Herbert wins again to take first Speedcar title
Johnny Herbert scored his second race victory of the weekend
at the Dubai Autodrome on Saturday to seal the inaugural Speedcar
Series title.
Herbert actually ended the season level on points with David
Terrien, but scored more wins than the Frenchman throughout
the season. Title rivals Uwe Alzen and Jean Alesi, who both
started the event in stronger points positions, both suffered
crashes that put them out of the championship reckoning.
Friday race-winner Herbert started eighth as a result of
the reverse grid from the first race, but quickly made two
places at the start. At the front, Stefan Johansson took the
lead from pole, but the former Ferrari and McLaren grand prix
star soon came under pressure from China's Marchy Lee, who
passed him at Turn 5 on lap 2 with a strong, but fair, move.
Herbert was also on the move, picking up fifth place from
fellow ex-Formula 1 star Gianni Morbidelli at Turn 1 on the
second lap. Further back, Terrien had suffered a terrible
start, and was working his way through the traffic, as was
Alesi, who started 14th after his engine failure yesterday.
Alzen was by far in the strongest position of the title rivals,
holding a solid fourth place early on and then picking up
a place from front row starter Hasher Al Maktoum, who had
been passed by Lee at the second corner when he ran wide.
Herbert was into the groove, setting fastest laps and passing
Al Maktoum to run fourth by lap three. Ahead of him, Alzen
was racing hard with Johansson, but unable to find a way past.
Herbert took advantage of this, and passed Alzen with a smart
move into Turn 1. But Alzen didn't need to worry, such was
his points lead.
The first title challenger to exit was Alesi. He drove like
a lion in the opening stages, rising from 14th to ninth in
just a handful of laps. In his rush to get to the front he
and Al Maktoum collided, the UAE driver collected him again
as he rotated, damaging Alesi's car enough to put it out of
the race.
Just two laps later, Alzen's challenge was ended too. He
tried to pass Johansson with an ambitious move at the uphill,
left-hand hairpin, but Stefan shut the door. The cars made
contact, enough to give Alzen a puncture and he headed to
the pits. Uwe would rejoin down in 11th, but had no chance
of scoring the points he needed.
Even so, Herbert and Terrien needed every point they could
get to overhaul him in the title race. Johnny was now up to
second, with David a distant third after being held up in
the opening stages by Jacques Villeneuve: "Jacques was
mad - he pushed me all over the place," said David. "He
banged into me at least three times."
Villeneuve's aggression would be his downfall, as the final
contact broke his suspension and he went off the track at
Turn 16, retiring soon after.
All the while, Lee held the lead, but Herbert was not to
be denied. He closed up and passed Marchy with a clean move
at Turn 10 with seven laps to go, pulling away to a 6.9sec
victory. Terrien also caught and passed Lee to take second,
which was enough to draw level on points with Herbert - both
on 45 - but Johnny had more second places, which proved decisive.
"Incredible!" said Herbert. "I knew what I
had to do this weekend and win both races, but I knew it would
be a tall order. I took every chance I had, and a few of the
others had their problems. I can't believe the way it happened
- to end the season level on points is amazing."
Terrien added: "My car was really fast, although I lacked
a little top speed. I pushed really hard at the end, I was
an animal with the tyres, but Johnny was too far ahead. I'm
so glad to be second again, and second in the championship
is a great result after I hadn't raced for four years."
Lee was also delighted with his podium finish: "I did
a good job today to score a podium. To race against these
great drivers is very special, and it's great to come and
race at a fantastic circuit like this."
Herbert says he'll be back to defend his title next year,
when Speedcar promises a bigger and even better schedule for
its second season.
Classification Race 2
Pos Driver Laps Time / Gap
1 Johnny Herbert 19 40:18.738
2 David Terrien 19 6.999
3 Marchy Lee 19 9.381
4 Gianni Morbidelli 19 12.150
5 Nicolas Navarro 19 23.677
6 Fabien Giroix 19 26.238
7 Ananda Mikola 19 28.601
8 JJ Lehto 19 35.176
9 Stefan Johansson 19 43.992
10 Pedro Lamy 19 60.907
11 Uwe Alzen 19 105.098
12 Hasher Al Maktoum 19 1 LAP
Not Classified
Jean Alesi 5 DNF
Ukyo Katayama 2 DNF
Jacques Villeneuve 2 DNF
Fastest Lap
Johnny Herbert 2:06.209 on lap 15
Pos Driver R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 TOT
1 J. Herbert 6 2 8 5 4 - 10 10 45
2 D. Terrien 5 5 1 8 10 - 8 8 45
3 U. Alzen 4 10 5 10 - 8 5 - 42
4 J. Alesi 10 8 10 6 - 6 - - 40
5 G. Morbidelli - - - 4 8 10 6 5 33
6 N. Navarro 3 - 2 2 6 2 3 4 22
7 M. Lauda 8 4 6 - - - - - 18
8 A. Mikola 1 6 4 - - 4 - 2 17
9 M. Lee - - - - 5 - 4 6 15
10 F. Giroix - - - - - 5 - 3 8
11 K. Ludwig 2 3 - - - 3 - - 8
12 S. Johansson - - 3 3 - 1 1 - 8
13 H. Al Maktoum - - - 1 2 - 2 - 5
14 J. Villeneuve - - - - 3 - - - 3
15 U. Katayama - 1 - - 1 - - - 2
16 J. Lehto - - - - - - - 1 1
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
R7 = Dubai (United Arab Emirates) - April 11
R8 = Dubai (United Arab Emirates) - April 12
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