Alzen makes his point (AMENDMENT BELOW)
Uwe Alzen made amends for his exclusion from Saturday's Speedcar
race in Bahrain by winning the Sunday event. The German had
won the first race on the road, but was later excluded for
not wearing his HANS device, which is mandated by the rules.
Helped by a high rate of attrition, he was able to win the
second race from the back of the grid.
"The race was absolutely fantastic. The car was so strong
and so unbelievably fast. It was absolutely okay until the
end when I had a problem with the engine, one cylinder was
gone but I was far enough to finish," said Alzen.
With the top eight finishers from Saturday lining up in reverse
order, pole went to Ukyo Katayama, ahead of Hasher Al Maktoum,
Jacques Villeneuve and Johnny Herbert. However, Al Maktoum
experienced ECU problems on the warm-up lap, and came straight
into the pits.
Herbert was in a determined mood, and he immediately passed
Villeneuve to claim second, and within a few corners he relieved
Katayama of the lead. Katayama and Villeneuve made side-to-side
contact, but by co-incidence both drivers also had engine
problems. As the rest of the field streamed past, both men
headed to the pits.
That left Herbert out front ahead of Nicolas Navarro, Gianni
Morbidelli, Stefan Johansson and Alzen. From the back Alzen
had managed to scramble all the way up to fifth on a fraught
first lap. He soon passed Johansson for fourth, and then began
closing in on Morbidelli. Meanwhile on lap 6 Jean Alesi demoted
Johansson another place.
Herbert opened up a lead of over 4 seconds and looked secure
out front when he began to suffer gearbox problems on lap
9. Unable to get out of third gear, he had no choice but to
head to the pits and retire.
"I was able to get the jump on Jacques at the start
and then I passed Ukyo," said Herbert. "I was in
the lead and I was able to get a gap I was comfortable with,
and stay consistent. As I was settling, it all went wrong!"
That left Navarro in the lead ahead of Morbidelli and Alzen,
but then the German gained another spot when he passed Gianni
on lap 11. Also on the move was Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who
barged Johansson out of the way to claim fifth. Stefan had
to pit for attention, but later resumed at the tail of the
field.
"I turned in and bang, and next thing I know I get a
puncture," said Johansson. "And my race was ruined."
Navarro was Alzen's next target, but his job was made easier
when the Frenchman began suffering from a mechanical problem
and dropped off the pace. For the rest of terrace he crawled
round to ensure that he finished and scored some points. After
that it was an easy run to the flag for Alzen, who finished
well clear of Morbidelli and Alesi.
"It was not a bad day," said Morbidelli. "I
finished on the podium again. Honestly today more than second
was impossible, because Alzen was really fast. I made a very
good start and gained a lot of positions in the first lap.
I had a good rhythm in the beginning, but after half the race
I started to have a brake problem and I started to lose rear
grip."
"It was good points for the championship," said
Alesi, who now has 40 points to the 39 of Alzen. "The
car was very good today and I had no problems."
Frentzen should have been next, but having followed the delayed
Johansson he tried to lap him on the last lap. The two men
made contact for a second time in the race, and Frentzen spun.
That allowed Fabien Giroix and Ananda Mikola through, and
left Frentzen in a frustrated sixth. Klaus Ludwig took seventh,
ahead of the slow Navarro and Johansson.
JJ Lehto was an early retirement with a fuel pump problem,
while others who failed to make the flag included Herbert,
Marchy Lee, Katayama, Villeneuve, Terrien and Al Maktoum.
AMENDMENT
Alzen and Frentzen penalised, Morbidelli takes win
Gianni Morbidelli won the second Speedcar race today, taking
the win away from Uwe Alzen who was penalised by the Bahrain
Grand Prix stewards of the meeting for an incident on the
track.
Alzen receiving a 10 second penalty for gaining an unfair
advantage by cutting a corner to overtake Marchy Lee on the
inside during the race. Morbidelli who finished second 8.489
seconds behind the German was therefore awarded the win with
Alzen now taking second place.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen was demoted to 9th place after finishing
6th by the stewards who ruled that he was driving unsafely
which resulted in heavy contact between his car and Stefan
Johansson's.
Based on the stewards' decisions, the classification
for the second race is as follows:
Pos Driver Laps Time / Gap
1 Gianni Morbidelli 19 41:18.421
2 Uwe Alzen 19 1.511
3 Jean Alesi 19 10.253
4 Fabien Giroix 19 33.663
5 Ananda Mikola 19 36.416
6 Klaus Ludwig 19 54.356
7 Nicolas Navarro 18 1 LAP
8 Stefan Johansson 18 1 LAP
9 Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Not Classified
Johnny Herbert 9 DNF
Marchy Lee 8 DNF
JJ Lehto 5 DNF
Ukyo Katayama 3 DNF
Jacques Villeneuve 1 DNF
David Terrien 1 DNF
Hasher Al Maktoum 1 DNF
Fastest Lap
Uwe Alzen 2:08.161 on lap 4
Speedcar Series positions after Race 6
Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 TOT
1 Jean Alesi 10 8 10 6 - 6 40
2 Uwe Alzen 4 10 5 8 - 8 37
3 David Terrrien 5 5 1 8 10 - 29
4 Johnny Herbert 6 2 8 5 4 - 25
5 Gianni Morbidelli - - - 4 8 10 22
6 Mathias Lauda 8 4 6 - - - 18
7 Ananda Mikola 1 6 4 - - 4 15
Nicolas Navarro 3 - 2 2 6 2 15
9 Klaus Ludwig 2 3 - - - 3 8
10 Stefan Johansson - - 3 3 - 1 7
11 Fabien Giroix - - - - - 5 5
Marchy Lee - - - - 5 - 5
13 Jacques Villeneuve - - - - 3 - 3
Hasher Al Maktoum - - - 1 2 - 3
15 Ukyo Katayama - 1 - - 1 - 2
R1 = Sentul (Indonesia) - February 16
R2 = Sentul (Indonesia) - February 17
R3 = Sepang (Malaysia) - March 22
R4 = Sepang (Malaysia) - March 23
R5 = Sakhir (Bahrain) - April 5
R6 = Sakhir (Bahrain) - April 6
The final 2 races will take place in Dubai on April 11 and
12.
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