Speedcar: Series Bahrian race two report

Herbert takes his first win in Bahrain

Johnny Herbert won the second Speedcar Series race held in Bahrain this afternoon. It was a win that came down to the wire with Gianni Morbidelli in second spot and a surprise podium for new driver Thomas Biagi in third.

The reverse grid for Speedcar Series' second race put Giovanni Lavaggi on pole position which he lost almost immediately into the first lap. Biagi took the early lead for the initial lap but was put back to second by Gianni Morbidelli while Johnny Herbert moved in to third after having started sixth on the grid

The first three drivers maintained their positions for most of the 40 minute race until Herbert gained a position on Biagi in the 12th lap. Gianni Morbidelli looked strong in the lead but with just 6 minutes to go the Season 1 Champion inched closer to the Itanlian closing the gap to less than a second.

All eyes were on the front of the pack just as Morbidelli lost his end in a corner and Herbert squeezed past and took the lead into the final lap. With team mates and fellow Italians Biagi and Morbidelli in the top three, they take Palm Beach into the top spot on the Team Championship standings.

Johnny Herbert said of his win, "Sometimes you need a little bit of luck and I think I was lucky today. I stayed out of trouble and it paid off in the end."

Gianni Morbidelli who has been on the podium in Bahrain before during the first season commented, "Today's race was close and I made a mistake in the end and I paid for it. However, it was a good clean race and that's what is most important."

Further down the pack, several drivers were battling for position. Yesterday's race winner Jean Alesi gained 2 positions off the starting grid and finished sixth while current driver championship leader Heinz Harald Frentzen finished in fourth keeping him the lead with 21 points. However the German is now level with Johnny Herbert and will have to fight for every point from here on in with 4 rounds left to go in the Series.

Performing impressively was young French driver Damien Pasini of the JMB team earning points both yesterday and today by finishing in the top 8 positions. He and Johnny Herbert bring their team into second position in the team standings.

Another young driver who showed his mettle was Hasher Al Maktoum locked in battle with Jean Alesi for a few laps until the Frenchman came out on top. The UAE driver still finished with points one spot ahead of his team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, both of whom scored points for their team today.

Marchy Lee, Jacques Villeneuve, Christopher Zoechling and Enzo Panacci did not have a very good day and were unable to finish the race. <pre> Preliminary Classification Race 2

Pos  Driver         Team                 Laps   Time / Gap
 1   J. Herbert     JMB                  19     40:36.124
 2   G. Morbidelli  Palm Beach           19         2.560
 3   T. Biagi       Palm Beach           19         6.711
 4   H. Frentzen    Team Lavaggi         19        14.668
 5   D. Pasini      JMB                  19        20.253
 6   J. Alesi       HPR                  19        20.920
 7   H. Al Maktoum  UP Team              19        27.245
 8   V. Liuzzi      UP Team              19        32.735
 9   C. Buncombe    Team Lavaggi         19        42.400
10   G. Lavaggi     Team Siram           19        51.597
11   E. Charles     Continental Circus   19       137.688

Not Classified C. Zoechling Durango 10 DNF J. Villeneuve Durango 8 DNF M. Lee HPR 7 DNF E. Panacci Continental Circus 2 DNF

Fastest Lap H. Frentzen Team Lavaggi 2:06.825 on lap 9

Drivers' Championship Standings in Round 2

Pos  Driver                 R1   R2   R3   R4   TOTAL
 1   Johnny Herbert          5    -    6   10    21
     Heinz Harald Frentzen   8    -    8    5    21
 2   Gianni Morbidelli       6    -    5    8    19
 3   Jean Alesi              -    -   10    3    13
 4   Vitantonio Liuzzi      10    -    -    1    11
 5   Hasher Al Maktoum       4    -    4    2    10
 6   Thomas Biagi            -    -    3    6     9
 7   Damien Pasini           1    -    2    4     7
 8   Jacques Villeneuve      3    -    -          3
 9   Marchy Lee              2    -    -          2
10   Giovanni Lavaggi        -    -    1          1

Teams' Championship Standings in Round 2

Pos  Team                   R1   R2   R3   R4   TOTAL
 1   Palm Beach              6    -    8   14    28
 2   JMB Racing              6    -    8   14    28
 3   UP Team                14    -    4    3    21
 4   HPR                     2    -   10    3    15
 5   Team Lavaggi            -    -    8    5    13
 5   Phoenix Racing          8    -    -    -     8
 7   Durango                 3    -    -    -     3
 8   Team Siram              -    -    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