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Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
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Enge Zone
For the first time Tomas Enge leads the International Formula 3000 Series outright in 2002. Enge bolted away from the grid to an untroubled victory in Hungary. Enge was pursued home by the Coloni team in their best ever team performance, but the star was Enge, the elder statesman of the class with one hand on the trophy.
When the lights went out Enge immediately moved clear and on the hardest circuit in racing to overtake, overtaking was never an issue. At the end of the first lap the Arden International car was almost two and a half seconds clear of the Colonis. Mauricio was fourth ahead of Bourdais, Bjorn Wirdheim, Mario Haberfeld and Tiago Monteiro. Sperafico had made a dreadful start and was tenth while Antonio Pizzonia spun Rob Nguyen who had exploded off the line.
Mauricio's good run didn't last and he pitted for fresh rubber on only the second lap. The top order settled with gaps gradually appearing amongst them. Monteiro dropped to eleventh but reclaimed a top ten position after Rodrigo Sperafico spun off. Both Sperafico twins were trying hard as Ricardo fought to overcome his dreadful start. Ricardo was now eighth whilst Rodrigo had dropped to fifteenth.
Enge was now controlling the lead from the front. The gap to Toccacelo fluctuated back and forth; the Italian never really threatened the Czech. The gap was out to five seconds with four laps to go when Pizzonia dived at Haberfeld in an ultimately misguided attempt to take sixth position. The Petrobras car rolled into turn 9. Ricardo Sperafico capitalised and jumped into the points. A gaggle of cars had formed together behind Patrick Friesacher who was in ninth. When this group arrived at the scene there was further carnage with Rodrigo Sperafico and Derek Hill ending Durango's day early. Hill slid into the wreckage of Pizzonia's car without hitting any of the nearby marshals.
With only twenty points left in the championship there are only three names left. Enge now leads Bourdais by a mere two points. Thirteen points from Enge is Pantano. Pantano is still a mathematical chance but with two drivers ahead of him, his chances are slim.
Result of International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 10 of 12, Hungaroring, Hungary:
Standings: Tomas Enge 51, Sebastien Bourdais 49, Giorgio Pantano 38, Rodrigo Sperafico 20, Antonio Pizzonia, Mario Haberfeld and Bjorn Wirdheim 18, Ricardo Sperafico 14, Patrick Friesacher and Enrico Toccacelo 10 etc.
Formula 3000 points distribution
Da Matta Makes It Six
Cristiano Da Matta continued his run as king of the road courses as he took his sixth win of the year, winning the 220 mile event at Road America. Pit strategies came into play at various stages during the race, most position changes place due to pit stops rather than passes on the track, while one of the few attempts to pass ended up taking two cars out of the race.
Tracy made the best of the restart as Alex Tagliani pressured da Matta for third. Down the field drivers tried to make moves on each other but most were unsuccessful. Most of the field dived in on lap fourteen to make their first stops, the rest of the drivers stopping in the next lap or two after making early pit stops during the caution, da Matta dropping to fourth and Tagliani to fifth while Kenny Brack jumped from fifth to third. Further back in the field Christian Fittipaldi made his second stop on lap nineteen as he worked a different strategy to some of the leaders.
Kenny Brack made his next pit stop on lap 24, dropping from third to tenth, while leader Paul Tracy made his stop a lap later, resuming eighth. Only the top four made their stops on lap 28, as the rest of the field had already made their second stops. The top two of Junqueira and da Matta held on to their places, while Tracy displaced Brack for third in the same place he did on lap one thanks to his hot tyres. Servia passed Dario Franchitti into turn one on lap 30 as most of the field circulated in the same positions, using strategy to make moves on other drivers.
Lap 36 and Brack made his third stop, dropping from fifth to seventh, Tracy again stopping a lap later dropping from fourth to sixth as other drivers down in the field made their third pit stops around this time as well. After having a good run up through the field, Servia retired from sixth on lap 36 with a lack of fuel pressure, even though post-race it was discovered there was still fuel in the tank. Junqueira joined the drivers breaking from the 14 lap cycle, stopping on lap 39, dropping from the lead to fourth, giving da Matta the lead for the first time in the race.
The race restarted on lap 43, Kanaan taking fourth from Franchitti as they crossed the line for the restart, Franchitti retiring later on that lap. Carpentier was the first driver to make his last stop on lap 46, Michel Jourdain stopping a lap later as the top three continued to run close together, Kanaan dropping a bit further back. Canada Corner was about to claim another victim as Shinji Nakano went too deep under brakes and bunkered his car in the gravel, bringing out the third caution of the day.
Everyone who hadn't made their last stop took their opportunity under the caution, Tagliani taking second from Junqueira during these stops. The race restarted on lap 53, da Matta edging away as Junqueira looked for a way past Tagliani. As they began the last lap the gap da Matta had opened up had disappeared, the top three running as one. As close as they were, no-one was close enough to make a move, the top three crossing the line covered by just one and a half seconds. Despite his early off, Michael Andretti kept running and finished in tenth place, though two laps behind.
Result of FedEx CART Championship Series, Round 12 of 19; Road America, Wisconsin, United States:
Standings: Cristiano da Matta 143, Patrick Carpentier and Bruno Junqueira 101, Dario Franchitti 85, Christian Fittipaldi 82, Alex Tagliani and Michel Jourdain Jr 80, Michael Andretti 77, Paul Tracy 69, Kenny Brack 68 etc.
Jarrett Goes Back-To-Front
Dale Jarrett made a run from the back to the front, winning at Michigan despite an early excursion on to the grassy infield. A fellow Ford runner almost pulled off a dramatic win however, Jeff Burton just failing to hold on as his overheating engine cost him speed over the final few laps. Sterling Marlin had an engine stay good after two races where they didn't, giving him a top ten finish to keep him in the lead of the title race.
The race restarted on lap 15, and was soon led again by Harvick when he passed Earnhardt down the backstretch on lap 16. Not much happened before the next caution came out on lap 29 for debris on the track, more pit stops taking place with Harvick retaining the lead. The race restarted on lap 33, Earnhardt taking the lead back from Harvick on lap 52. There was time for cars to make stops under green, which saw Matt Kenseth take over the lead, before debris again led to a caution on lap 82.
The race restarted on lap 86, with the battle for the lead hotting up soon after, Earnhardt taking the lead from Kenseth into turn one on lap 89, before Kurt Busch took the lead coming out of turn four on lap 90, but this didn't last long at all, Earnhardt taking the lead back at the other end of the straight into turn one on lap 91. Lap 93 and Busch again took the lead coming out of turn four, with Ryan Newman joining Busch as they broke away from the chasing pack.
After running with Busch, Newman eventually took the lead around twenty laps later through turn four. Again the field made green flag stops, and again Kenseth took the lead after the completion of them, just before Hut Stricklin brought out the next caution on lap 134 after hitting the wall. Kenseth led the field at the restart but the caution lights were on again on lap 142 after Steve Park spun into the wall on the front straight after losing control exiting turn four, Jerry Nadeau also spinning in the mayhem.
Most but not all cars pitted, and of those that did, some took two tyres while others took four, jumbling up the order further. Jeff Burton led at the restart by being one of those not to pit, with Robby Gordon getting ahead of Burton just after the restart but not being able to hold on to the lead. Earnhardt did the same thing to Burton on the next lap before he made it stick on lap 170, while Jarrett restarted 17th after taking
four tyres.
Up front Burton was back fighting with Earnhardt, getting alongside at the start of lap 177 and completing the pass as they exited turn four on that same lap, just as Tony Stewart joined the battle. Eventually Burton and Stewart broke away as Jarrett continued his climb on fresh tyres, Jarrett moving up to fourth just as the caution came out on lap 186 after Derrike Cope hit the wall.
A few cars made a stop, but most of the leaders stayed out. The race restarted on lap 190, Burton getting a good restart as those chasing battled with each other. As they started lap 193 Jarrett moved up to second, and began closing in on Burton. As they exited turn four on lap 196, Jarrett took the lead, going on to take the win. Burton's overheating engine cost him more places, dropping to fourth at the end, blowing up on the cooldown lap. Jeff Gordon had another so-so day, finishing 19th after running in the top ten at one stage, while Ryan Newman's good day turned sour when his engine did the same, finishing on the lead lap but in 31st place.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 23 of 36; Michigan Speedway, Michigan, United States:
Standings: Sterling Marlin 3094, Mark Martin 3051, Jimmie Johnson 3034, Tony Stewart 3010, Jeff Gordon 2944, Ricky Rudd 2926, Rusty Wallace 2903, Bill Elliott 2858, Matt Kenseth 2799, Dale Jarrett 2785 etc.
Brilliant Bright
Things went right for Jason Bright at Winton, winning both races and the round on a day when a couple of things didn't go HRT teammate Mark Skaife's way, Skaife finishing fifth overall, his worst performance for the season. HRT's TWR Australia sister team, Kmart Racing, also had a good day, Todd Kelly finishing second overall and Greg Murphy fourth as the drivers of the TWR Australia cars fill the top four places in the championship ahead of Marcos Ambrose in the first Ford.
Up front the top five were bunched together. Mark Skaife was the first of the leaders to make his compulsory stop, stopping on lap three, several other cars further down the field stopping at the same time. Next to stop were Bright and Murphy on lap four, Bright emerging in front of teammate Skaife who attacked his teammate immediately. Todd Kelly then stopped on lap five, resuming in front of both Bright and Skaife, Bright sneaking through soon after while Skaife got alongside and even nosed ahead, but Kelly held on.
Lap seven and Ambrose came in, and came out behind Bright and Kelly who were fighting with each other, but just in front of Skaife.
Tony Longhurst was now the leader, but stopped on lap ten to hand the lead back to Bright. Before the stops it was Skaife, Ambrose, Kelly, Bright, Murphy - now the order was Bright, Kelly, Ambrose, Skaife, Murphy. And apart from Ambrose moving past Kelly on lap 28 thanks to help from a backmarker, there were no more changes in the top ten until the finish, as the top three edged slightly away from Skaife who fell into the clutches of Murphy. Further back in the top ten there were also some close battles, but passes weren't able to be made there either, Bright going on to take the win.
Race two began in a similar fashion to race one, with Bright beating Ambrose into turn one followed by Skaife, Kelly, Murphy and Tander, and another crash through the turn one and two esses, John Faulkner hitting the wall on the exit hard. There was further mayhem at turn three, involving several cars including Cameron McLean, Jason Richards, Glenn Seton and Craig Lowndes.
Ambrose, Murphy and Tander stopped on lap nine, the trio coming out of the pits behind Kelly in the order Murphy, Ambrose, Tander. Bargwanna led a lap before pitting, and Paul Morris led a few laps before he pitted and gave the lead to Bright. The cars were a little more spread out than in race one, but still circulating in similar times. The safety car came out on lap 16 after Wayne Wakefield spun into the turn three gravel, the race resuming on lap 18. This allowed two Castrol cars to pounce on Rick Kelly in sixth, Russell Ingall passing cleanly at turn three while Steven Richards drove Kelly off the track at turn four, dropping Rick Kelly to 13th. Meanwhile Skaife was back up to ninth thanks to other drivers making their pit stops.
Lap 21 and another safety car period after Paul Radisich suffered a flat tyre, leaving him stuck in the gravel. The race resumed on lap 22, with the leaders still nose to tail, Bright leading Kelly, Murphy, Ambrose, Tander, Ingall and Richards. Steve Owen made himself known in his first drive for Briggs Motorsport, pushing Glenn Seton off the road, earning himself a penalty. Again like race one, there was no change of place in the top ten after lap 18, in fact the top fourteen didn't change. So Bright continued on to make it two from two, and take HRT's first round victory at the circuit, a surprising statistic considering HRT's dominance of the series for most of the last seven years.
Result of V8Supercar Championship Series, Round 8 of 13; Winton, Australia:
Standings: Mark Skaife 1775, Jason Bright 1096, Greg Murphy 1002, Todd Kelly 946, Marcos Ambrose 941, Steven Richards 791, Craig Lowndes 722, Garth Tander 643, David Besnard 619, Russell Ingall 556 etc.
V8Supercar points distribution
Trauma And Triumph
The Grand Prix of Mosport became yet another 1-2 victory for Audi, but the victory this time came at a price. Defending series champion Emanuelle Pirro crashed the #1 Audi heavily in one of Mosport's fast right-hand sweepers.
"The accident happened just before my second scheduled pitstop. I wanted to lose as little time as possible on my way to the pits. I came on the dirty line and crashed into the tyre wall. It was a heavy impact, but I am okay," said Pirro later. Pirro was unconscious when he was extracted from the car but was soon released from hospital with no injuries.
Qualifying suggested a close fight between Audi and Cadillac. Frank Biela took pole position in the #1 Audi with a time of 1:07.169, half a seocnd faster than Rinaldo Capello in the sister car. Johnny Herbert was third, but had to work down to a time 1.2 seconds behind Biela, with JJ Lehto and Eric Bernard mere tenths behind in the Cadillac Northstars. Panoz was struggling, having to put in an all night repair to the #50 car after Jan Magnussen crashed in practice. David Brabham was sixth fastest, over two seconds from Biela, the Panoz team having their position within the field usurped by Cadillac. Bill Auberlen crashed the #51 car in qualifying and would have to start behind the LMP675 Intersport MG-Lola of Jon Field.
Biela led the field around to the end of the first lap followed by Capello, with Johansson and Lehto in close company. Biela was setting a cracking pace and was amongst the GT cars on the fourth lap. Capello was keen to pursue his own agenda and took the lead on the tenth lap. Soon after Capello clashed with Jorg Bergmeister in the second Alex Job Racing Porsche 996. Bergmeister pitted for repairs as pieces of Porsche bodywork were left on the track, causing Andy Pilgrim to have an off in the GTS Corvette.
Elsewhere on the track, Marino Franchitti ran up the back of Mark Neuhaus under brakes into turn two, the big heavy Viper damaging its nose on the rear of the Lola-Judd. The yellows came out and the cars dived for the pits. Emmanuel Collard pitted while the pits were officially closed, earning him a 72 second time penalty. Kristensen now in #2 led the field out of the pits with Lehto second and Pirro third. Just after the restart Brabham was off in the Panoz. As the race ploughed into the second hour, Steve Knight pitted the last of the MGs with the a major oil leak.
Johnny Herbert was now struggling a little. A stop-go penalty had been given to the Champion Audi after contact with Emanuelle Naspetti had sent the Olive Garden Ferrari backwards into the barriers. Naspetti had little damage to report. This wasn't the only such inter-class contact with Kristensen and Johnny O'Connell having side-by-side contact, but both cars kept their class leads untroubled. Not long afterwards O'Connell's Corvette lapped the second in class Saleen of Franz Konrad.
Runaway GT series leader, Sascha Maassen put that lead in doubt when the Alex Job Porsche 996 thumped the wall in turn nine. Maassen was able to continue, surprisingly, pitted for a look at the car and was waved back out on the track only to have the driver's door blow off at speed. Having been spared the yellows by Maassen getting restarted they came out shortly afterwards for Tony Burgess. Burgess had hit the wall in turn one and slid along the barriers for some distance.
With less than ten minutes left, the bunched field was under green again with Kristensen a lap up on Herbert who was a lap on Angelelli. Fourth and another lap behind was Magnussen, who led in Bryan Herta and Eric Bernard on the same lap. Pirro and Biela were classified 22nd behind the Intersport Lola-Judd that finished tenth.
Just ahead of the Viper was the leading LMP675 car, the Team Bucknum Racing Pilbeam-Nissan of Chris McMurry, Bryan Willman and Jeff Bucknum. They finished four laps clear of the Lola-Nissan fielded by Essex Racing for Melanie Paterson and Howard Katz. There were no other finishers in the class with third being attributed to the Archangel Lola-Ford who broke an engine in the third hour.
With problems striking both Alex Job cars, the Racers Group Porsche 996 of Kevin Buckler and Brian Cunningham took the class victory and 13th outright. They finished three laps clear of the battle for second that ended when the two Porsches clashed on the last lap. The Orbit Porsche of Leo Hindery and Peter Baron took second whilst the Alex Job Porsche of Sascha Maassen and the rather ill Lucas Luhr extricated itself from the sand to take third.
Kristensen has confirmed his lead in the title chase, and moves further away with the troubles befalling Biela and Pirro. Herbert now has snuck past the #1 Audi drivers to tuck in behind Capello in the standings. But at this stage, the Champion Audi lacks the pace to be able to haul that points lead back in. The ALMS teams now have a month's break prior to the Laguna Seca round.
Result of American Le Mans Series, Round 8 of 11, Mosport, Canada:
Standings, LMP 900: Tom Kristensen 165, Rinaldo Capello 162, Johnny Herbert 142, Frank Biela 136, Emanuele Pirro 135, David Brabham 125, Jan Magnussen 120, Bill Auberlen 115, Stefan Johansson 112, Bryan Herta 104 etc.
Standings, LMP675: Jon Field 148, Ben Devlin 136, Jeff Bucknum 117, Chris McMurry 114, Bryan William 113 etc.
Standings, LMGTS: Ron Fellows 184, Johnny O'Connell 174, Andy Pilgrim 160, Kelly Collins 159, Marc Bunting 120 etc.
Standings, LMGT: Sascha Maassen 163, Lucas Luhr 162, Timo Bernhard 139, Jorg Bergmeister 138, Kevin Buckler 134 etc.
Double Dutch
After some time on the bleachers, the FIA Sportscar series gathered itself at Dijon for the replacement round after two rounds were earlier cancelled. Ahead of a thin SR1 class field, Racing For Holland scored an expected but still impressive victory. A victory after Val Hillebrand damaged the Jan Lammers Dome in practice with a large shunt. Second though was a bit of a surprise, taken by a second Racing For Holland Dome driven by Felipe Ortiz and Beppe Gabbiani.
Lammers recorded pole position ahead of a SR1 field of only four cars. With the Courage, Durango and S & M teams all absent the Pescarolo squad led by Jean-Christophe Boullion shared the front row with Felipe Ortiz in third. Ralph Moog would put the Eventus Motorsport Lola-Ford in ninth position, but in the end failed to start because of electrical problems. The SR2 Lucchini Alfa of Mirko Savoldi shared the second row.
At the start Lammers bolted away from the field and was never headed. He handed the car to Val Hillebrand who took it to the finish to win by a lap. The interest initially was in the battle for second. Boullion was second initially but five laps into the race Gabbiani dived underneath and immediately gapped the Courage. Gabbiani almost threw it away though when he arrived in the pits too quickly and missed his pit bay. After giving himself a drive through penalty for no reason, Gabbiani made the stop at the second attempt and Felipe Ortiz rejoined the race without losing second.
Lammers and Hillebrand have a stranglehold on the championship, and the only real hope Boullion has of taking the title from them is if the series replaces its other cancelled round. 25 points behind with only 40 on offer looks too much for the Pescarolo team to bridge.
Result of FIA Sportscar Championship, Round 5 of 7, Dijon-Prenois, France:
Standings, SR1: Jan Lammers and Val Hillebrand 82, Jean-Christophe Boullion 57, Didier Cottaz and Boris Derichebourg 38, Olivier Beretta and Sebastien Bourdais 35, Mauro Baldi 32, Vincenzo Sospiri 24, Franck Lagorce 22 etc.
Standings, SR2: Mirko Savoldi, Piergiuseppe Peroni, Sam Hignett and John Stack 60, Gianni Collini and Fabio Mancini 50 etc.
FIA Sportscar points distribution
Back In The Swing
James Courtney regained the lead he had lost in the British Formula 3 Championship after scoring a fourth and a win in trying weather at Britain's best drivers' circuit, Oulton Park. With Robbie Kerr unable to best Courtney in either of the two races over the weekend he now sits two points behind Courtney. Renault development driver Heikki Kovalainen won the earlier of the two races.
Courtney got the jump in the second race to pull rapidly away in the dry. The Jaguar test driver was soon slowed by a failed clutch while driving slowly behind the safety car. The safety car was out after an off track excursion eliminated the cars of Ronnie Bremer, Rob Austin and the Scholarship cars of Billy Asaro and Adam Carroll.
Courtney came under pressure from Scholarship class steerer Robert Dahlgren with Robbie Kerr and Kovalainen close behind. The Australian was able to resist the chasers and held on for an impressive victory. The stunning drive of Dahlgren in the 2001 model car came to nought though when he was disqualified for a technical infringement. This made Kerr second and Kovalainen third. Fourth then became another Scholarship car, Clivio Piccione, who had earlier been eighth in race one.
Courtney now leads by two points from Kerr, with Bruce Jouanny over fifty points behind in third. Despite having missed two rounds, and the new found form of the Renault-powered Fortec squad, the race has become a race in two. The series re-gathers itself in two weeks at Snetterton.
Result of British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 19 and 20; Oulton Park, Great Britain:
Standings: James Courtney 221, Robbie Kerr 219, Bruce Jouanny 154, Michael Keohane 142, Heikki Kovalainen 138, Mark Taylor 118, Fabio Carbone 93, Alan van der Merwe 92, Rob Austin 78, Richard Antinucci 58 etc.
British Formula 3 points distribution
Puras, who scored the team's only victory last season in Corsica, was dropped in favour of young Frenchman Sebastien Loeb this year but will return for the Trier-based event, which begins on Friday.
Citroen said in a statement: "Jesus Puras will take part in the Rally of Germany and will substitute for Thomas Radstrom.
"Radstrom went off the road violently in the penultimate stage of the Rally of Finland and after further medical checks his doctor discovered he has suffered two broken ribs. He obviously could not recover (in time)."
Puras currently drives a 2001 version of the Xsara WRC in the Spanish Rally Championship, which he leads having won six times this season.
Report provided by Reuters
Formula 3000
The signs were there in qualifying, with Enge a tenth clear in pole position on a tight grid. The Coloni team followed, Enrico Toccacelo scoring his best ever grid position ahead of the series' third title contender, Giorgio Pantano. Ricardo Sperafico was next for Petrobras ahead of the Red Bull car of Ricardo Mauricio with title favourite Sebastien Bourdais in sixth.
With two laps to go the safety car returned to the pits and Enge immediately leapt clear to win by 1.1 seconds. Toccacelo and Pantano took second and third for Coloni. Bourdais salvaged some points with fourth with Wirdheim and Ricardo Sperafico completing the points. Friesacher led his 'train' home to complete the top ten.
Pos Driver Team
1. Tomas Enge Arden International
2. Enrico Toccacelo Coloni F3000
3. Giorgio Pantano Coloni F3000
4. Sebastien Bourdais Super Nova Racing
5. Bjorn Wirdheim Arden International
6. Ricardo Sperafico Petrobras Junior Team
7. Patrick Friesacher Red Bull Junior Team
8. Zsolt Baumgartner Nordic Racing
9. Thed Bjork Nordic Racing
10. Justin Keen European Minardi F3000
CART
Polesitter Bruno Junqueira got a great start and led into the first turn ahead of Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. On the run down to turn five on lap one Paul Tracy moved to the outside and passed Junqueira to take over the lead. Just a few corners later Michael Andretti was in the gravel trap after another car ran into the back of him, bringing out the first caution of the day.
Meanwhile Brack was right on Tracy's tail, slipstreaming him down the long back straight, getting alongside into Canada Corner before losing it under brakes and taking both of them into the gravel, bringing out the full course caution. Da Matta, Franchitti and Fittipaldi all stopped, joining the rest of the field in requiring one more stop to the flag. The order was now da Matta, Junqueira, Tagliani, Franchitti and Kanaan, who had recovered from being sent to the back at the first caution after being pinged for jumping the start.
Pos Driver Car
1. Cristiano da Matta Lola-Toyota
2. Alex Tagliani Reynard-Ford
3. Bruno Junqueira Lola-Toyota
4. Tony Kanaan Lola-Honda
5. Jimmy Vasser Lola-Ford
6. Christian Fittipaldi Lola-Toyota
7. Patrick Carpentier Reynard-Ford
8. Mario Dominguez Lola-Ford
9. Michel Jourdain Jr Lola-Ford
10. Michael Andretti Lola-Honda
NASCAR
Polesitter Dale Earnhardt Jr led at the start, but was immediately challenged by fellow front row starter Kevin Harvick through turns one and two, Harvick taking the lead down the backstretch on lap one, Bill Elliott following past Earnhardt as they completed lap one. Harvick, Elliott and Earnhardt broke away from the field, Elliott taking the lead on lap seven. Soon after the first caution came out on lap 12 after Dale Jarrett spun coming off turn four. The field took this early opportunity to make a stop, Earnhardt Jr winning the race off pit road.
Most of the field hit pit road, hoping to maybe make it to the end without stopping again, Dale Earnhardt Jr winning the race off pit road. Earnhardt restarted fifth as four drivers chose not to pit, including the new leader Mark Martin. The field further back was further jumbled as drivers topped off under the caution to enhance their chances of making it to the end without another stop. Mark Martin led at the restart, while Earnhardt soon moved up to second from his fifth position, but lost this to the other Dale, Dale Jarrett, who had made a tremendous recovery after falling to the back of the field after his early race spin, before another caution for debris came out on lap 164.
Pos Driver Car
1. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
2. Tony Stewart Pontiac Grand Prix
3. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Jeff Burton Ford Taurus
5. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
6. Sterling Marlin Dodge Intrepid
7. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Johnny Benson Pontiac Grand Prix
9. Jeff Green Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
V8Supercar
Both races were 100 km long, each race featuring a compulsory stop for tyres. Polesitter Marcos Ambrose was a little slow after creeping just before the lights went out, dropping Ambrose to second behind Mark Skaife into the turn one and two esses, followed by Todd Kelly, Jason Bright, Garth Tander and Greg Murphy, Murphy finding a way past Tander before the end of the lap. Unfortunately the esses was the scene of an incident on that first lap, with the major losers being Craig Lowndes and Jason Bargwanna who both were spun after contact in the incident.
All this brought out the safety car, before the race restarted on lap six. Exiting turn three Ambrose moved to the inside of Bright who had run wide, taking the lead. Bright was the first of the leaders to stop on lap seven. At almost the same time Lowndes pulled off the track with broken front left suspension. Kelly and Skaife were next to stop on lap eight. Kelly resumed behind Bright, while Skaife's stop was costly after the team dropped the car before the left rear tyre was on, costing him time as the car was jacked back up so the tyre could be successfully fitted and then down again, Skaife eventually resuming behind David Besnard in 14th.
Race One
Pos Driver Car
1. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VX
2. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon AU
3. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VX
4. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VX
5. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VX
6. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VX
7. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VX
8. John Bowe Ford Falcon AU
9. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VX
10. Brad Jones Ford Falcon AU
Race Two
Pos Driver Car
1. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VX
2. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VX
3. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VX
4. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon AU
5. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VX
6. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VX
7. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VX
8. David Besnard Ford Falcon AU
9. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VX
10. Brad Jones Ford Falcon AU
ALMS
Mosport had borne witness to some hard racing between the Audis of the factory squad and the privately entered year-old Champion car. The return of Cadillac to the series was also welcomed, with JJ Lehto battling amongst the Audis early on in the race. Last start victors Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen won ahead of the Champion entry of Johnny Herbert and Stefan Johansson. Third was claimed by the Cadillac of Lehto and Max Angelelli.
A lap later the yellow flags were flown to clear the mess. Johansson pitted, leaving the battle for third in Lehto's hands. Further down the top ten, Jon Field pitted the Intersport MG Lola with a dud engine and the lead LMP675 entry was out of the race. At the time Field had been harassing Brabham for sixth. Within twenty minutes James Weaver had the Dyson Racing MG-Lola in the pits with a broken engine. The surviving MG, the KnightHawk car with Claudia Huertgen in command was now leading the class and about to lap second in class, Ben Devlin in the Archangel Lola-Ford.
With just short of two hours completed Pirro lost the #1 Audi and hit the turn nine barriers hard. A full course yellow was put in place while emergency crews took care of Pirro. Most of the field pitted at this point, taking the opportunity to get set up for the finish. Kristensen continued to lead from Herbert and Max Angelelli in the #8 Cadillac. Herbert immediately passed Kristensen, putting the #38 Audi back on the lead lap.
GTS saw another dominant 1-2 victory for the factory Chevrolet Corvette team, with the #3 of Johnny O'Connell and and Ron Fellows coming in a lap ahead of the #4 car of Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins. Third place was a welcome return to form for the Konrad Saleen of Franz Konrad and Terry Borchellar after the Saleens had struggled all year after having to take an air restrictor adjustment prior to the season start. Ninth outright would be a nice reward. Fourth in class would go to the twelfth placed Viper of Franchitti and Marc Bunting.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Rinaldo Capello/Tom Kristensen Audi R8
2. Stefan Johansson/Johnny Herbert Audi R8
3. JJ Lehto/Max Angelelli Cadillac Northstar LMP 02
4. David Brabham/Jan Magnussen Panoz LMP01
5. Bill Auberlen/Bryan Herta Panoz LMP01
6. Emmanuel Collard/Eric Bernard Cadillac Northstar LMP 02
7. Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS)
8. Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS)
9. Terry Borcheller/Franz Konrad Saleen S7R (GTS)
10. Clint Field/Mark Neuhaus Lola B2K/10 Judd
Sportscars
"This is a great day for the whole team as it is the first time we have fielded two cars and to score a 1-2 is above all our expectations," said a delighted Jan Lammers after the race. "The guys in the other car did a brilliant job and we are more than satisfied with our weekends work."
The Courage-Peugeot led home the SR2 competitors in third place. SR2 saw a healthy battle as the domination of Lucchini cars came under threat from a pair of Pilbeams, but the turbo Alfa-powered car of Savoldi and Piergiuseppe Peroni held on to win. The Pilbeam-Nissan of John Stack and Sam Hignett was second and those four drivers now all share the points lead for the class with 60 points. The previous class leaders, Gianni Collini and Fabio Mancini in the works Lucchini retired with engine failure. This left third to the Lucchini of Leonardo Maddalena and Raniere Randaccio until their driveshaft broke late in the race, handing third to Marc Rostan and Pierre Bruneau in the Sodemo-Peugeot powered Pilbeam.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Val Hillebrand/Jan Lammers Dome S101 Judd
2. Felipe Ortiz/Beppe Gabbiani Dome S101 Judd
3. Jean-Christophe Boullion/Franck Lagorce Courage C60 Peugeot
4. Mirko Savoldi/Piergiuseppe Peroni Lucchini Alfa Romeo (SR2)
5. Sam Hignett/John Stack Pilbeam MP484 Nissan (SR2)
6. Marc Rostan/Pierre Bruneau Pilbeam MP484 Peugeot (SR2)
7. Mike Millard/Phil Armour Rapier 6 Nissan (SR2)
8. Gilles Duqueine/Didier Miquee/ Debora-BMW (SR2)
Dominique Lacaud
9. Rob Croydon/Paul Daniels Debora-Nissan (SR2)
Formula 3
Rain struck the first race and worsened to the point where the race was red flagged on the tenth lap. Mark Taylor was leading at that point but what mattered was that Heikki Kovalainen was leading at the end of the previous lap. With several cars spinning and others pitting for more suitable tyres as the race got wetter, the results were a lottery. The Renault-powered Fortec team took second as well with the new Formula Three Masters champ Fabio Carbone crossing the line second on the final lap that counted. Mark Taylor was third ahead of Courtney and Alan van der Merwe.
Round Nineteen
Pos Driver Car
1. Heikki Kovalainen Dallara F302 Sodemo Renault
2. Fabio Carbone Dallara F302 Sodemo Renault
3. Mark Taylor Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
4. James Courtney Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
5. Alan van der Merwe Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
6. Ronnie Bremer Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
7. Robbie Kerr Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
8. Clivio Piccione Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
9. Billy Asaro Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
10. Richard Antinucci Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
Round Twenty
Pos Driver Car
1. James Courtney Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
2. Robbie Kerr Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
3. Heikki Kovalainen Dallara F302 Sodemo Renault
4. Clivio Piccione Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
5. Mathew Gilmore Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
6. Shinya Hosokawa Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
7. Fabio Carbone Dallara F302 Sodemo Renault
8. Alan van der Merwe Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
9. Stefan de Groot Dallara F302 Spiess Opel
10. Bruce Jouanny Dallara F302 Mugen-Honda
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