in seventh outright behind the ACEMCO Saleen.
Standings: Marco Werner and JJ Lehto 138, Andy Wallace 85, James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger 79, Chris Dyson 71 etc
Formula 3000
For Robert Doornbos and Vitantonio Liuzzi, this day was a special day indeed.
Enge led Liuzzi into the pits on lap 16, but the Arden pit crew were quicker than Enge's Ma-Con crew and Liuzzi resumed in in fourth, quickly third as Lopez stopped the following lap. Liuzzi, Enge and Lopez quickly became a three car train around the Belgian circuit battling for third. Liuzzi would start to pull away as Lopez menaced Enge.
Pos Driver Team
1. Robert Doornbos Arden International Lola-Zytek
2. Vitantonio Liuzzi Arden International Lola-Zytek
3. Jose Maria Lopez CMS Performance Racing Lola-Zytek
4. Tomas Enge Ma-Con Engineering Lola-Zytek
5. Patrick Friesacher Coloni Motorsport Lola-Zytek
6. Tony Schmidt Ma-Con Engineering Lola-Zytek
7. Esteban Guerrieri BCN Competicion Lola-Zytek
8. Matteo Grassotto I.E. Engineering Lola-Zytek
9. Jeffrey van Hooydonk Super Nova Racing Lola-Zytek
10. Ernesto Viso Durango Formula Lola-Zytek
OWRS
Sebastien Bourdais led the field away from pole position with Mario Dominguez moving past a surprise second grid spot holder in A.J. Allmendinger in second, the young American sensation having his first front row start. Allmendinger was then struck by Paul Tracy who skittered across the turf in turn two, giving the RuSPORT driver a cut tyre in the process forcing him pitwards.
The final stops were completed on lap 57, leaving Junqueira leading from Carpentier, Dominguez, Tracy and Allmendinger with a dozen laps to run. There was no change over the closing laps even with Allmendinger's penalty dropping him time but not position as teammate Jourdain was some distance back in sixth. Tagliani won the battle for seventh ahead of Jimmy Vasser and Oriol Servia.
Pos Driver Car
1. Sebastien Bourdais Newman Haas Racing Lola-Ford
2. Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
3. Bruno Junqueira Newman Haas Racing Lola-Ford
4. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
5. A.J. Allmendinger RuSport Lola-Ford
6. Oriol Servia Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford
7. Justin Wilson Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Lola-Ford
8. Mario Haberfeld Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
9. Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
10. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
Pos Driver Car
1. Bruno Junqueira Newman Haas Racing Lola-Ford
2. Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
3. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
4. Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
5. A.J. Allmendinger RuSport Lola-Ford
6. Michel Jourdain Jr RuSport Lola-Ford
7. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
8. Jimmy Vasser PKV Racing Lola-Ford
9. Oriol Servia Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford
10. Roberto Gonzalez PKV Racing Lola-Ford
NASCAR
He may not have qualified well, but a call to pit early proved to be a smart move for Dale Earnhardt Jr, getting him up front early in the race, a place he rarely relinquished the rest of the way as he took a dominant victory at Bristol. His win assured him a place in the chase, along with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Meanwhile the fight to make the chase has got even tighter, with eighth to tenth separated by just three points, while the gap between tenth and fifteenth is just 25 points with two races remaining.
After the stops were over Earnhardt Jr had a six second lead (on a fifteen second lap!) over Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Dale Jarrett and Matt Kenseth. Not long after the stops Gordon was put a lap down by Earnhardt Jr as he stretched his advantage past half distance of the 500 lap race, with less than ten cars remaining on the lead lap. Debris on the track brought out a much-needed caution (for most of the field anyway) on lap 328. The field pitted, Earnhardt Jr leading Johnson, Jarrett, McMurray and Kenseth out the other end.
Pos Driver Car
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Jeff Burton Chevrolet Monte Carlo
5. Elliott Sadler Ford Taurus
6. Sterling Marlin Dodge Intrepid
7. Jamie McMurray Dodge Intrepid
8. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
9. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
10. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
IRL
The final finishing order was set after the final yellow flag period, after Scott Sharp and Townsend Bell crashed in turn four with 43 laps to go.
Pos Driver Team
1. Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
2. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
3. Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
4. Darren Manning Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
5. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
6. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara IR2 Toyota
7. Vitor Meira Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
8. Jacques Lazier Patrick Racing Dallara IR2 Chevrolet
9. Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
10. Alex Barron Cheever Racing Dallara IR2 Chevrolet
Pos Driver Team
1. Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
2. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
3. Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
4. Buddy Rice Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
5. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara IR2 Toyota
6. Darren Manning Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
7. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
8. Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
9. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
10. Vitor Meira Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
Briefs
The third round of the Le Mans Endurance Series has been run and won at Silverstone, and echoing recent results it was Audi again who took victory with Audi Sport UK's Allan McNish and Pierre Kaffer racing to a one lap victory at the Silverstone 1000 over fellow Audi drivers of Team Goh, Dindo Capello and Seiji Ara. A further lap down was the second Audi Sport UK car of Jamie Davies and Johnny Herbert who were slowed after contact forced a replacement nosecone to be fitted to the silver and purple car. Polesitter Robbi Kerr finished fourth in the Zytek-Reynard 04S. First P2 entry home was the Courage C65 MG of Jean-Marc Gounon, Alexander Frei and Sam Hancock in seventh position.
Marco Werner succesfully completed his American Le Mans Series title defence two races early after he and co-driver JJ Lehto won in Champion Racing's Audi R8 at the Road America 500 last month. After spinning early Lehto and Werner brought the Audi back into the lead to take a one lap victory over the Intersport Racing Lola B160 Judd of Jon Field and Duncan Dayton in a near last man standing affair after both the Dyson Racing Team Lola B160 MGs suffered mechanical failures, thus ending the chances of DRT drivers Andy Wallace, James Weaver or Butch Leitzinger catching the Audi duo.
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Volume 10, Issue 35
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