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Matthew Mortlock race summary

Mortlock mad over incorrect penalty, but finishes fourth after exciting race. Cambridge/Donington Park, 1st September 2002 - Matthew Mortlock and his F1-Sales.com Racing Team battled his 1992 Footwork Arrows Formula 1 car to fourth place at the ...

Mortlock mad over incorrect penalty, but finishes fourth after exciting race.

Cambridge/Donington Park, 1st September 2002 - Matthew Mortlock and his F1-Sales.com Racing Team battled his 1992 Footwork Arrows Formula 1 car to fourth place at the NDS EuroBOSS race at Donington Park on Sunday. Mortlock had to spectacularly fight his way back through much of the mid-field after suffering a one-minute time penalty from the stewards that video replay showed to be incorrect after the race.

Mortlock had qualified his ex-Michele Alboreto car in sixth position, following a qualifying session frustrated by traffic on the circuit as 21 Formula 1, Indy, and F3000 cars competed for grid positions. Mortlock's qualifying time of 58.65 seconds was almost a second faster than the Arrows had gone in the morning's practice session - but he felt he could have gone faster. The car was also suffering some minor gear selection problems, which the team fixed before the race. South African ace, Earl Goddard, set a blistering lap time to put his ex-Michael Schumacher Benetton on pole position.

In the race, Mortlock got a good start and was up to fourth into the first corner at Redgate ahead of Canadian Robbie Stirling's Indy Car and behind the Ascari Judd of Finn Harri Toivonen. Mortlock was running fifth when the race was red-flagged so that the marshals could move Roger Kilty's Lola off the circuit, and Mortlock was moved back four places on the restart grid due to the imposition of a one-minute time penalty. He was judged to have started out of position by taking up his sixth place spot on the grid following a slow getaway on the formation lap. In fact, Mortlock's Footwork Arrows was not last away and the video replay after the race showed that he was correct in taking up his starting grid spot.

However Mortlock, now filled with adrenaline, once again made a great start overtaking three cars to run in sixth place into the first corner. He was soon once again past Stirling's Indy Car into fifth and running behind Max Wakefield's 1997 Benetton. These three then wrestled for position throughout the remainder of the race before Mortlock darted past Wakefield into Redgate a couple of laps from the end to claim fourth place, 23 seconds behind winner - and new lap record holder - Earl Goddard and the Ascari's of Klaas Zwart and Phil Andrews.

Mortlock and the F1-Sales.com Racing Team is now looking for a brace of exciting races and good finishes at the two remaining races, including the series finale at Le Mans in France.

Matthew Mortlock, F1-Sales.com Racing Team "The car felt great and it was an exciting race battling with Robbie and Max. I knew that an error had been made in giving me the penalty - but I also knew that I had to regain the position on the racetrack. I concentrated on making a good start, and then on finding a way past the Indy car and the Benetton. Overall, I'm happy with fourth place".

About F1-Sales Racing Team

F1-Sales Racing Team races in the pan-European NDS EuroBOSS series, for single seater ex-Formula 1 cars. The team races a Footwork Arrows FA13 Judd V10, originally driven by Michele Alboreto in the 1992 FIA Formula 1 Championship.

Cambridge-based companies F1-Sales.com, ART VPS Ltd., and Cambridge's motor-racing pub The White Swan support F1-Sales Racing Team. New media company Intelligent Organisations Ltd also supports the team.

The 2002 NDS EuroBOSS series includes nine race dates in seven European countries including UK (Brands Hatch and Donington Park), Belgium, Ireland, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Germany and culminates at Le Mans in France. The series has secured television and media coverage in Europe, including dedicated coverage of each race on Channel 5 and Sky Sports in the UK.

-mmr/fsr-

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