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.
Pantano Wins At Barcelona
"I'm very happy for the guys and for my team," said Pantano. "We did a great job last week, we managed to reach the same level of the others and the results arrived. I really want to thank my mechanics and engineers for the car set."
Pantano was the form of qualifying, taking pole by almost three-tenths over Wirdheim. Sensation of qualifying was Astromega's Jeff van Hooydonk, just over a tenth behind Wirdheim with Coloni's Ricardo Sperafico and the PSM duo of Jaroslav Janis and Yannick Shroeder covered by hundredths of a second.
Pantano won the start to lead the field into turn one at the end of Barcelona's long straight. Wirdheim slotted in behind in second position with Sperafico leaping past van Hooydonk with Toccacelo making a blinder to be fifth over the line the first time. As the second lap began, new Den Bla Avis driver Phil Giebler dived underneath Raffaele Gianmaria. The cars collided into retirement.
At the front though Pantano kept Wirdheim at bay, gradually eking out a three second lead to win from Wirdheim and Toccacelo. Jaroslav Janis become the fourth place holder once Sperafico slipped from the charts, with BCN's Rob Nguyen climbing from 15th to fifth. Tony Schmidt, Zsolt Baumgartner and Yannick Schroeder completed the points.
Wirdheim now holds an eight point lead over Pantano and Toccacelo with Patrick Freisacher a further two points adrift.
Result of FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 2 of 10, Barcelona, Spain:
Standings: Bjorn Wirdheim 18, Enrico Toccacelo and Giorgio Pantano 10, Patrick Freisacher 8, Ricardo Sperafico 6, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Rob Nguyen and Jaroslav Janis 5, Yannick Schroeder 4, Tony Schmidt 3 etc
Formula 3000 points distribution
Bourdais' European Double
Hot on the heels of his debut CART victory at Brands Hatch a week ago, young Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais won his first Superspeedway CART event this week at the German 500 at Eurospeedway Lausitzring.
With the 2001 race finished, as it were, the 2003 race got under way. Newman-Haas led the field to the line, Bourdais on the pole, Bruno Junqueira alongside. While Bourdais led immediately, Junqueira got a better exit from turn two to take the lead. The pair would continue to trade the lead right up until the first round of pitstops. Series leader Paul Tracy, who had qualifed 16th, quickly put his poor Saturday behind him and was into the top ten by the third lap.
A yellow flag for debris on lap 24 saw the entire field take advantage and pit. Junqueira held on to his lead after the stops, but Patrick Lemarie was out after a collision in the pits. At the restart it was Mario Dominguez who made the best start, quickly jumping Bourdais to take second positon. Bourdais would soon lose another spot to Oriol Servia. Up front Dominguez moved up to take the lead of a CART event in anger for the first time in his career. Junqueira quickly fell to fourth as the new guard took control of the race with Servia and Bourdais now holding the remainder of the podium positions.
Bourdais sat hard on Dominguez's hammer as the second stop approached. Bourdais went to stop early on lap 51, but apparently changed his mind, careering across the grass infield of the front straight briefly, before pitting, while still second, two laps later. Dominguez led the field away from the pits with Bourdais again immediately behind. Servia held third with Patrick Carpentier getting excellent service from the Forsythe team to be fourth. It would be short lived for the Canadian as Junqueira started climbing the order.
Bourdais led the field into the fourth stops, and led out again. Jimmy Vasser, who did not pit, held the lead from Carpentier, until they pitted. When they did Bourdais led again from Jourdain, Dominguez and Servia. Junqueira again started to climb the order, but the real pace was with Dominguez, passing Jourdain and moving up to challenge Bourdais.
With the fifth stops completed the chequered flag beckoned. Dominguez was racing the race of his life, regularly pulling alongside Bourdais. With seven laps to go Dominguez again pulled alongside and again was unable to complete the pass. Dominguez stayed where he was, not pulling back into the draft until three laps were left. Dominguez moved alongside again to take the white flag mere hundredths behind Bourdais while Jourdain made his own challenge on the two leaders, who had fallen into the Mexican's grasp.
The chequers flew and Bourdais won by the smallest margin from Dominguez and Jourdain. Fourth place was taken by Junqueira, unable to match the leaders in the desperate sprint to the flag. Servia faded to fifth at the end, a disappionting result for the pace he had demonstrated. Darren Manning led home the rest ahead of Carpentier, Jimmy Vasser and the best finish yet for Rodolfo Lavin.
With Tracy a miserable twelfth, his one point prevented Bruno Junqueira taking the lead outright as they tied on 66 points. Jourdain sits ten points back in third with Bourdais up to fourth after his pair of race wins. The CART circus returns stateside for the next race at the Milwaukee Mile at the end of the month, a week after Indy, where at least Jimmy Vasser will try for victory.
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 5 of 19, Lausitzring, Germany:
Standings: Paul Tracy and Bruno Junqueira 66, Michel Jourdain Jr 56, Sebastien Bourdais 49, Mario Dominguez 40, Patrick Carpentier 34, Adrian Fernandez 29, Roberto Moreno 27, Jimmy Vasser 25, Oriol Servia 24 etc.
Rossi Reigns In Spain (Again)
Ducati showed once again that they intend to be a force in MotoGP, taking their first ever pole, Loris Capirossi edging out teammate Troy Bayliss into second place by 0.01 of a second, the closest margin between pole and second for nearly ten years, with points leader Rossi starting from fifth. At the start it looked even worse for Rossi, dropping down to ninth as they left turn one, while upfront the Ducatis had swapped positions, Bayliss leading from teammate Capirossi with John Hopkins up in third place followed by Max Biaggi and Sete Gibernau. Immediately Rossi was on the attack, taking eighth place through turn three, with Gibernau taking fourth from Biaggi at the Dry Sack hairpin.
Into the hairpin to complete the lap and Gibernau attacked Hopkins and Capirossi, taking Hopkins, while leader Bayliss had a hiccup and dropped to third as they crossed the line. Meanwhile Rossi passed Ukawa at the hairpin and Biaggi and Checa down the pit straight to be in fifth position at turn one on lap two. What initially looked like hard work for Rossi was turning into easy pickings. Into Dry Sack Rossi moved up into fourth place, taking third from Bayliss two turns later and second from Gibernau into the final turn. It was now quite clear it wasn't a case of if Rossi would lead, but rather when. The race settled down somewhat on lap three as the lead four rode together as Capirossi held up the riders behind him, Biaggi tacking on in fifth place.
This left the usual suspects of Rossi and Biaggi running first and second, Rossi edging away lap after lap, with the focus now on the fight for third position. Capirossi was holding on as Bayliss hung close, faded, then attacked again. As Bayliss closed in on lap thirteen, Capirossi got cranked sideways in one of the fast sweepers before the bike gripped and spat him off and into the gravel. This moved Bayliss into third position, the podium places now settled, Rossi safely clear of Biaggi who was under no threat from Bayliss.
The excitement for the rest of the race centred on the battle for the next few placings, with Tohru Ukawa and Makoto Tamada on their Hondas fighting with Alex Barros on his Yamaha for fourth through to sixth placings. In the end the battle was decided in Ukawa's favour, ahead of Barros and Tamada, as Rossi went on to take his second win of the season, continuing Honda's domination of the MotoGP class with three wins from three start for the manufacturer this season. Biaggi continued his consistent results, finishing second, while Bayliss scored his first podium finish in his third MotoGP event as Ducati's debut season continues to impress.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 3 of 16, Jerez, Spain:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 70, Max Biaggi 56, Troy Bayliss 40, Sete Gibernau 38, Alex Barros 30, Tohru Ukawa 23, Shinya Nakano 20, Nicky Hayden 18, Loris Capirossi 16, John Hopkins 15 etc.
Gronholm Sneaks Home
The rally began with Marcus Gronholm leading the first half of Leg One as he fought a tough battle with many of the leading drivers. This began to change in SS8 when Tommi Makinen dropped a long way back with transmission problems. The following stage saw Colin McRae retire with a fiery engine and Gronholm lose over a minute after damaging the rear of his 206. This saw Sainz take over the lead which he held to the end of a long Leg One, over twenty seconds ahead of Markko Martin who had suffered minor gearbox problems with the two Peugeots of Richard Burns and Harri Rovanpera about twenty seconds further back, Gronholm almost a minute and a half off the lead in sixth place.
The first stage of Leg Two was cancelled due to spectator safety concerns, and the second was affected as well, as Marcus Gronholm set fastest or near fastest stage times throughout the day to climb up to second place by day's end, 15 seconds behind new leader Markko Martin. Martin took over the lead from Sainz after late in the day the Spaniard booked into a control one minute early, earning himself a one minute penalty, dropping him from a thirty second lead to third place. Leg Three saw things get even better for Gronholm, as Markko Martin for the second consecutive rally lost oil pressure in his engine while on the verge of victory. Gronholm continued to push hard and took a comfortable win, with Burns and Sainz fighting a see-saw battle for second that was resolved in Sainz's favour when Burns lost turbo pressure on the final stage.
Citroen must be ruing what might have been with Sainz's (or was it co-driver Marc Marti's?) 'mistake' on Leg Two. The one minute penalty saw Sainz finish the rally less than half a minute behind winner Gronholm after a great effort by Sainz. Citroen's other two drivers weren't as successful, McRae retiring on Leg One with an engine fire while Loeb crashed out of Leg Two whilst in a position to score points. Subaru also ended the rally wondering what might have been, Solberg salvaging a fifth place despite losing two minutes in a roll on Leg One, while teammate Makinen was up pressuring the leaders halfway through Leg One when transmission problems crept in, losing him over ten minutes, hampering throughout the remainder of the event before the team decided to withdraw the car from the event at the end of Leg Two.
Skoda continue to show that ultimate speed isn't everything as their strong and reliable Octavias both scored points, Didier Auriol just beating home teammate Toni Gardemeister.
Ford must be wishing they had the same level of reliability, Markko Martin dropping out of the lead on the first stage of the final leg with oil pressure problems, while teammate Fracois Duval was hampered on the last day with engine and gearbox problems, having not quite been on Martin's pace all rally. Mikko Hirvonen had turbo problems on the first two legs and finished well out of contention.
In the Production Car World Rally Championship, Toshihiro Arai scored his second consecutive win and finishing ninth overall, moving to the top of the Production Car standings. Arai's win was a fitting tribute to his late teammate 'Possum' Bourne who passed away in late April, with Arai and the Subaru World Rally Team cars of Makinen and Solberg wearing '62 Possum' stickers on their cars throughout the rally.
Result of World Rally Championship, Round 5 of 14, Rally Argentina, Argentina:
Drivers' Standings: Richard Burns 32, Marcus Gronholm 30, Carlos Sainz 24, Sebastien Loeb and Colin McRae 17, Petter Solberg and Markko Martin 13, Tommi Makinen 11, Francois Duval and Toni Gardemeister 9 etc.
Manufacturers' Standings: Peugeot 65, Citroen 52, Ford 29, Subaru 27, Skoda 19, Hyundai 3
Production Cars Standings: Toshihiro Arai 20, Karamjit Singh 17, Stig Blomqvist and Martin Rowe 11, Daniel Sola and Marcos Ligato 8, Hamed Al Wahaibi 6, Giovanni Manfrinato and Possum Bourne 5, Alfredo De Dominicis, Krzysztof Holowczyc and Ramon Ferreyros 4 etc.
Briscoe and Glock Win At Adria
In a rain-affected qualifying session, Christian Klien rose to the top to take pole for round three ahead of Glock, Nicolas Lapierre and Fabio Carbone. Klien was able to make the best of the start but was put under a steady blowtorch from Glock. On the fourth lap Glock made good on the pressure he had been applying, taking the lead. From there Glock pulled clear to a comfortable victory. Klien would fall to third at the finish, being unable to hold back former British F3 compettior Fabio Carbone. Cesar Campanico held on for fourth place from the flying series leader Ryan Briscoe. Lapierre faded to sixth ahead of Alexandre Premat and Olivier Pla.
For the second race, Ryan Briscoe got the better start to move past stalled front rower Alexandros Margaritis and polesitter Nico Rosberg. Like Glock the previous day, once in the lead Briscoe moved away with each lap to win comfortably. One of the front runners from Hockenheim's opening rounds, Frenchman Olivier Pla completed the weekend's podium, making up for a disappointing first race to finish ahead of Bernhard Auinger and Alexandre Premat.
Apart from Briscoe, it is a desperately close championship. Pla and Klien sit on 16 points, with Rosberg and Glock on 15 points. Briscoe however is on 35 points, comfortably clear in the standings.
Result of European Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 3 and 4 of 20, Adria, Italy:
Standings: Ryan Briscoe 35, Olivier Pla and Christian Klien 16, Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg 15, Robert Doornbos 12, Markus Winkelhock 11, Cesar Campanico and Fabio Carbone 8, Nicolas Lapierre 7 etc.
F3 Euro Series points distribution
Davison Makes His Mark, Van Der Merwe Expands Lead
Australian Will Davison finally turned his back on a dismal start to his British campaign as he took victory in the fifth round of the ultra-competitive series. A sixth round victory later that day saw Alan van der Merwe expand his series lead.
Davison won the start of round five and simply drove away from the field. Alan van der Merwe, who started on the front row, got tangled at the start with Michael Keohane, allowing Rob Austin in the MenuF3 car through to lead the challenge to cut down Davison's lead, an ultimately fruitless task. Van der Merwe recovered and fought back into third position with two of his teammates, Ronnie Bremer and Richard Antinucci, following him home. Danny Watts would finish sixth ahead of Stefano Fabi with Nelsinho Piquet having a realitively quiet race to finish eighth.
The second race was more specatacular as Van der Merwe got the jump on Davison with Jamie Green next. Davison ran over some debris, causing his retirment whilst in second, thus setting up Carlin Motorsport's first 1-2-3 finish as Antinucci moved up behind Green onto the podium. Former Carlin driver Keohane finished fourth, getting some measure of recompense from his first race retirement. Austin finished fifth, his consistency helping in the points chase, ahead of the fourth Carlin car of Bremer with Fortec's Robert Dahlgren next.
Result of British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 5 and 6 of 24, Croft, Great Britain:
Piccione and Piquet Take Knockhill
Formula 3's annual visit to Scotland saw two new winners added to the series' honour roll with Manor's Clivio Piccione taking round seven while round eight saw Nelsinho Piquet take his first win in the series in the team his famous father created, with the purpose of winning the championship he'd won on his way to three Formula One championships.
In round eight Piquet was an altogether tougher opponent and led the race from lights to flag. It was a red flag though as the race was called early after a car was left in an unsafe position. Richard Antinucci took advantage of his qualifying form to hold second for most of the race before spinning down the order. This promoted his teammate Green into second, repairing some of the damage from his race one spin. Keohane finished third completing the podium. Series leader Van der Merwe finished fourth, running in conservative mode, protecting his huge points lead. Davison again was fifth, ahead of Fortec's Robert Dahlgren and the flying Scholarship class car of Steven Kane.
In other British Formula 3 news, the disqualififcations of Jamie Green and Richard Antinucci from the first event of the year at Donington Park for irregularities in tyre regulations have been reversed and converted into a fine for their team, Carlin Motorsport. The original disqualifications were caused when the team bolted Antinucci's pre-allocated tyres onto Green's car and vice versa. This has affected the championship standings with Green, suddenly 20 points richer, shooting up the order to be second behind teammate Alan van der Merwe, albeit some 26 points behind. Piquet is now third, 46 points from Van der Merwe, while Bremer leads a tight pack in fourth, over 60 points behind his team leader.
Result of British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 7 and 8 of 24; Knockhill, Scotland:
Standings: Alan van der Merwe 120, Jamie Green 94, Nelson Piquet Jr 74, Ronnie Bremer 56, Rob Austin 55, Richard Antinucci 54, Michael Keohane 38, Will Davison 37, Danny Watts 26, Clivio Piccione and Robert Dahlgren 21 etc.
British F3 points distribution
Bentley Sets The Pace
Tom Kristensen made his intentions for June clear, recording the fastest time at the pre-race May Day weekend test session for the Le Mans 24 Hours, recording a 3:34.820 to top the timesheets just minutes before the close of proceedings.
The first car not powered by VW products is reigning FIA Sportscar champions, Racing For Holland. Jan Lammers with his pair of Dome Judds were sixth and eighth fastest with the American Riley and Scott team in senevth.
The LMP group is closer on times than they have been for several years, promising for an entertaining battle at the front of the field.
John Nielsen was fastest in LMP675 driving the DBA-Zytek he will share with FIA Sportscar sensation Hayanari Shimoda and Johnny Dumfries ahead of the Intersport Lola-MG who had a troubled time and only started setting competitive times with a few minutes to go.
Ferrari dominated the GTS class with the two fastest cars belonging to the 550 Maranellos of the lightly raced Prodrive squad, while the defending champions, Kevin Buckler's The Racers Group was fastest in GT with their Daytona 24 Hour outright winning Porsche 996 GT3-RS.
Result of 24 Heures du Mans Test Day, Le Mans du Sarthe, France:
Helio On Track For Three-Peat
"This one of the best days of my life," said Castroneves. "It's fantastic. It's a dream come true. That guy upstairs made it happen, trust me."
The Brazilian will share the front row with countryman Tony Kanaan, who has rapidly overcome the broken arm he received in a crash at Motegi a month ago to qualify for the Memorial Day classic, and Kanaan's Andretti Green teammate and NASCAR regular Robby Gordon. Castroneves' teammate Gil de Ferran qualified 10th running in the team's GForce chassis rather than the usual Dallara.
Apart from Team Penske's pole, AGR cars made the biggest impression on Pole Day, with Dan Wheldon putting his Dallara in fifth behind Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon. Team co-owner Michael Andretti is back on the fifth row of the grid having been only 13th fastest on what will be his last race before retirement.
Former CART teams occupy the first six places on the grid, with the best of the IRL veteran teams, Kelley Racing, holding seventh spot for Tony Renna with teammate and IRL series leader Scott Sharp alongside in eighth. Defending IRL series champion Sam Hornish Jr is only 18th, also holding his usual position in the grid as the best of the Chevrolet-powered cars.
With CART racing in Germany on the same day as Pole Day, nobody crossed over from the 'other' series although Jimmy Vasser is expected to try to qualify on Bump Day.
24 cars set times for the 33 available grid spaces with Sarah Fisher bringing up the rear of the field, and thus in the most vulnerable position, come Bump Day this Sunday. Next most vulnerable is A.J. Foyt IV, grandson of the races elder statesman and his own team owner.
Result of Indianapolis 500 Pole Day, Indy Racing League, Round 4 of 16, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana, United States:
Nadeau Semi-Conscious With Head Injury
MB2 Motorsports general manager Jay Frye said doctors remained optimistic about Nadeau's recovery. "He is in a transitional state of regaining consciousness," Frye said. "Being as determined and motivated as he is -- he has a hard time sitting still -- I think that will help him recover."
The 32-year-old Nadeau was placed in an induced coma but has been communicating by squeezing hands and making facial gestures. Frye said doctors told him Nadeau had a "moderate to severe" head injury.
Nadeau sustained head, lung and rib injuries during a May 2 practice crash for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He was taken to Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, where he since has been moved from the intensive care unit to a private room.
Nadeau is in his sixth full season on the Winston Cup circuit. His only victory in 177 career starts came in the final race of 2000 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Report provided by Reuters
Formula 3000
One of the pre-season favourites for the championship, Giorgio Pantano got his season back on track with a lights to flag win at Barcelona recently. The Durango driver had to deal with the presence of round one winner Bjorn Wirdheim over the entire race, before running out the winner. Super Nova lead driver, Enrico Toccacelo was third.
Van Hooydonk was unable to maintain his pace from qualifying and got slower as the race went on, eventually retiring before half distance. It took a few laps, but Toccacelo found a way past van Hooydonk before hunting down and passing Sperafico on lap 17. Sperafico too would retire, with the team sending some pointed comments in the direction of Zytek.
Pos Driver Team
1. Giorgio Pantano Durango Formula
2. Bjorn Wirdheim Arden International
3. Enrico Toccacelo Super Nova Racing
4. Jaroslav Janis Superfund-ISR-Charouz
5. Rob Nguyen BCN F3000
6. Tony Schmidt Team Astromega
7. Zsolt Baumgartner Coloni Motorsport
8. Yannick Schroeder PSM Racing
9. Alessandro Piccolo BCN F3000
10. Nicolas Kiesa Den Bla Avis
CART
Before the start of the race there was an emotional moment for all present. In a specially prepared car to counter his disabilities, Alex Zanardi raced a CART car once more, completing the race denied him two years ago. This was no mock parade though as Zanardi scorched around the Lausitzring, recording a lap time that would have put him fifth on the grid.
At the third round of stops Dominguez received his second warning for blocking in pit lane, and received a five second penalty, rubbing salt into the Mexican's wound after he stalled in the stop. Bourdais took up the lead as a result. Junqueira moved up to challenge the lead and would swap several times with his teammate, but Junqueira's pace was short lived and he fell back down the order again, the Brazilian unable to make his pace last a full stint.
Pos Driver Car
1. Sebastien Bourdais Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
2. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
3. Michel Jourdain Jr Team Rahal Lola-Ford
4. Bruno Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
5. Oriol Servia Patrick Racing Lola-Ford
6. Darren Manning Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
7. Patrick Carpentier Player's/Forsythe Racing Lola-Ford
8. Jimmy Vasser American Spirit Team Johansson Reynard-Ford
9. Rodolfo Lavin Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
10. Roberto Moreno Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
MotoGP
After a comfortable win at Jerez, it looks like Valentino Rossi is set to continue his domination of the MotoGP class as he steadily marches towards a second consecutive MotoGP title. Despite a poor start for Rossi, and Ducati leading the early running, it became quickly apparent that Rossi was on his way to his third win in succession in the top class at the Jerez circuit in Spain. The result now sees the points standing mirroring the podium at Jerez, Rossi leading Biaggi from Bayliss, a comfortable gap between each of them.
Lap four saw Biaggi take fourth from Bayliss out of Dry Sack, and more importantly Rossi take the lead from Capirossi at the final hairpin as Carlos Checa retired with bike problems. Biaggi was now up with Gibernau as Capirossi continued to fade and come under pressure. Into the final hairpin the pressure came to bear and Capirossi went in too quickly, and was forced to sit up and watch Gibernau and Biaggi ride through before resuming just in front of teammate Bayliss, the two Ducatis about to begin their own private battle. Just as the battle between Gibernau was beginning to hot up, Gibernau lost the front end in turn two on lap seven and crashed out of the race.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Honda RC211V
2. Max Biaggi Honda RC211V
3. Troy Bayliss Ducati Desmosedici
4. Tohru Ukawa Honda RC211V
5. Alex Barros Yamaha YZR-M1
6. Makoto Tamada Honda RC211V
7. John Hopkins Suzuki GSV-R
8. Shinya Nakano Yamaha YZR-M1
9. Nobuatsu Aoki Proton KR3
10. Olivier Jacque Yamaha YZR-M1
Rally
After Leg One it looked unlikely, impossible even, that Marcus Gronholm would win the Rally of Argentina. Even Marcus himself felt this way, but fast stage times and a little bit of luck falling his way meant that Gronholm emerged the victor at the end of Leg Three, with Carlos Sainz second following an embarassingly costly error on Leg Two with two more Peugeots filling out the top four. Markko Martin looked set for the win early on Leg Three before unreliability saw his demise. Richard Burns continues to lead the points standings with an ever-decreasing lead over teammate Gronholm, Carlos Sainz keeping the Peugeot duo honest in third place.
For Peugeot, it was a good result, finishing 1-3-4, but there was some luck involved as well. Marcus Gronholm drove well all rally apart from his incident with the rock, and Burns and Rovanpera were consistently fast as well. However Sainz's incident and Martin's retirement saw things fall Gronholm's way just at a point where we would've discovered whether he could beat them unaided, so we lost out on seeing what could have been a great fight battle.
Finally, Hyundai had a miserable rally. Freddy Loix retired on leg one with engine problems, while Armin Schwarz suffered differential and shock absorber problems on Leg Two before retiring late on Leg Three with turbo failure while in sixth place.
Pos Driver/Co-driver Car
1. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen Peugeot 206 WRC
2. Carlos Sainz/Marc Marti Citroen Xsara
3. Richard Burns/Robert Reid Peugeot 206 WRC
4. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen Peugeot 206 WRC
5. Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC2003
6. Didier Auriol/Denis Giraudet Skoda Octavia WRC EVO 3
7. Toni Gardemeister/Paavo Lukander Skoda Octavia WRC EVO 3
8. Francois Duval/Stephan Prevot Ford Focus RS WRC 03
9. Toshihiro Arai/Tony Sircombe Subaru Impreza (Group N)
10. Gabriel Raies/Jorge Perez Toyota Corolla WRC
Euro F3
Ryan Briscoe confirmed his position at the top of the reborn European Formula 3 Championship taking victory in the series' fourth round at the Italian circuit of Adria. Earlier that day Timo Glock took his debut win, taking victory in round three.
Round Three
Pos Driver Car
1. Timo Glock Opel Team KSM Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
2. Fabio Carbone Signature Plus Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
3. Christian Klien Mucke Motorsport Dallara F303 Mercedes
4. Cesar Campanico Swiss Racing Team Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
5. Ryan Briscoe Prema Powerteam Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
6. Nicolas Lapierre Signature Plus Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
7. Alexandre Premat ASM F3 Dallara F303 Mercedes
8. Olivier Pla ASM F3 Dallara F303 Mercedes
9. Alexandros Margaritis MB Racing Performance Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
10. Robert Doornbos Team Ghinzani Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
Round Four
Pos Driver Car
1. Ryan Briscoe Prema Powerteam Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
2. Nico Rosberg Team Rosberg Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
3. Olivier Pla ASM F3 Dallara F303 Mercedes
4. Bernhard Auinger Superfund TME Dallara F303 TOM's Toyota
5. Alexandre Premat ASM F3 Dallara F303 Mercedes
6. Robert Doornbos Team Ghinzani Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
7. Charles Zwolsman Kolles Dallara F303 Mercedes
8. Richard Lietz HBR Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
9. Sakon Yamamoto Superfund TME Dallara F303 TOM's Toyota
10. Fabio Carbone Signature Plus Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
British F3
"It was really great," said Davison, fresh from the podium presentation. "We did it in convincing fashion, the car was awesome and I got out in front and it all just flowed from there. It's such a great feeling. I've felt relaxed all weekend and the car was doing it easy."
Round Five
Pos Driver Car
1. Will Davison Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Rob Austin Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
3. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Richard Antinucci Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Danny Watts Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
7. Stefano Fabi Manor Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
8. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
9. Ernani Judice Promatecme F3 Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
10. Fauzy Fairuz Team SYR Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
Round Six
Pos Driver Car
1. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Jamie Green Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Richard Antinucci Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Michael Keohane Promatecme F3 Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Rob Austin Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
6. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
7. Robert Dahlgren Fortec Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
8. Billy Asaro Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
9. Christian England Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
10. Stefano Fabi Manor Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
Piccione, like so many in the series thus far, found that once he hit the front after the start, he was able to drive away from the field with apparent ease. Piquet, second for the entire race, was unable to stay with the Manor car. Just behind the race turned into a squabble amongst the ubiquitous Carlin squad. Jamie Green spun at the start near the front of the pack as teammate and series leader Alan van der Merwe damaged his car trying, unsuccessfully, to avoid him. This allowed Rob Austin to race away in third until his gearbox broke. Richard Antinucci upheld Carlin honour to finish third ahead of teammate Ronnie Bremer with Will Davison next in the Alan Docking car.
Round Seven
Pos Driver Car
1. Clivio Piccione Manor Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Richard Antinucci Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Will Davison Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
7. Steven Kane T-Sport Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
8. Stefano Fabi Manor Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
9. Billy Asaro Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
10. Fauzy Fairuz Team SYR Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
Round Eight
Pos Driver Car
1. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Jamie Green Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Michael Keohane Promatecme F3 Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Will Davison Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Robert Dahlgren Fortec Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
7. Steven Kane T-Sport Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
8. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
9. Ernesto Viso Sweeney Racing Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
10. Danny Watts Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
Le Mans
Second fastest was another VW-associated vehicle, the Japanese Team Goh Audi R8 being led by Jan Magnussen, the white car setting a time low in the 3:38 bracket. Third fastest was the second Bentley with Johnny Herbert setting the time. The remaining Audi R8s fill the next two positions with the Frank Biela led Audi Sport UK car leading the Champion Racing car led by Emanuelle Pirro.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Tom Kristensen/Rinaldo Capello/Guy Smith Bentley EXP Speed 8
2. Jan Magnussen/Seiji Ara/Marco Werner Audi R8
3. Johnny Herbert/David Brabham/ Bentley EXP Speed 8
Mark Blundell
4. Frank Biela/Mika Salo/Perry McCarthy Audi R8
5. JJ Lehto/Emanuele Pirro/Stefan Johansson Audi R8
6. Jan Lammers/John Bosch/Andy Wallace Dome S101 Judd
7. Jim Mathews/Marc Goosens/ Riley & Scott Mk IIIC Elan
Christophe Tinseau
8. Felipe Ortiz/Beppe Gabbiani/ Dome S101 Judd
Tristan Gommendy
9. Nicolas Minassian/Soheil Ayari/ Courage C60 Peugeot
Eric Helary
10. Jonathan Cochet/Stephane Gregoire/ Courage C60JX Judd
Boris Derichebourg
14. Hayanari Shimoda/John Nielsen/ DBA Zytek
Johnny Dumfries (1st LMP675)
19. Jamie Davies/Tomas Enge/Peter Kox Ferrari 550 Maranello
(1st LMGTS)
34. Kevin Buckler/Jorg Bergmeister Porsche 996 GT3RS
(1st LMGT)
IRL
That rarest of achievements, three consecutive Indy 500 victories, edged a little closer for Helio Castroneves when he scorched around Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a four lap average speed of 231.725mph to secure pole position, and gave Toyota its first Indy 500 pole.
Of the former winners in the field, Kenny Brack qualified sixth fastest in his Team Rahal Dallara, Al Unser Jr is 17th fastest in his Kelley Racing Dallara and Buddy Lazier is 21st fastest in his Dallara with brother Jacques alongside in 20th. Dual winner Arie Luyendyk did not compete in Pole Day in his Mo Nunn Racing GForce, concerned over high winds whipping across the circuit and how the car felt.
Pos Driver Team
Row 1
Pole Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara-Toyota
2. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
3. Robby Gordon Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
Row 2
4. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
5. Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
6. Kenny Brack Team Rahal Dallara-Honda
Row 3
7. Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing GForce-Toyota
8. Tony Renna Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota
9. Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota
Row 4
10. Gil de Ferran Team Penske GForce-Toyota
11. Roger Yasukawa Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Dallara-Honda
12. Tomas Scheckter Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
Row 5
13. Michael Andretti Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
14. Greg Ray Access Motorsports GForce-Honda
15. Shinji Nakano Beck Motorsports Dallara-Honda
Row 6
16. Felipe Giaffone Mo Nunn Racing GForce-Toyota
17. Al Unser Jr Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota
18. Sam Hornish Jr Panther Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
Row 7
19. Buddy Rice Cheever Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
20. Jaques Lazier Team Menard Dallara-Chevrolet
21. Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
Row 8
22. Robbie Buhl Dreyer & Reinbold Dallara-Chevrolet
23. A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Racing Dallara-Toyota
24. Sarah Fisher Dreyer & Reinbold Dallara-Chevrolet
NASCAR
NASCAR Winston Cup veteran Jerry Nadeau, critically injured earlier this month after crashing during a practice run, remained semi-conscious on Tuesday with a head injury, doctors said.
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Volume 9, Issue 20
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