Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Audi 1-2-3
There was speculation prior to the event with Panoz victories in the US and the pace of the Judd powered cars in Europe that maybe Audi wouldn't have it all its own way. But the test day in May told a shattering story. The gap from the Audis to the rest could be measured in seconds. Qualifying was little different.
As with last year, Rinaldo Capello scorched around the giant French circuit to record pole position in the #2 car in a time of 3:29.905, the fastest pole lap since Phillipe Alliot's 3:24 Peugeot lap in 1993. Tom Kristensen was only three tenths away in second with the third Audi half a second further back. There was almost a second back to the ORECA Dallara with Stephane Sarrazin setting the time. Jan Lammers was next in the Dome ahead of the remarkable LMP675 MG-Lola. The Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello was top of GTS with The Racers Group Porsche leading GT.
After 45 minutes, Michael Krumm had fought his way into sixth place and was chasing Hiroki Katoh in the Japanese Audi. At this stage Audi had four of the top six places. Herbert pitted soon after, losing the lead to Biela. After the first round of stops, Biela kept the lead over Herbert, with Yannick Dalmas up to third in the Japanese Audi. Herbert retook the lead just into the second hour.
The battle for fourth place continued to be traded amongst cars, as JJ Lehto in the Cadillac passed the Bentley of Andy Wallace. This led into the first incident as Werner Lupberger crashed the Ascari-Judd at Indianapolis after a suspension failure. Also out was the Autoexe-Mazda with a broken gearbox.
The second of the Domes disappeared with gearbox dramas, while the Vipers continued to strike varying problems under pressure from the fleeing Ferrari 550 Maranello. The #26 MG continued to be the only effective opposition to the Audis into the third hour, with ORECA and now Courage leading the rest. Pirro in the #1 Audi was closing the gap down on Christian Pescatori in the #2 car as the flying leaders swept by Philip Peter in the #3 Audi to put all bar themselves a lap down.
With the gap down to a second, Pescatori punctured and headed pitwards. Nobody knew it at the time but this would be the last lead change of the whole race. Pescatori fell behind Peter. Hughes was fourth ahead of Dalmas. The lead Corvette started to shut down the rampant Ferrari, but it was a temporary situation, the Ferrari quickly reasserting its dominance. Several Porsches continued to swap the GT lead, while the JMB Ferrari GT team had retired one car with the other visiting the pits regularly.
As the race ploughed into the very late evening, Kristensen punctured. He limped the #1 Audi back to the pits, keeping the lead. Just before midnight fire struck the race, as the third MG-Lola run by Knight Hawk Racing caught fire on the Mulsanne, sending out the pace car. Mel Hawkins escaped unharmed. The lead MG was rapidly being closed on by two prototypes as the #3 Audi approached to lap it, and the Bentley closed in to threaten for fourth place. It would not last as Warren Hughes stopped in the new Dunlop curves with broken transmission, ending MG's gallant charge.
This brought the Bentley into fourth ahead of the lead Cadillac and the lead ORECA. The battle for the classes had settled as the Prodrive Ferrari moved away from the Corvettes and the Freisinger car was controlling the Porsche class.
As the race approached half distance the pace car was out again as Eric Helary dragged oil from the Courage-Peugeot around the circuit. With intermittent light rain about and the prospect of a foggy dawn the oil had to be cleared. Elsewhere the DAMS 'Leader' Panoz was stopped out on the circuit with a broken transmission.
The surviving factory cars from Panoz and MG were both in the pits with broken axles. It would be the beginning of the end for both cars. The MG would hold the LMP675 class lead for some time as the WR-Peugeot reeled in the laps lost to the #27 MG. The Bentley lost fourth with an off, but soon regained it from Cadillac with a long stop.
As the sun peeked over the horizon, retirements started to plague the race. The Riley & Scott succumbed, as did the GT Spyker-BMW. The #9 Dome broke a gearbox, as did Team Orbit's Porsche. The Dutch Dome was in for gearbox repairs but would continue, unlike the ROC Reynard-VW. The Bentley staggered briefly and mysteriously on the Mulsanne, but continued without further drama.
The surviving MG had a massive engine failure on the Mulsanne, formally handing the class lead to the WR-Peugeot, which was again the fastest car on the Mulsanne. Drama for Cadillac, with both cars in for near identical tyre blowouts. The #6 car was damaged though and would spend some time being repaired, passing the baton to the #7 car. ORECA were also hard at work on the #15 car, replacing the rear end. The FFSA ORECA-prepared Viper was having a fierce battle with the second Corvette for second in the GTS class.
The adopted crowd favourite, the odd looking Morgan Aero 8-BMW, started its slide into retirement mid-morning. A small fire in the repaired #6 Cadillac gave the team brief grief, but worse was to come when Angelelli walled it at Tetre Rouge. With dramas affecting the prototypes, the #5 Japanese Audi was climbing up the order, the white car now running as consistently as its silver siblings. The #2 car quickly regained second, and when the starter motor failed on the #1 car, the lead beckoned. The #1 car was quickly repaired, but the two lead Audis were now on the same lap and Johnny Herbert was sprinting to catch Pirro. Their closeness though was artificial as the cars were out of sync with their pitstops. The lap gap would be restored over the coming hours.
As the final hours wound down there were no significant changes amongst the top ten, and the three Audis lined up in formation, literally 1-2-3, to cross the line at the end of 24 hours. This was the sixth 'three-peat' in the history of Le Mans, but never before had it been achieved with the same driver line-up.
With three works Audis this year, it seemed fourth would be the best Bentley could hope for compared to last year's third, and so it proved. They also claimed the GTP class, but as the only entry it would have been hard to lose it! Fifth and sixth were claimed by ORECA in an exceedingly impressive performance for privateers. The Japanese Audi led by Yannick Dalmas was next ahead of the Dutch Dome-Judd. Cadillac would claim a top ten finish ahead of the surviving Courage-Peugeot, claiming yet another top ten finish for Henri Pescarolo's team.
In the absence of the Ferrari, the chase was on between the factory Chevrolet Corvettes and the ORECA-prepared Chrysler Viper of Equipe de France. By the time the Ferrari retired the lead Corvette of Ron Fellows, Olivier Gavin and Johnny O'Connell was a lap ahead, and largely maintained that gap through the night and into the morning, eventually winning the class by four laps in eleventh outright. Second in class was real head-to-head racing in the night and well into the morning. As morning became afternoon the Viper struck problems and Chevrolet celebrated a 1-2 with Kelly Collins, Frank Freon and Andy Pilgrim in 13th outright. The French Viper of Jean-Philipe Belloc, Jonathan Cochet and Benoit Treluyer survived to finish 14th outright, 5 laps down on the second Corvette.
The biggest party in pitlane though would have been down in the LMGT pits. Kevin Buckler's The Racers Group Porsche 996 completed a remarkable Daytona Le Mans double in the always hard fought entry-level class. Timo Bernhard, Kevin Buckler and Lucas Luhr drove hard to take 16th outright, an excellent performance in a year when so many prototypes finished. They had to race hard as after 24 hours of racing they only beat the Freisinger Motorsport Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister, Romain Dumas and Sascha Maassen by just over two minutes taking 17th outright.
Just over half of the 50 car field finished on a day completely dominated by those three silver Audis. Speculation continued to run rife that with little left to achieve, Audi were now done with sportscars and would move on to bigger things. But when asked the obvious question, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich of Audi said that Le Mans could give you a complete season of Formula One in a single day. It is a statement that is very hard to argue with.
There was just one more story though. Last car home in 27th outright was a story by itself. For the second time in its history, a movie was being filmed around the race. In 1970 Steve McQueen entered his own Porsche 908, festooned with cameras to capture the drama of the battle between Porsche and Ferrari. This year famed director Luc Besson employed the DAMS team to run two camera-equipped cars in the race. These two cars, a bright blue Lola B2K/10 Judd for the 'good guys' and a menacing red Panoz LMP1 Roadster S for the 'bad guys' would race amongst the field, but their purpose was gathering footage and staging pitstops, so they were never truly competitive and always hovered at the bottom of the order. The 'Leader' (Panoz) struck gearbox problems and was retired in the night, but the 'Valliante' (Lola) continued on, despite its own gearbox problems keeping it in the pits for much of the morning, to claim a finish in the race, some 226 laps down. As I'm sure Audi would agree on this hot French afternoon, it's always important that the good guys win.
Result of 70th 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France:
Ukawa Runs Rossi Close at Catalunya
Max Biaggi finally broke Valentino Rossi's pole position streak, with Rossi qualifying 'only' fourth fastest. At the start, Tohru Ukawa took the lead from Carlos Checa, Biaggi and Rossi. At turn four on lap one, Olivier Jacque made an optimistic dive down the inside, which caused a three bike collision between Norick Abe, Jurgen van der Goorbergh and Jacque's teammate Shinya Nakano, Abe resuming but needed repairs, finishing out of the points. Meanwhile up front Ukawa and Checa had opened a small gap over Biaggi and Rossi as they completed lap one, Suzuki teammates Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau on Rossi's tail as four strokes filled the top six placings.
On lap two, Checa took the lead as he passed Ukawa at turn four, as the top four began to break away from the rest of the field. Beginning lap five, Rossi passed Biaggi at the end of pit straight to move up to third. Rossi moved immediately onto Ukawa's tail as Biaggi began to fade slightly. Sete Gibernau, having finally passed teammate Kenny Roberts, planted his Suzuki into the turn one gravel at the start of lap seven, another early end for Gibernau.
After temporarily dropping back, Ukawa was soon onto the tail of Checa again, Ukawa passing Checa for second down the pit straight at the start of lap seventeen. Like Rossi just a few laps before, Ukawa immediately closed in on the leader who was now Rossi himself as Checa began to fade. As the battle at the front continued, the two two-stroke Honda Pons teammates of Alex Barros and Loris Capirossi continued their private battle for fifth and sixth place as they ran a fairly lonely race.
Tohru Ukawa sat right on Rossi's tail, pushing him hard over the remaining laps of the race, having the occasional half look but never able to make a move, with Rossi running a quick last lap to put the result beyond doubt, Rossi winning by just under a second from Ukawa, with Yamaha teammates Checa and Biaggi finishing third and fourth after a competitive display which showed the Yamaha was still not quite fast enough. Further back, Capirossi had an entertaining last few laps after running through the gravel at turn one, losing a place to Kenny Roberts before stealing it back a lap later. After starting 15th, Daijiro Katoh rode a steady and consistent race to make it up to eighth place by the finish.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 6, Catalunya, Spain:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 145, Tohru Ukawa 97, Loris Capirossi 65, Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa 56, Norick Abe 52, Alex Barros 51, Daijiro Katoh 47 etc.
McRae's Acropolis Now
"The key to the win here this time was the car's strength, because we were able to keep a good pace throughout and we never had any problems," said McRae. "It obviously makes our championship situation better but we have to look for a similar result on the Safari Rally now to get up some momentum."
Markko Martin was the early leader of the event in the third Focus, as the front running cars were slowed by the need to sweep rocks from the road. Estonia's finest took the lead on SS1 and held the lead throughout Leg 1, winning Stages 4 and 5 along the way. Second would be another car from down the order, Freddy Loix, and his Hyundai Accent. McRae, third overnight, quickly moved up to second early on Leg 2, then the lead when Martin had to stop for a puncture in Stage 9. McRae then rocketed away from the field. His lead of over 30 seconds would be hard to catch on Leg 3, but both Richard Burns, finally on top of the Peugeot, and Marcus Gronholm would be there to try.
Gronholm pulled in 20 seconds on McRae on Leg 3, most of that coming after clipping a tree, making for the comical sight of Nicky Grist explaining to the cameras while McRae did some panel beating on the left rear wheel arch using the jack. Burns though was unable to capitalise on McRae's delay after cracking his suspension early in Leg 3. The brilliant run of Freddy Loix also came to an end early on Sunday; a rock cracked the sump and vented the engine's oil over the rocky Greek countryside. The ever consistent Ford of Carlos Sainz came up into third place as a result, ahead of a fascinating battle for fourth place.
Of the rest, the most obvious name missing from the results was, again, Tommi Makinen. Makinen and the Subaru are quick, but a string of retirements are badly affecting his world championship chances. This time Makinen lost his power steering which led to him losing a wheel on a rock after destroying his brakes earlier from a sticking throttle. The third Impreza of Toshihiro Arai had a slow and consistent run into 13th.
Citroen showed up to test the Xsara on the stony roads of Acropolis and were rewarded with seventh and eighth place finishes for Sebastien Loeb and Thomas Radstrom. The red cars ran largely without drama as the learnt the rough field characteristics of the Xsara. It will be a valuable lesson.
After Loix's pace early in the event, a ninth for Armin Schwarz must seem a disappointing result. Little problems slowed Schwarz, brake calipers and plumbing coming adrift being the extent of his problems. Juha Kankkunen disappeared on Saturday with incurable electrical woes.
Toni Gardemeister was tenth in the Skoda Octavia in what turned out to be a surprisingly retirement-free Acropolis. Differential problems struck all three Octavias across the rally, and this limited them to tenth (Gardemeister), 14th (Kenneth Eriksson) and 17th (Stig Blomqvist).
In the Junior World Championship, Janne Tuohino won the class in the Citroen Saxo. Second was taken by Andrea Dallavilla (Citroen Saxo), after an engine failure to the Citroen of Jussi Valimaki. Nicola Caldani (Fiat Punto) slipped into third.
Gronholm still has a comfortable lead in the championship, a lead lengthened by two points to fourteen. Sainz's consistency has him second, with McRae moving up to equal third with Gilles Panizzi.
There is no relief to the punishment on the cars. After the rocks of Greece, it's off to the toughest of them all. In four weeks time the field assembles in Kenya for the Safari Rally.
Result of World Rally Championship, Round 7, Acropolis Rally, Greece:
Standings: Marcus Gronholm 37, Carlos Sainz 23, Gilles Panizzi and Colin McRae 20, Richard Burns 19, Petter Solberg 15, Tommi Makinen 14 etc.
Manufacturers: Peugeot 77, Ford 55, Subaru 35, Mitsubishi 6, Skoda 5, Hyundai 4
Super 1600: Daniel Sola 13, Janne Tuohino and Andrea Dallavilla 12, Francois Duval 11, Nicola Caldani 10 etc.
Da Matta Does It Again
Polesitter Cristiano da Matta dropped into second at the first turn after a late braking move by Kenny Brack, after the first, second and third start attempts were waved off. Three cars took to the escape road as they went too deep into turn one. Meanwhile Scott Dixon, Adrian Fernandez and Tora Takagi were involved in a tangle in the middle of the chicane after Takagi cut across the inside of turn two, bringing out the yellow flag again. The race eventually got underway safely, Brack leading da Matta, Alex Tagliani, Dario Franchitti, making it past lap one turn one this week, and Bruno Junqueira in fifth.
Things remained fairly constant in the early laps, Brack and da Matta edging ever so slightly away from the rest of the field, although at the back of the field Takagi planted it into the tyres on lap 13 at turn four. Junqueira began to close on Franchitti as they headed to the first pit stops, required by lap 30 at the latest, which is when just about everyone pitted, most positions staying the same although Franchitti lost a place to Junqueira, Tagliani also losing places when he began to slow soon after the pit stops. This was followed soon after by Christian Fittipaldi and Paul Tracy colliding at turn four, ending Tracy's race and costing Fittipaldi five laps.
Up front Brack and da Matta continued to battle as daylight ran third... well, Junqueira was, but he was over 10 seconds behind, although he was beginning to close in, the gap having been 14 seconds just after the pit stops. By lap 47 the gap from second to third was down to about six seconds as the leaders battled through the backmarkers, and by lap 50 Junqueira had made it a three car pack. Franchitti also started to close in on the lead of the race, less than six seconds behind the leading pack, and came down to under three seconds as they came to the second pit stops.
The top three continued to run close together as they headed towards the final required pit stop. On lap 88, Adrian Fernandez came out just in front of the leader da Matta, having just made his pit stop. While trying to remain ahead of him, Fernandez's car snapped out of control heading onto the back straight, into the wall and out of the race. Bell decided this was a good time to pit, but stalled as he went to leave the pits, losing him valuable time and third place to Franchitti after all the stops were over.
As the laps wound down, Junqueira closed in on da Matta once again, but was unable to get close enough to be able to make a move. Further back, Bell closed right in on Franchitti but like Junqueira he was unable to make a move. Da Matta took a narrow win over Junqueira, as Franchitti just held off Bell for third, seven seconds behind the leaders.
Result of FedEx CART World Series, Round 6, Portland, Oregon, United States:
Standings: Cristiano da Matta 74, Bruno Junqueira and Michel Jordain Jr 54, Dario Franchitti 49, Christian Fittipaldi 43, Patrick Carpentier 38, Michael Andretti and Scott Dixon 34, Kenny Brack Paul Tracy and Max Papis 32 etc.
Kenseth's Third (Just)
Polesitter Dale Jarrett led at the start but was passed by Bill Elliott before the end of lap one, before Ryan Newman took the lead at turn one on lap three. On lap 10 Dale Earnhardt Jr took the lead as they exited turn four. Jeff Gordon meanwhile had raced his way up from 24th to 11th in 15 laps. Lap 18 and Elliott retook the lead on the exit of turn four. By lap 40 Gordon was up to eighth as his young teammate Jimmie Johnson battled with Jarrett for second.
Soon after the first round of pit stops began. As cars pitted, Elliott kept going around. Then he began to slow on the back straight... he had run out of fuel! He made it back to the pits and completed his stop, losing 20 seconds and dropping down to 13th as Jarrett took the lead. Jarrett continued to lead, putting series points leader Sterling Marlin a lap down on lap 73. On lap 90, the second round of pit stops began. On lap 97 John Andretti brushed the turn two wall, bringing out the caution in the middle of the pit action. This saw some of the top runners caught a lap or almost a lap down. One of those to remain on the lead lap was Jimmie Johnson, who Jarrett accidentally let past as he came to the caution flag after mishearing Johnson's number, 48, as that of his teammate Ricky Rudd, 28!
This lead didn't last long as Jarrett took the lead back into turn three on the first lap under green, though Kenseth was on Jarrett's tail soon after, Kenseth taking the lead at the end of the front straight on lap 148. Thirteen laps later Jimmie Johnson broke the Ford dominance at the front, taking the lead down the back stretch, though Kenseth remained in close attendance. Meanwhile Jarrett had dropped back to eighth place. As the laps wound down, Kenseth continued to run with Johnson, Newman three seconds further back, as it became clear everyone would need to make a splash'n'dash stop to make the distance.
With fifteen laps remaining, Johnson made the first of these stops, with everyone else following suit over the next six laps, with the race being led by Kenseth, Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney before Kenseth took the lead back when all the stops were over, a couple of seconds clear of Johnson. Just when it looked like all the action was over, Elliott Sadler spun through turn two as he rejoined after his pits, bringing out the caution on lap 195 which was soon followed by the red as NASCAR tried to ensure a race to the flag. Fourteen cars sat on the lead lap, but how many would pit? About half of them decided it was a good idea, some taking two tyres while others including Waltrip, Jarrett and Gordon decided four was the go.
After finally getting back on to the lead lap and taking the final restart twelfth, Jeff Gordon managed to make it back up to fifth place which included a fierce battle with Johnny Benson which saw Benson on the apron more than once and a 6/1000th of a second gap at the finish line. Meanwhile Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson slipped from second on lap 197 to last on the lead lap at the end, finishing fourteenth. Other notable results were Rudd's eighth place finish, bettering his last two race finishes despite not running up front like he had done in those races, and points leader Sterling Marlin finished 21st, a lap down, after a lacklustre day.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 15, Michigan Speedway, Wisconsin, United States:
Standings: Sterling Marlin 2164, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon 2054, Mark Martin 1990, Matt Kenseth 1974, Rusty Wallace 1972, Tony Stewart 1935, Ricky Rudd 1870, Kurt Busch 1838, Bill Elliott 1825 etc.
Pop princess Britney Spears is moving full speed ahead with her movie career, signing a deal with NASCAR to star in a feature film set in the world of stock car racing, NASCAR officials have said.
Spears, who made a respectable screen acting debut in February in the girl road and friendship movie "Crossroads", has formed her own production company -- Britney Spears Productions -- to develop and produce the project.
There are currently no plans for the 20-year-old pop star, who is now on a U.S. concert tour, to sing in the new movie which is expected to go into production in early 2003.
NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) is the second-highest rated sport on U.S. television with a 75-million-strong fan base, particularly in the southern United States. The movie will feature real NASCAR drivers, tracks and competition.
NASCAR officials said they were attracted to the project because of Spears's image as an all-American southern girl, with a strong sense of family.
Producer Ann Carli said the goal was to create a film that portrays the spirit of NASCAR. "It is not just about winning -- it's about family, perseverance and the belief that any dream is possible," Carli said.
Spears and her father are both said to be big NASCAR fans.
Report provided by Reuters
De Ferran's Peak
De Ferran led the field away from pole with teammate Helio Castroneves tucked in behind. Felipe Giaffone took up third place although Sam Hornish Jr was soon past into third. The other early mover was Laurent Redon, up to fifth by lap 3. The front runners were lapping the slower cars by lap 14.
The order had settled by the time the first yellow flag period struck. On lap 28 Robbie Buhl started smoking and crawled into the pits with engine dramas. While the oil was cleared the field debated about pitting. Half the field did, but all the while during the yellow, the clouds raced in and a hailstorm swept across the circuit triggering the first red flag since last year's Indy 500. The teams swarmed all over the cars, made changes, then settled in to wait out the rain and for the track to dry. The wait would be 50 minutes.
Lap 70 and Anthony Lazzaro hit the wall bringing out the yellows again. When the field restarted de Ferran led from Castroneves, Hornish, Redon and Giaffone. Hornish was putting the blowtorch to Castroneves trying to find a way past. Another set of yellows after Jon Herb hit the wall failed to disrupt the order. Just after the green, Hornish pounced and got past Castroneves.
The race was stable for the next 50 laps until Jeff Ward crashed, bringing all the leaders into the pits to complete their pitstops. Out of the pits, Castroneves regained second and fought hard to keep Hornish at bay. One more brief yellow for Greg Ray's retirement and de Ferran led the field over the line to win.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 7, Radisson Indy 225, Pikes Peak, Colorado:
Standings: Helio Castroneves 267, Gil de Ferran 235, Sam Hornish Jr 206, Felipe Giaffone 202, Al Unser Jr 164, Jeff Ward 157, Alex Barron 149, Airton Dare 148, Scott Sharp 147, Laurent Redon 130 etc.
Le Mans
In the history of major endurance racing, no team has ever won an event three times running with the same drivers. Just past 4 pm on June 16, that statistic changed when Emanuele Pirro stood in the cockpit of his R8 to take the chequered flag. Pirro, co-drivers Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen, Reinhold Joest and his Audi Sport North America team had won their third consecutive 24 Heures du Mans. It is an unprecedented achievement in the history of motor racing, and is unlikely to ever be repeated.
As the grid lined up, one of the Audis was missing. Michael Krumm had taken a puncture on the formation lap and would be condemned to start from pit lane, along with the GT Spyker BMW, the ORECA Viper and Magnussen in the Panoz. Last year the Dutch Dome started with a light fuel load to attempt to lead the race early. Audi made sure there was no chance of this, as Johnny Herbert and Frank Biela immediately put down the quick laps, pulling away from Jan Lammers and Stephane Sarrazin. Mark Blundell in the MG quickly moved through the two Dallaras to be fourth behind Lammers.
Into the 24th lap of the race Audi made a statement over the chances of non-Audis in the race as Herbert and Tom Kristensen (now in the #1 car) swept by the two Dallara-Judds to put the fastest of the 'Judd class' cars down a lap. In to the second hour and the MGs were swept aside as Herbert led from Kristensen, Philip Peter and Dalmas in an Audi quadrella. Hughes was next in the MG while Menu led GTS in the Ferrari and Dumas led GT in the Porsche.
Another Audi puncture, this time to Krumm, and the phenomenal MG was into third position. Into the sixth hour and the cracks started to appear. The Courage-Judd broke a gearbox, the trouble plagued #11 Panoz was now well into limp mode and a water leak claimed the Japanese Audi, sending it tumbling down the order as they lost half an hour replacing a radiator. Pedro Lamy arrived from V8Star commitments in Germany to finally take his place in the ORECA team. Elsewhere the German Audi reasserted itself over the MG, taking third.
Just past half distance Alain Menu escaped from the Ferrari 550 Maranello as the car caught fire out on the circuit. It was an undeserving end to a car that had redefined the GTS class over the previous 12 hours. Only one Ferrari was still running, but the #74 GT Modena was among the walking wounded. The Corvettes now had the GTS class lead to themselves as the Vipers and Saleens struck problems one by one.
Back at the front the race result was perhaps not as cut and dried as it looked. Dindo Capello recorded the fastest lap of the race trying to retrieve the lap lost to the defending champions in the #1 car. Shortly afterwards Kristensen responded and undercut Capello's time. Not to be left out, Marco Werner lowered the best time recorded in the #3 car. A puncture though would force Capello to drop behind Werner. Herbert resumed and set about recovering second. There would be no stopping Audi this year.
The tales of heartbreak are every bit a part of endurance racing. This year the greatest claim was in the final tale of the LMP675 class. The French Walter Gerard team of Jean-Bernard Bouvet, Jean-Rene de Fournoux and Stephane Doudi was leading in its WR-Peugeot in the final hour. Always the fastest car in a straight line, the WRs never enjoyed the best handling or reliability. With half an hour to go, a suspension collapse struck the car. They crawled it around to the pits, patched it up and got it back out to limp to the finish. Those slow last two laps cost them dearly as the Del Bello Noel team Reynard 01Q Lehmann Volkswagen swept by into the class lead, giving the win and 19th outright to Jean-Denis Deletraz, Walter Lechner Jr and Christophe Pillon. The WR was the only other LMP675 to finish, taking 20th outright.
Third in class was even closer after the race-long battle between the Taisan Porsche and the Seikel Porsche was gradually elevated to third in class. The lead three Audis were between the two Porsches at the finish line, leaving the Team Taisan Porsche of Akira Iida, Kazuyuki Nishizawa and Atsushi Yogo to take a long final victorious lap and come home in 21st outright.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Frank Biela/Tom Kristensen/ Audi R8
Emanuele Pirro
2. Rinaldo Capello/Johnny Herbert/ Audi R8
Christian Pescatori
3. Michael Krumm/Philip Peter/ Audi R8
Marco Werner
4. Butch Leitzinger/Eric van de Poele/ Bentley EXP Speed 8
Andy Wallace
5. Olivier Beretta/Erik Comas/ Dallara-Judd
Pedro Lamy
6. Nicolas Minassian/Franck Montagny/ Dallara-Judd
Stephane Sarrazin
7. Seiji Ara/Yannick Dalmas/ Audi R8
Hiroki Katoh
8. Tom Coronel/Val Hillebrand/ Dome S101 Judd
Jan Lammers
9. Max Angelelli/Wayne Taylor/ Cadillac LMP02 Northstar
Christophe Tinseau
10. Jean-Christophe Boullion/Sebastien Courage C60 Peugeot
Bourdais/Franck Lagorce
MotoGP
Tohru Ukawa ran right with Valentino Rossi over the closing laps of the race at Catalunya. Unfortunately for those hoping for a change, Valentino Rossi went on to take his fifth win from six starts as Honda continued their domination of the 2002 season, taking all six wins so far as their two riders finished 1-2, with Rossi and Ukawa also sitting 1-2 in the points table. At a circuit with two long straights, it was no surprise that the four-strokes dominated qualifying and the race results.
Over the next several laps, Ukawa looked to pass Checa, and Rossi looked to pass Ukawa, but no moves were successful until Ukawa repaid Checa's earlier move, passing him at turn four on lap thirteen, having almost passed him earlier in the lap at the end of pit straight. Unable to break away, Ukawa was passed by Checa at the end of pit straight on lap fourteen to retake the lead. Still on lap fourteen, Rossi passed Ukawa at turn seven as Ukawa lost two places in less than half a lap. Rossi immediately set off after Checa, passing Checa in the same place Checa had passed Ukawa just one lap before.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Honda RC211V
2. Tohru Ukawa Honda RC211V
3. Carlos Checa Yamaha YZR M1
4. Max Biaggi Yamaha YZR M1
5. Alex Barros Honda NSR500
6. Loris Capirossi Honda NSR500
7. Kenny Roberts Suzuki GSVR
8. Daijiro Katoh Honda NSR500
9. Olivier Jacque Yamaha YZR500
10. John Hopkins Yamaha YZR500
Rally
Last time out on a rough dirt event in Argentina, Ford didn't have the measure of Peugeot or Subaru. On the even rougher terrain of Greece, hard work by the team and the rough field capabilities of the Ford Focus brought them back to the front. Colin McRae shone in the conditions and built up a huge lead that not even brushing a tree on Leg 3 could significantly dent. It's the first victory for McRae since last year's Acropolis and once again we have a three way tie between McRae, Carlos Sainz and Tommi Makinen for most wins in WRC history.
Harri Rovanpera held fourth for much of Leg 3 but with a stage to go was jumped by Petter Solberg in the Subaru. Into the last stage and Solberg was pleased with his final stage time but was left cursing after Rovanpera put in a blinder to wrestle fourth back by a single second. Sixth was taken by the delayed Martin.
Was Mitsubishi even present? Alister McRae and Francois Delecour had reasonably reliable runs, though Delecour hit a rock on Friday, damaging the right rear suspension. McRae would retire after breaking a ball joint on a concrete culvert late in the event, but the main problem with Mitsubishi continues to be a lack of pace, Delecour recording an eleventh place finish at the end.
Pos Driver Car
1. Colin McRae Ford Focus
2. Marcus Gronholm Peugeot 206
3. Carlos Sainz Ford Focus
4. Harri Rovanpera Peugeot 206
5. Petter Solberg Subaru Impreza
6. Markko Martin Ford Focus
7. Sebastien Loeb Citroen Xsara
8. Thomas Radstrom Citroen Xsara
9. Armin Schwarz Hyundai Accent
10. Toni Gardemeister Skoda Octavia
CART
Another road course, and it was another da Matta win. There have been four road course races so far this year, and da Matta has won three of them. Even more worrying it that da Matta was leading the other road course race, at Long Beach, before a collision in pit lane cost him time and placings, and he still went on to finish eighth.
There is a little bit of good news for the other drivers - the next round at Chicago is on an oval. The bad news is that there are quite a few road courses remaining in this year's schedule...
The leaders again stopped right on the edge of the fuel window, stopping on lap 60. Nothing happened during the pit stops, but running through the chicane the left rear wheel wobbled, and then fell off as he exited turn two, bringing out the yellows, allowing Scott Dixon back on to the lead lap. At the restart, Franchitti lost a place to Townsend Bell who moved up to third place, as da Matta enjoyed the buffer of the lapped Fittipaldi between himself and Junqueira for a short while before Fittipaldi began to slow, Junqueira quickly closing back up to da Matta's rear wing. Dixon made the most of his return to the lead lap, quickly moving up to eighth place after passing Andretti and Fernandez.
Pos Driver Car
1. Cristiano da Matta Lola-Toyota
2. Bruno Junqueira Lola-Toyota
3. Dario Franchitti Lola-Honda
4. Townsend Bell Reynard-Toyota
5. Patrick Carpentier Reynard-Ford
6. Michel Jourdain Jr Lola-Ford
7. Scott Dixon Lola-Toyota
8. Tony Kanaan Lola-Honda
9. Michael Andretti Lola-Honda
10. Mario Dominguez Lola-Ford
NASCAR
Matt Kenseth won a fierce battle over the final three laps for the victory at Michigan as he took his third win for the year, a race that had looked to be in Bill Elliott or Dale Jarrett's pocket earlier in the day. It was a great day for Ford as they ran up front all day, filling the top three and seven of the top ten placings, Bill Elliott and Jimmie Johnson being their only strong challengers for the race lead.
As they restarted, four cars on the tail of the lead lap were in front of race leader Jarrett, led by Gordon who had been as high as fourth before the pit stops. The yellows were out once again less than 20 laps later for debris on the back straight, just after leader Jarrett put Gordon a lap down. Most drivers pitted except for Kurt Busch, who became the new leader. As the race resumed Gordon got back on the lead lap just after the restart, as Newman and Jarrett gave Busch a hard time before Busch pulled away. The yellows came out again when Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton's engine blew up down the front straight, Gordon finally returning to the lead lap while Newman won the battle of the pit crews.
Meanwhile the top two runners Kenseth and Johnson decided track position was more important than fresh tyres, staying out. The race restarted on lap 198, which saw the start of a mad three lap dash as those with fresh tyres attempted to run down those without. Kenseth continued to lead while Jimmie Johnson was swamped by everyone. With two laps to go Newman was right on Kenseth's tail. On the last lap Newman had a big look at Kenseth through turns one and two, but coming down the back stretch Jarrett towed past Newman and moved right on to Kenseth's tail. Another lap and Jarrett probably would have won, but there wasn't another lap and so Kenseth managed to hold on to the win, his third win for the season.
Pos Driver Car
1. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
2. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
3. Ryan Newman Ford Taurus
4. Michael Waltrip Chevrolet Monte Carlo
5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Johnny Benson Pontiac Grand Prix
7. Rusty Wallace Ford Taurus
8. Ricky Rudd Ford Taurus
9. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
10. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
Britney Races Ahead with Plans for Second Movie
Writing and planning for the as yet untitled movie is still in its early stages but Spears is expected to play the fictional daughter of a successful NASCAR team owner who inspires a former driver to return to the sport.
IRL
A lot of things haven't gone Penske's way this year. And when they haven't, it has generally happened to Gil de Ferran. But at the mile oval of Pikes Peak at Colorado, not even a freak hailstorm was going to stop the reigning CART series champion. De Ferran led 217 of the 225 laps and looked totally untroubled at the front. This was de Ferran's debut IRL victory.
Billy Boat led the field around for the lap 38 restart, only to be immediately swamped by Castroneves, de Ferran and Hornish. De Ferran was in no mood to wait and swept by Castroneves on lap 40. The top order juggled itself as the faster cars who pitted worked their way back up the order again. By lap 69 de Ferran led from Castroneves, Hornish, Redon and Giaffone.
Pos Driver Car
1. Gil de Ferran Dallara-Chevrolet
2. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Chevrolet
3. Sam Hornish Jr Dallara-Chevrolet
4. Felipe Giaffone GForce-Chevrolet
5. Scott Sharp Dallara-Chevrolet
6. Al Unser Jr Dallara-Chevrolet
7. Laurent Redon Dallara-Infiniti
8. Eddie Cheever Dallara-Infiniti
9. Airton Dare Dallara-Chevrolet
10. Alex Barron Dallara-Chevrolet
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Volume 8, Issue 25
Atlas F1 Exclusive
Interview with Alan Donnelly
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Irvine's Crunch Time
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