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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.
Junqueira's Denver Double
Bruno Junqueira successfully defended his Denver street race crown as he led home Newman-Haas Racing teammate Sebastien Bourdais in what was effectively a two horse race in Colarado. Junqueira needed the win to keep his championship hopes alive, as the Brazilian edged closer to series leader Paul Tracy who drove a stirring race into fourth place. With four races remaining, it will only require one bad finish for Tracy, and the championship he was such a short priced pre-season favourite for will be gone.
Whatever the problem on Saturday, Tracy found his game face on Sunday, topping the warm-up timesheets. The first attempt at a start was flagged away, so they got it right second time as Junqueira led into the first turn with Servia slotting into second ahead of Bourdais, Fernandez and Carpentier. Tracy pulled a blinder to slot into sixth while Montiero undid all of his good qualifying work to drop to seventh.
Further back Rodolfo Lavin found himself squabbling with the green Herdez machines, to the point that he was squeezed by the duo, sending the Mexican into the wall at turn five. Mario Dominguez stopped to have sidepod damage inspected. At the restart, Tracy started pressuring Carpentier for fifth, while just behind Haberfeld was challenging Montiero. Up front Junqueira skipped away to a two second lead which stabilised at that point. As the first round of stops approached, Junqueira gradually came back to Servia and Bourdais closed on both of them. When the stops began, Servia was just behind Junqueira.
A fumbled pitstop by the Newman-Haas crew and Servia was launched into the lead. As the field settled again after the stops, with Servia around a second and a half clear, Tracy snatched fifth place from his teammate, and immediately followed it with the fastest lap of the race thus far. Tracy had a big lead to pull back. It looked like it would be too large until teammate Carpentier brought out the yellows when he crahsed at turn one with no brakes in the Lola.
Junqueira again leads the field into the pits and rejoins ahead of Bourdais and Servia, with the Player's-Forsythe crew servicing Tracy quicker than the Fernandez crew and so Tracy moved up another spot. With fifteen laps to go the race went green again, despite the best efforts of Montiero and series debutante Mika Salo who touched and spun together. Both cars limped to the pits damaged, with Montiero contining after a brief inspection, but plainly the mangled car of Salo could not contiune.
Bourdais was shutting down the lead. With seven laps to go the Frenchman was within a second, closing to half a second two laps later. As the race passed lap 100 Bourdais was down to four tenths, but Junqueira rallied, briefly halting the advance just enough so that Bourdais ran out of laps. Junqueira took the win by three tenths of a second. Servia held onto third by eight tenths over Tracy with Fernandez a lonely fifth. Jordain was next ahead of Dominguez who took seventh despite what could only be described as a dramatic race with Manning eighth in the first Reynard.
Tracy is 18 points ahead of Junqueira, a gap which while healthy, is not enough to give Tracy any real comfort zone. Jourdain has dropped back to be 38 points adrift of Tracy with the recent form of Bourdais allowing the obvious rookie of the year to close withing striking distance of the Mexican. The series pauses now, with a gap of four weeks before the next event at Bayfront Park in Florida.
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 15 of 19, Denver Street Circuit, Colorado, United States:
Standings: Paul Tracy 204, Bruno Junqueira 186, Michel Jourdain Jr 165, Sebastien Bourdais 142, Patrick Carpentier 128, Oriol Servia 108, Adrian Fernandez 92, Alex Tagliani 91, Mario Dominguez and Darren Manning 81 etc.
'Texas' Terry Terrific
It had been a while, but Terry Labonte's improved perfomances this year meant it wasn't a total surprise when he claimed victory at Darlington on the weekend. In recent years, the #5 car of Labonte has trailed the performances of his teammates, the #24 of Jeff Gordon and #48 of Jimmie Johnson, with even the #25 car making it to victory in the intervening years. But the two-time Winston Cup champ was the pick of the Hendrick team on the weekend, especially with Gordon suffering another miserable weekend after being involved in another collision, finishing 32nd. This, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr's axle problems which saw him end up in 25th place, has seen Kevin Harvick move into third and almost pass Junior in the points chase, though neither is anywhere near Matt Kenseth. The only good news for everyone chasing the title is that Kenseth's finished in fourteenth place, a finish which could've been better had he not hit the wall while leading early in the race...
Back to green on lap fourteen, though it wasn't a smooth restart, as the mid-pack ran into each other after someone had problems at the restart, leading to some damage to Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and most severely, Mark Martin, who was forced to pit a few laps later. Up front Eale Earnhardt Jr was on the move, taking third from Johnson on lap 23 while points leader Matt Kenseth passed Johnson for fourth five laps later, Earnhardt taking second a few laps later as Johnson continued to fade, losing fifth to Sadler on lap 38, Labonte heading down the field soon after. Meanwhile Kenseth was continuing to move upwards, up to second place just after lap 50, while teammate Jeff Burton was up into third past Earnhardt Jr on lap 65 despite starting outside the top 25! Kenseth was now battling Newman for the lead, taking it from him on lap 67.
A caution for debris was just around the corner, coming out on lap 73. With everyone desperate for tyres, they all pitted, Kenseth holding onto the lead ahead of teammate Burton, Newman, Earnhardt Jr and Sadler. The race resumed on lap 77, Kenseth continuing to lead from Burton and Newman, as Terry Labonte made his way back into the top five. Not much else had happened before the next caution came out on lap 100 after Mike Skinner hit the turn three wall, sending everyone to the pits again, Burton taking over the lead from Kenseth, Newman, Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick. The race restarted on lap 104, Kenseth wasting no time regaining the lead, taking it down the backstretch on lap 104.
Lap 167 and it was caution time again, as Jeff Gordon's month (or more) of misery continued. The lapped car of Casey Mears squeezed Gordon into the wall, and if this wasn't bad enough, this triggered off a similar crash to the one that brought out the first caution, Johnny Benson, Dave Blaney, Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace also involved along with Mears and Gordon, all suffering heavy damage. In came everyone for tyres and fuel, Johnson leading Newman, Burton, Harvick and Terry Labonte off pit road, though Burton came back in again to make sure his left front wheel was attached OK, dropping him to seventeenth at the restart. As the race restarted on lap 176 Newman quickly moved into the lead as lapped cars got in the way.
Bill Elliott made his first appearance in the top five by passing Craven for fifth on lap 186, taking fourth from Johnson six laps later, Johnson fading again. Meanwhile Biffle was on his way up as well, taking fifth from Johnson soon after, then fourth, then third before taking second from Harvick on lap 212 as he closed in on leader Newman. Joe Nemechek then brought out the caution on lap 229 after he got loose, and then left Jimmy Spencer in no position other to spin him around having spun into his way. More pit stops, with Biffle jumping into the lead ahead of Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Elliott and Labonte. Where was Newman? In the pits, trying to fire up his car. His team pushed and pushed to restart his car but it wouldn't fire, eventually dropping him off the lead lap as it still refused to fire.
More pit stops saw Harvick first out of the pits ahead of McMurray, Biffle, Elliott and Labonte. However Kevin LePage stayed out, and took over the lead. The race restarted on lap 248, Biffle taking third from McMurray one lap later before Harvick and Biffle both moved past LePage on lap 250, Biffle moving back into the lead a lap later as LePage's gamble not to pit rapidly cost him positions. Any time it looked like there was going to be a green run a caution intervened, and so it did once again, debris bringing out a caution on lap 275. More pit stops, Harvick taking back the lead from Biffle, Elliott, McMurray and Johnson.
The race went back to green on lap 279, Biffle immediately taking the lead back through turns three and four, McMurray taking Elliott for third at about the same time. As they passed lap 300 Biffle had extended his lead over Harvick, McMurray, Elliott and Johnson, though around this point in the race a puff of smoke came out of his car for a split second. Debris once again brought out a caution, this time on lap 311. It turned out the puff of smoke was probably from Biffle's clutch, as it no longer worked, dropping him to sixth out of the pits as McMurray, Harvick, Labonte, Elliott and Burton beat him off pit road.
The race restarted on lap 338, Labonte moving clear of the lapped cars as they fought with each other. Newman, one of these cars, had a big moment on lap 340 after hitting the turn two wall, costing the pack chasing Labonte time. Apart from some position swapping back and forth between teammates Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield, the top five remained unchanged to the finish, Terry Labonte taking his first win in over 150 starts from Harvick who scored another top five finish, followed by Johnson, NBewman and McMurray.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 25 of 36, Darlington International Raceway, South Carolina, United States:
Standings: Matt Kenseth 3718, Dale Earnhardt Jr 3329, Kevin Harvick 3303, Jimmie Johnson 3233, Jeff Gordon 3127, Kurt Busch 3114, Ryan Newman 3075, Bobby Labonte 3053, Michael Waltrip 3012, Tony Stewart 2936 etc.
Rainmaster Alan
The last time the British and European series clashed at the Zandvoort Masters, it was the Euros and in particular Mucke Motorsport who carried off the prize. The European influence was less this time as all the apparatus of the British series took over Spa, and the dominant British team, in particular its near champion elect, Alan van der Merwe, restored its position with two victories.
The first race gridded up under dark skies as the infamous Belgian weather threatened. Piquet won the sprint to La Source to lead heading up the hill past Eau Rouge towards Les Combes chased by the two Carlin drivers he had to beat to stay in championship contention. At Les Combes, van der Merwe pounced, depriving the Brazilian of the lead. A lap later Jamie Green duplicated the move on Piquet, allowing him to set off after van der Merwe. Piquet was falling back through the field, coming under threat from Will Power. Power pressured for several laps, finally taking third place on lap six.
Back at Stavelot though, Rizal Ramli had crashed his Team SYR Dallara heavily into the barriers. With several other cars scattered around the circuit the race was red flagged, putting Piquet back into third place with Ronnie Bremer fifth for Carlin ahead of Euro F3 series leader Ryan Briscoe in the Prema Powerteam Dallara. Carlin's new driver Alvaro Parente was next ahead of Eric Salignon. With only half points awarded, it was now unlikely that van der Merwe would be able to secure the title this weekend.
Van der Merwe holds a 72.5 point lead now over Green. With 84 points left in the series we all know who has won it, but Green hasn't given up yet. 120 points is too much for Piquet to catch and now is drifting almost forty points behind Green. Ronnie Bremer is next but is far enough behind not to make a difference. The teams won't get much rest as Donington will play host this weekend to the next round of the championship.
Result of British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 19 and 20 of 24, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium:
Standings: Alan van der Merwe 283, Jamie Green 210.5, Nelson Piquet Jr 163, Ronnie Bremer 110, Richard Antinucci 102.5, Danny Watts 101, Adam Carroll 90, Robert Dahlgren 84, Clivio Piccione 81, Rob Austin 78 etc.
British F3 points distribution
Touch And Go (Down The Field)
The second Canadian leg of the American Le Mans Series saw a similar result to the first with Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Team Joest running out victors after an all day battle with siblings, the Champion Audi R8 of Johnny Herbert and LL Lehto.
Wallace crashed in the morning warm-up though, forcing hurried repairs and a pit lane start. The field would be shuffled forward a spot, and that was what Lehto needed. Weaver's Lola-MG launched well but it was Lehto who left the line best, the Audi touching Weaver as the pair moved into turn one. The field stabilised quickly until the yellows flew on lap 19 after Cort Wagner put his Porsche 996 into the tyre barriers at turn four. Weaver and Lehto stayed out while the majority of the field pitted under yellows. Lehto pitted on the second lap putting Biela into second position.
The yellows flew almost immediately after the green when Olivier Gavin crashed the GTS Corvette. This time Weaver pitted, handing the lead to Biela. Biela jumped away from David Saelens at the restart with Lehto soon hounding the Panoz for second. The big roadster was unable to defend from the Audi for long, with Lehto taking the lead two laps later. Lehto started bulding up a lead - which almost came to grief after a clash with Georges Forgeois' Lola-MG who was limping pitward with a puncture. The yellows were brought out as the older bodyshape Lola limped home.
From there Werner cruised to victory. Second became a battle as with ten minutes to go Olivier Beretta pitted the second placed Panoz, only to hit the wall on his out lap. Beretta continued and pitted, dropping down field like the Champion Audi. This let Chris Dyson into second in the Lola-MG with the second Panoz of Gunnar Jeannette third. The third LMP900 car home was Beretta in seventh. Jeff Bucknum's Pilbeam-Willman was second in LMP675 in 22nd position.
The battle for GTS went right down to the wire with Peter Kox failing to take Ron Fellows on the last lap. GT was won convincingly by Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister.
Result of American Le Mans Series, Round 5 of 9; Mosport Park, Canada
Champions of Elkhart Lake
JJ Lehto and Johnny Herbert got their revenge on the Joest Audi team, taking a dominant victory at the Road America 500 after the rival Audi struck mechanical problems during the ALMS annual visit to Wisconsin at Elkhart Lake. The win edges Lehto closer to the Joest Audi duo in the championship race with three events still remaining.
Field though would not make the start, late away from the dummy grid; Chris Dyson would start from the rear of the field. Butch Leitzinger in the MG outdragged Werner to turn one to lead the first lap from the Joest car and Herbert in the Champion Audi. Leitzinger led for nine laps before coming across the Ferrari 360 of Iradj Alexander; the two almost clashed with Alexander sent to the grass. Leitzinger picked up a stop-go penalty for that infringement, but did not serve it after a collision with fourth placed David Saelens in the Panoz put Leitzinger into the wall at turn five.
All this left Werner leading from Herbert with Saelens leading teammate Gunnar Jeannette. Jeannette soon lost fourth place, picking up a stop-go for overtaking under a local yellow at turn twelve where Tom Weickardt had bunkered his GTS class Chrysler Viper. Jon Field moved into fourth in the leading Lola-MG, until making his first stop shortly afterwards. Werner continued to lead the race as the other contenders stopped one by one. Last out, Werner looked set to continue in the lead from the stop, but as Herbert sailed by the pits the Joest team were already hard at work replacing a broken starter motor in Werner's car.
With Lehto into the car, opposition ended with a slight pushing match as the Audi lapped the Panoz of Beretta. With opposition now a lap behind, the Champion team cruised to victory. One lap down at the finish, Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace could only rue the start which saw the second row become the back row. Only the one lap down was perhaps not a bad result for the JML Panoz pairing of Olivier Beretta and David Saelens. Werner and Biela got back into the race after replacing the starter motor, losing six laps to finish seventh overall, only a lap ahead of the next prototype, the Riley & Scott of Clint Field and Rick Sutherland. Wallace and Dyson won in LMP675 by ten laps over the Lola-Nissan of Jason Workman and James Gue.
GTS was a hard fought battle as any seen in the ALMS this year, with Panoz refugees David Brabham and Jan Magnussen brining home their Prodrive-fettled Ferrari 550 Maranello in fourth outright, just three laps adrift of the Panoz they drove last year. Chasing home the Ferrari was the Corvette of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell with the second Prodrive Ferrari of Peter Kox and Tomas Enge a lap down on their siblings in sixth.
Biela and Werner now hold a slim eleven point lead over Lehto, with Herbert a further three points away. Beretta, the first of the Panoz drivers is 39 points behind so Lehto is the title threat for Joest. In the classes, Chris Dyson (LMP675), Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell (GTS) and Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen (GT) lead their classes by comfortable margins. The next round is at Laguna Seca this weekend.
Result of American Le Mans Series, Round 6 of 9, Road America, Wisconsin, United States:
Standings, P900: Frank Biela and Marco Werner 115, JJ Lehto 104, Johnny Herbert 101, Olivier Beretta 76, Gunnar Jeannette 60, David Saelens 50, Didier Theys 36, Scott Maxwell 35, Michael Lewis and Tomy Drissi 28 etc.
P675: Chris Dyson 95, Jon Field and Duncan Dayton 72, Andy Wallace 69, Jason Workman 63 etc.
GTS: Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell 107, Olivier Gavin and Kelly Collins 87, David Brabham and Jan Magnussen 56 etc.
GT: Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen 102, Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister 70, Cort Wagner 51 etc.
Burns Under Pressure To Hold Onto Lead In Australia
The World Rally Championship moves to Australia this weekend with series leader Richard Burns facing a treacherous task trying to hold on to his narrow advantage in the standings.The ultra-consistent Briton has led the championship since finishing runner-up in the Rally of Turkey in March, despite not having won a rally.
Burns, who announced two weeks ago he plans to leave Peugeot at the end of the season to rejoin Subaru, leads the title race with 49 points, but veteran Spaniard Carlos Sainz is closing in on 44. Reigning world champion Marcus Gronholm is tied for third with Petter Sollberg on 38 points, with Sainz's Citroen teammate Sebastien Loeb and Ford driver Markko Martin, who moved back into championship contention by winning in Finland, a point further behind.
The tight championship race means this year's Rally of Australia promises to be one of the toughest and closely fought yet, particularly given the new changes to the rally. Normally held in October, this year's three-leg, 24-stage event has been brought forward a month to September 4-7, at the start of the Australian spring when the chances of rain are increased.
The gravel roads around the Western Australian capital Perth are already notoriously slippery but the threat of rain makes them even more dangerous, especially for Burns, who as championship leader will be the first driver to tackle the course.
Gronholm is an acknowledged master on gravel roads and has won the past three Australian rallies but will probably need to win again to keep himself in contention for the championship with most of the remaining races on asphalt.
The rally begins on Thursday night with a special one-lap shootout around the Gloucester Park trotting track in central Perth before recommencing in the forests south of Perth the next morning. It concludes on Sunday.
Colin McRae Fears He's Running Out Of Options
Citroen driver and former world rally champion Colin McRae fears he could be out of a job next season as a result of new regulations.
"There's only two seats where there could potentially be three. It's almost as though they are penalising success."
Rule changes for 2004 mean that no team may nominate more than two drivers with top three results in the last three years. Four times champion Tommi Makinen of Finland, who is retiring at the end of the year, has already cited the ruling as a factor in his departure from Subaru.
McRae's Citroen team currently have France's Sebastien Loeb and Spain's former champion Carlos Sainz on their books. Loeb has already been confirmed for 2004, leaving the two ex-champions fighting for the other seat.
McRae, whose younger brother Alister was released by Mitsubishi last Monday week, has few options other than Citroen. There are no vacancies at Peugeot and Subaru, who have signed Britain's 2001 champion Richard Burns.
"There's no other seats unless you want to go and drive for a team like Hyundai or Skoda," said McRae. "Hyundai is potentially a drive but that's not something I would like to do at this point in my career."
Reports provided by Reuters
Treluyer Impulsive
In Courtney's first drive of a big horsepower open wheeler since his massive testing accident with Jaguar Racing last year, the dominant leader of the Japanese Formula 3 series took fourth place on debut, climbing through the field with a stirring drive in the conditions after qualifying a lowly 16th. Tsugio Matsuda and Takeshi Tsuchiya claimed the remaining points. With only three races left on the calendar, only Treluyer, Wakisaka and Lotterer can take the title from Motoyama who now sits a healthy 21 points ahead of his teammate.
Result of All-Japan Formula Nippon Series, Round 7 of 10, Fuji, Japan:
Standings: Satoshi Motoyama 46, Benoit Treluyer 25, Juichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer 20, Richard Lyons 16, Yuji Ide 13, Ryo Michigami and Takeshi Tsuchiya 12, Toshihiro Kaneishi 6, Tsugio Matsuda 5 etc.
Formula Nippon points distribution
CART
Fastest on Friday, Bruno Junqueira claimed pole position after the Saturday qualifying session as his devastatingly quick Friday time stood unchallenged for the length of final qualifying. Oriol Servia went closest, falling four hundredths short. Sebastien Bourdais took third position on the grid while Adrian Fernandez's Friday time was good enough to see him start fourth ahead of... Tiago Monteiro, the Portuguese driver showing speed he hasn't shown all season, and convincingly fastest of the Reynard-equipped runners. Patrick Carpentier completed the third row of the grid, while series leader Paul Tracy continued his recent form slump and was only ninth fastest, starting behind Darren Manning and Mario Haberfeld with Michel Jordain Jr alongside.
This time it was the Walker team who were found wanting in the pits as the field stopped under yellows and Servia dropped behind both Junqueira and Bourdais as the field emerged from the pits. Fernandez was still fourth with Tracy next. The battle though was just further back as Haberfeld fought with Dominguez and Manning. Dominguez spun five laps after the restart, collecting Haberfeld as he went, sending Haberfeld pitward to inspect the damage. Dominguez rejoined and diced briefly with Manning until lap 78 when Roberto Moreno smacked the wall in turn one.
Pos Driver Car
1. Bruno Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
2. Sebastien Bourdais Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
3. Oriol Servia Visteon/Patrick Racing Lola-Ford
4. Paul Tracy Player's-Forsythe Racing Lola-Ford
5. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing Lola-Ford
6. Michel Jourdain Jr Team Rahal Lola-Ford
7. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competition Lola-Ford
8. Darren Manning Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
9. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
10. Mario Haberfeld Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard-Ford
NASCAR
Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson sat on the front row, with Newman jumping into the lead at the start of the race ahead of Johnson and Elliott Sadler. The first caution of the day wasn't far away however, out on lap seven after a multi-car crash beginning when Jason Leffler spun Christian Fittipaldi, with Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Michael Waltrip and Tony Raines getting caught up in it as well. With tyres so crucial at Darlington, everyone pitted, Newman beating Terry Labonte, Johnson, Ricky Craven and Sadler off pit road.
His run at the front was shortlived, bouncing off the turn two wall on lap 108 and dropping to third as Burton and Newman moved past. Harvick was now the driver on the move, moving past Earnhardt Jr for fourth on lap 124, and past the wounded Kenseth for third two laps later, and then second past Newman on lap 133, Newman fading soon after. More debris brought the caution out on lap 148, sending the field to the pits once more. As the race restarted on lap 154, the order was Harvick, Johnson, Greg Biffle, Newman and Burton, with Earnhardt Jr behind the wall as his crew repaired damage to the rear axle. Lap 159 saw Johnson move into the lead past Harvick, while three laps later Newman took second from Harvick.
Back to green on lap 233, Biffle leading the field as Newman still tried to refire his car, his pit crew getting exhausted in the process as they repeatedly tried to push start his car. Lap 236 saw Harvick drop to fourth as McMurray and Elliott moved past him. Soon after, Newman finally got his car restarted, though he was now eight laps down instead of leading the race. The cause of his problems? He had accidentally bumped the kill-switch on his steering wheel... Just as Newman restarted however, it was caution time once more on lap 240, Schrader hitting the turn three wall after the hood of his car flew open, probably as a result of his involvement in the Mears-Gordon crash earlier, leaving him with no vision as he went straight into the wall.
The race restarted on lap 316, Biffle moving forward again, taking Burton for fifth on lap 316, McMurray opening up a small lead as Harvick led a train of four other cars. Biffle then challenged Elliott for fourth, but just as he was looking to pass the car jumped out of gear, costing him two places. Not long after the caution was out again on lap 334 after a deflating tyre sent Robby Gordon into the wall. In came the field once more, Terry Labonte beating Harvick, Johnson, McMurray and Elliott off pit road to move into the lead.
Pos Driver Car
1. Terry Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Monte Carlo
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Jamie McMurray Dodge Intrepid
5. Bill Elliott Dodge Intrepid
6. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Intrepid
7. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Ricky Craven Pontiac Grand Prix
9. Elliott Sadler Ford Taurus
10. Greg Biffle Ford Taurus
British F3
While Formula One's absence from Spa-Francorchamps may be co-incidental, plenty of open wheelers have been seen at Spa this weekend, with the Euro F3000 series having visited this year. It's hardly unusual to find Formula 3 cars at the great Belgian circuit, but instead of the three day format of the Euro Series, we have the two day affair of the British Formula 3 championship.
The track was damp for the start of the second race, necessitating a late change of rubber on the grid. Making up for the previous day's start, van der Merwe beat polesitter Robert Doornbos to La Source. Doornbos slid downfield from there with Eric Salignon flying in the wet. The Hi-Tech driver was the next driver to take Doornbos and set off after van der Merwe. While Doornbos closed, van der Merwe had built up such a lead so quickly he was able to cruise to victory from Salignon. Green's championship chances slipped even further away, having spent the race fighting with Briscoe. Doornbos hung on to fifth at the end ahead of Danny Watts with Piquet in seventh.
Round Nineteen
Pos Driver Car
1. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Jamie Green Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Will Power Fortec Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
5. Ronnie Bremer Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Ryan Briscoe Prema Powerteam Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
7. Alvaro Parente Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
8. Eric Salignon Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
9. Richard Antinucci Promatecme F3 Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
10. Adam Carroll Alan Docking Racing Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
Round Twenty
Pos Driver Car
1. Alan van der Merwe Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Eric Salignon Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
3. Jamie Green Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Ryan Briscoe Prema Powerteam Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
5. Robert Doornbos Menu F3 Motorsport Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
6. Danny Watts Hi-Tech Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
7. Nelson Piquet Jr Piquet Sports Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
8. Alvaro Parente Carlin Motorsport Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
9. Robert Dahlgren Fortec Motorsport Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
10. Joao Paolo de Oliveira JB Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
ALMS
Qualifying had indicated a close race was in the offing. The Dyson Racing Team had their LMP675 Lola-MGs on the front row of the grid, ahead of the Audis. James Weaver scorched around Mosport Park in a lap time just a shade under 68 seconds with teammate Andy Wallace alongside. Third fastest was JJ Lehto in the Champion Audi ahead of Frank Biela in the Joest Audi. Another Lola-MG, that of Jon Field, was fifth fastest.
Both Audis pit together under yellows, change drivers and resume, the Joest pit crew launching Marco Werner into the lead. The two cars stayed close with Herbert pushing Werner hard, sometimes physically hard. Then Herbert clashed with Jeff Pobst's Porsche 996 and the Audi broke its right rear suspension.
Pos Drivers Team
1. Frank Biela/Marco Werner Audi R8
2. Chris Dyson/Andy Wallace Lola EX257 MG (1st P675)
3. Gunnar Jeannette/Scott Maxwell Panoz LMP01 Elan
4. Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (1st GTS)
5. Peter Kox/Tomas Enge Ferrari 550 Maranello (2nd GTS)
6. Jan Magnussen/David Brabham Ferrari 550 Maranello (3rd GTS)
7. Olivier Beretta/David Salaens Panoz LMP01 Elan
8. Emanuele Naspetti/Domenico Ferrari 550 Maranello (4th GTS)
Schiattarella
9. Timo Bernhard/Jorg Bergmeister Porsche 996 GT3-RS (1st GT)
10. Ralf Kelleners/Anthony Lazzaro Ferrari 360 Modena (2nd GT)
Unlike the previous round at Mosport Park, the Dyson Racing Lola-MGs did not dominate qualifying. Audi returned to pole position. Marco Werner ended qualifying over a tenth clear of James Weaver in the Dyson Racing MG. Johnny Herbert was third fastest in the Champion Audi, just two tenths adrift of Werner, with the MGs of Jon Field and Andy Wallace fourth and fifth fastest ahead of Olivier Beretta in the first of the Panoz Roadsters.
The yellows came out shortly afterwards as Kelly Collins made a rare mistake in the factory Chevy Corvette and bunkered the car in a sand trap. With an expanding lead over Olivier Beretta in the Panoz, Herbert made a stop in the Audi. The second Panoz was in trouble now, with battery problems affecting Jeannette. Andy Wallace was pushing hard in his MG moving up to challenge the Panoz, taking second place as the race wore on.
GTS cars filled the top ten after the Joest Audi with the leading GT that of Craig Stanton and Johnny Mowlem in the White Lightning Porsche 996, the team's first ever victory in ALMS. The Racer's Group Porsche of Kevin Buckler and Cort Wagner was second in class ahead of the Zip Racing 996 of Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly.
Pos Drivers Team
1. Johnny Herbert/JJ Lehto Audi R8
2. Chris Dyson/Andy Wallace Lola EX257 MG (1st P675)
3. Olivier Beretta/David Salaens Panoz LMP01 Elan
4. Jan Magnussen/David Brabham Ferrari 550 Maranello (1st GTS)
5. Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (2nd GTS)
6. Peter Kox/Tomas Enge Ferrari 550 Maranello (3rd GTS)
7. Frank Biela/Marco Werner Audi R8
8. Emanuele Naspetti/ Ferrari 550 Maranello (4th GTS)
Domenico Schiattarella
9. Kelly Collins/Olivier Gavin Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (5th GTS)
10. Wolfgang Kaufmann/Mark Neuhaus Saleen S7-R (6th GTS)
Rally
But he is suddenly under pressure after his lead was trimmed to just five points when he finished third in Finland in the previous round. With five rounds of the 14 event series still to go, the top six drivers are separated by just 12 points with ten points up for grabs in each of the concluding rounds.
"I could be out of a job and it wasn't my plan to be out of a job at this point in my career," the 35-year-old Scot told The Guardian newspaper on Saturday. "The problem is that the FIA (International Automobile Federation) has come out with this driver rule, which is really putting a big restriction on successful drivers.
Formula Nippon
Frenchman Benoit Treluyer claimed his first Formula Nippon victory at a wet Mount Fuji circuit, heading home his Team Impul partner and series leader Satoshi Motoyama. The win sees Treluyer move into second place in the championship after Juichi Wakisaka left the circuit with no points after retiring in the early running. Nakajima Racing's Andre Lotterer completed the podium, moving into third place in the championship as he did so, ahead of impressive series debutante James Courtney.
Pos Driver Team
1. Benoit Treluyer Team Impul
2. Satoshi Motoyama Team Impul
3. Andre Lotterer Nakajima Racing
4. James Courtney Team 5Zigen
5. Tsugio Matsuda Team Cerumo
6. Takeshi Tsuchiya Team Le Mans
7. Dominik Schwager Olympic Kondo
8. Yudai Igarashi Team Nova
9. Naoki Hattori DoCoMo Dandelion
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Volume 9, Issue 36
Honda 250: Special Project
Interview with Jacques Villeneuve
Interview with Shoichi Tanaka
Interview with Jenson Button
House of the Rising Sun
Honda's First: Richie Ginther
Honda Through the Lens
Trading Cards: Honda's Drivers
The Honda Trivia Quiz
Columns
On the Road
Elsewhere in Racing
The Weekly Grapevine
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