Asian Motor Sports

Ex-Formula 1 racer Vitantonio Liuzzi won the opening round of the second Speedcar season after a dramatic encounter at the Dubai Autodrome.

Despite his obvious pace throughout the weekend, poleman Liuzzi (UP Team) found himself under attack on both sides at the rolling start. Former grand prix winner Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Phoenix Racing) made it round the outside, while Durango’s Christopher Zoechling went down the inside.

Fortunately for Liuzzi, Zoechling ran in too deep, forcing Frentzen wide and allowing the polesitter to sneak back through into the lead. Gianni Morbidelli (Palm Beach-Al Futtaim) then dived past Frentzen into the hairpin at the end of the back straight and while he fought Zoechling for second Liuzzi pulled clear.

The ex-Red Bull F1 driver pulled out a lead of over three seconds during the first two laps, but his efforts came to nought after the safety car was called. Jean Alesi (HPR-Bouygues) tried to pass the experienced Stefan Johansson for fourth, but the pair made contact and Johansson’s Palm Beach machine spun. As he tried to recover he moved into Marcel Tiemann’s car and Johansson flipped over.

Johansson was out on the spot, while Alesi was later called in to have his damaged car attended to. It meant the ex-Benetton and Ferrari star could only finish ninth.

After five laps behind the safety car to clear up Johansson’s mess, Liuzzi led the other thundering 620bhp machines away. Zoechling again helped him by running wide onto the start-finish straight as racing resumed, which resulted in him having to defend from Morbidelli rather than launch an attack on the leader.

On the exit of turn one, Morbidelli got alongside Zoechling and the battle got rough, Zoechling pushing Morbidelli, who hung on and then clashed with his rival at the next corner. Both lost time, allowing reigning Speedcar champion Johnny Herbert into second.

As Liuzzi pulled out a lead of almost four second Frentzen, who had fallen as low as seventh in the early stages, began his charge. He shot by Morbidelli for third and then set off after Herbert. The 1991 Le Mans winner lacked pace and Frentzen passed him easily, quickly followed by Morbidelli

Frentzen’s looked much more competitive than he did last season and several fastest laps helped him close the gap to Liuzzi as the leader suffered with flat-spotted tyres. But the early skirmishes had given Liuzzi too much of an advantage and Frentzen eventually fell short by just 0.8 seconds.

“We had a pole and victory in our first race,” said Liuzzi. “We’re starting eighth tomorrow (due to Speedcar’s reverse grid system), but I feel quite good about it.”

Frentzen was nevertheless pleased with second. “The race was too short, but it was a fantastic event to start the season,” he said.

Morbidelli shadowed Frentzen until the final couple of laps and took the final podium place, despite struggling with various problems, including a steering issue. He was well clear of a fine battle for fourth between Herbert and Damien Pasini.

JMB’s Pasini looked quicker than Herbert, but the wily veteran proved tough to pass. Pasini briefly made it by at the hairpin, but went in far too fast and Herbert performed a classic switchback manoeuvre to take the place back. The battle only ended when Pasini slowed with an engine problem on the final two tours, dropping to eighth. At least that gives him pole for tomorrow’s race.

Ex-Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve (Durango-Laing O’Rourke) went from 13th to 10th in the opening exchanges, but then went off after a clash in the midfield. He headed for the pits to check for damage, but the safety car period allowed him to rejoin at the back of the pack without losing the lap. After everyone else’s problems, Villeneuve was able to come home sixth, behind Hasher Al Maktoum, who was highest finisher of the non-F1 drivers.

Drivers quotes after round 1:

Vitantonio Liuzzi: The race was good. When you win its always good but at the end Heinz Harald made me a little bit nervous but I think we made everything right with the car and with the team. The team did a great job to give me a good car and we were in the front from the beginning to the end with the pole position and winning the first race so we are pretty positive about the second race tomorrow. Overall it’s been a great Friday

Heinz Harald Frentzen: I had a good start but I lost the first corner a lot of room. I was alongside Liuzzi and then I had Zoechling next to me and so I came very wide on the dirt and it took me a few laps to clean up the tyres. Once the tyres were clean, the car was good again but I was in 6th position by this time. Then there was that incident in the beginning so the safety car situation slowed the pace down. But after the safety car on the restart I tried to gain my lost position and I was trying very hard. I came back into 2nd position and am very happy about that.

Gianni Morbidelli: The race was not bad. I had a lot of problems before the start of the race. Fortunately the team solved the problem with the steering column and I was very worried because I was not at the front of the grid but to finish again on the podium in Dubai is good because its my 5th podium here so it’s a lucky break for me and tomorrow I will do my best to be in front again.

Johnny Herbert: Well it was better than I thought. We keep changing the car because of course awe started very badly. And it was better in the race but I’m still 1 second too slow. Today I was lucky with all the incidents that happened on the track. That made the raced a bit shorter and that helped me because I was getting more slow as the race went on. I’m happy that we made some points, I was lucky to get to 4th because I didn’t quite expect to be more than 8th, that’s what I expected. So I’m happy with that. We’ve made improvements to the car but we still have to make some more.

Hasher Al Maktoum: I started in 7th place on the grid and I think I had a bad start because I fell back several positions. Also the safety car was out for almost half the race. I gained positions not really by overtaking but by staying out of trouble. That’s what helped me because there was a lot of contact between several cars today. I finished 5th and am happy with my performance.

Jacques Villeneuve: I got put in the wall in the second lap but then Johansson made a slip so there was a safety car and I could get back to the pack and get some points so that means we will have a good start tomorrow. But the car was very difficult to drive and there was too much wheel banging out there. It was a bit strange today like being in a video game so I hope it calms down tomorrow.

Marchy Lee: It was okay, I’m still a bit off the pace with the new car and I had a bad qualifying session. Last season I was very quick here in Dubai and this year I’m looking forward to it. With the new car we still have to learn a bit of the set up. I think I start in second tomorrow and it’s a good chance for me to take the lead and try and win the race this year.

Damien Pasini: It was not so bad, I had a good race and I was behind Herbert at the end. I tried to overtake him three times but he braked very late and it was difficult but a good race. I think I broke the axel and I lost speed but continued the race and finished in 8th position and tomorrow I start in pole position so it was not bad.

Eric Charles: It was a very nice experience, not so easy but a nice experience and I have to be a little careful because they are wild guys in the front but it was my strategy to just wait and see and not take any risks and it paid off because I started last on the grid and finished 9th. So it was a good strategy I think.

Jean Alesi: Not good because I didn’t finish the race. I touched Stefan so it was not a good race for me. I look forward to a better race tomorrow.

Christopher Zoechling: The first few laps until the safety car went very well and I was in 2nd position and after the safety car I was knocked out, I was bumped twice and spun out. I rejoined the race in 8th and a couple of laps later, I got bumped by Lee and that cause my front left tyre to burst at 230km/hr and destroyed my front suspension and bodywork. I had to come into the pit, change my tyres and by then there were only a few laps to go. No matter what, the team did an amazing job. The car was really good.

Mathias Lauda: It was very disappointing because my drive shaft broke after only 2 laps so I had to come into the pits. It’s a shame because the car is brand new and it only ran 2 laps. It would have been possible to have a good race result. It was a bit of a mess at the beginning of the race and the safety car had to come out. But I had a good car so it was very disappointing.

Marcel Tiemann: Not good at all. The problem today was that I actually needed to do some laps just to get some experience but then the start was great and I was gaining some places. But then after 2 laps Stefan came back into the track and straight into my car. That’s why I crashed the front of my car and the nose is broken.

Stefan Johansson: It didn’t go very well because I got taken out by Jean. With the new car there’s very little vision on the left so when I turned around there were a couple of cars coming and I was already around the corner. I then got touched and ended up upside down which put me out of the race so not very good.

The Race 1 preliminary classification is as follows:

Pos Driver Teams Laps Time/Gap
1. V. Liuzzi UP Team 16 40:55.976
2. H. Frentzen Phoenix Racing 16 0.839
3. G. Morbidelli Palm Beach 16 3.091
4. J. Herbert JMB 16 12.858
5. H. Al Maktoum UP Team 16 15.815
6. J. Villeneuve Durango 16 34.741
7. M. Lee HPR 16 40.868
8. D. Pasini JMB 16 78.517
9. E. Charles Continental Circus 16 97.722
10. J. Alesi HPR 16 111.563
11. C. Zoechling Durango 15 1 Lap

Not Classified
M. Lauda Phoenix Racing 4 DNF
M. Tiemann Continental Circus 11 DNF
S. Johansson Palm Beach 11 DNF

Fastest Lap
Heinz Harald Frentzen 2:05.910 on lap 15