Speedcar: Series Bahrain race one report

Alesi wins Race 1 in Bahrain

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 tyre 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. <pre> 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

-credit: speedcarseries.com