Jean Alesi won the first Speedcar Series race of the weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Frenchman who started second on the grid was joined on the podium by Heinz Harald Frentzen in second position and Johnny Herbert in third.
Heinz Harald Frentzen had a bad start and left the door open for Alesi to go through and take the lead. Johnny Herbert and Gianni Morbidelli also took the opportunity to slip past, leaving Frentzen in fourth.
Season 1 champion Johnny Herbert was defending his line and position while Gianni Morbidelli stayed on his tail pushing him hard on every turn. In a three way battle Morbidelli was punted out of the way by Frentzen who gained a position to third place. By the 5th lap The German had gained ground on Herbert and with a clever inside move, got the better of him. For the rest of the race, the top 3 positions were maintained by Alesi, Frentzen and Herbert.
The Frenchman said, "I'm obviously thrilled at winning my first race of this Season and it's also an experience to share it with two of my good friends from Formula One. I look forward to taking them on again tomorrow."
Further down the pack, Vitantonio Liuzzi who was leading the driver championship after winning the first race in Dubai, made contact with Marchy Lee sending him into a spin. By the 9th lap, the damage was showing with Liuzzi's car trailing sparks down the circuit. The Italian had to come into the pits to change a punctured tire before a small fire in his engine while in the pits ended his hopes of finishing the race with points.
Another battle ensued in the middle order between Thomas Biagi and Liuzzi's team mate Hasher Al Maktoum who managed to gain on Biagi and finish in 5th place earning vital points for his UP Team and keeping hold of the team championship lead.
Newcomer Chris Buncombe who was racing for the first time this afternoon moved up the ranks to ninth position after having started at thirteen. He narrowly missed finishing in eight position and earning a point to Giovanni Lavaggi, also new to the Series.
With Speedcar Series' reverse grid for Race 2 to begin tomorrow at 15:00 local time, Lavaggi has the advantage of starting on pole position, followed by Damien Pasini who closed in seventh.
Qualifying Session Preliminary Classification
Pos
Driver
Teams
Laps
Time
1.
H. Frentzen
Team Lavaggi
10
2:05.851
2.
J. Alesi
HPR
13
2:05.924
3.
V. Liuzzi
UP Team
12
2:06.281
4.
G. Morbidelli
Palm Beach
12
2:06.522
5.
J. Herbert
JMB
13
2:06.746
6.
H. Al Maktoum
UP Team
14
2:06.908
7.
T. Biagi
Palm Beach
14
2:07.252
8.
C. Zoechling
Durango
11
2:08.079
9.
M. Lee
HPR
10
2:08.184
10.
J. Villeneuve
Durango
9
2:08.492
11.
C. Buncombe
Team Lavaggi
13
2:08.943
12.
G. Lavaggi
Team Siram
11
2:09.167
13.
D. Pasini
JMB
6
2:09.330
14.
E. Panacci
Continental Circus 11
2:11.265
15.
E. Charles
Continental Circus 13
2:13.220
Preliminary Classification Race 1
Pos
Driver
Team
Laps
Time / Gap
1
J. Alesi
HPR
19
40:37.701
2
H. Frentzen
Team Lavaggi
19
1.409
3
J. Herbert
JMB
19
14.841
4
G. Morbidelli
Palm Beach
19
22.510
5
H. Al Maktoum
UP Team
19
24.050
6
T. Biagi
Palm Beach
19
24.975
7
D. Pasini
JMB
19
49.126
8
G. Lavaggi
Team Siram
19
63.625
9
C. Buncombe
Team Lavaggi
19
64.026
10
J. Villeneuve
Durango
19
80.766
11
E. Charles
Continental Circus
19
1 LAP
Not Classified
M. Lee
HPR
11
DNF
V. Liuzzi
UP Team
9
DNF
C. Zoechling
Durango
0
DNS
E. Panacci
Continental Circus
0
DNS
Fastest Lap H. Frentzen Team Lavaggi 2:07.073 on lap 6
Drivers' Championship Standings in Round 2
Pos
Driver
R1
R2
R3
TOTAL
1
Heinz Harald Frentzen
8
-
8
16
2
Gianni Morbidelli
6
-
5
11
Johnny Herbert
5
-
6
11
4
Vitantonio Liuzzi
10
-
-
10
Jean Alesi
-
-
10
10
6
Hasher Al Maktoum
4
-
4
8
7
Jacques Villeneuve
3
-
-
3
Thomas Biagi
-
-
3
3
Damien Pasini
1
-
2
3
10
Marchy Lee
2
-
-
2
11
Giovanni Lavaggi
-
-
1
1
R1 = Dubai, UAE - December 5, 2008 R2 = Dubai, UAE - December 6, 2008 (cancelled due to rain) R3 = Sakhir, Bahrain - January 23, 2009 R4 = Sakhir, Bahrain - January 24, 2009
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