Van Ommen keeps control for first win this season

The weather was cool (6 C), and overcast, and looked set to get worse. The cars were lined up behind the pace car, and set off.

Gianni Giudici was charging down the right (inside) of the field into the first corner, when he was tagged by another Alfa. He span through the pack and into the kitty litter at the Castrol S. On the way though, he caught the back of the Opel of Klaus Ludwig, setting up a chain reaction which also took out Nicola Larini and Alexander Grau. "It was a big mess at the first corner," said Ludwig. "I was hit from behind and lost control, then I was hit by an Alfa and Grau - when I stopped on the gravel I thought they might red-flag the race, but unfortunately for me they didn't." All four cars retired, and the marshals did an extremely good job, removing the debris quickly.

Everyone else stayed out of trouble, and Franchitti was leading the pack across the line, from van Ommen and Schneider. The front two were like the famous Fangio/Moss train, nose to tail and pulling away. The rest of the field was more bunched, but didn't really look that threatening. The front two were also severely straight-lining the Veedol Chicane. During the first lap mess, a bollard or two had been conveniently removed on the next, so through speeds were higher. The rest of the exit-bollards gradually disappeared as the race progressed.

Things were slightly stationary as people took stock of their positions, and at the end of lap 4 the positions were Franchitti, Van Ommen, Schneider, Lehto, Reuter and Danner, although Magnussen managed to dive around the outside of Danner, and Stuck was thinking of doing likewise, except that he had to wait until the Castrol S. But on lap 8 it began to rain - not a lot, but just enough to dampen the track and unsettle the slicks. This was the command for change.

Lap 8, and the positions were Franchitti, Van Ommen (+0.385), Schneider (+5.926), Lehto (+6.500), Reuter (+7.057) and Magnussen (+8.700). Oliver Gavin was on the move, diving past Michael Bartels into the Castrol S, Alex Wurz in close attendance as well. All three were evenly matched, and well worth watching. Lap 10, and Uwe Alzen side-swiped Modena into the Castrol S, pushing him into the gravel. Alzen thus passed, but earned himself a 10 second stop/go penalty in the process. Alzen complained about the handling: "My start was really bad and I couldn't cope with the car's handling - it was not good in the rain." Hmmm..... To compound this problem, he stalled his engine when trying to leave the pits.

Third (Schneider), fourth (Lehto) and fifth (Reuter) were closing up together, the four wheel driven cars revelling in the damp conditions, and making an interesting set of battles through the field. Lap 13 and the lead battle sorted itself out in the Ford Kurve. Franchitti went wide on the exit, and Van Ommen dived through and was gone. Franchitti kissed goodbye to his win, and thereon drove mistake free to the flag.

Which is more than can be said for the rest of the field. Lap 17, and Oliver Gavin and Alex Wurz got too close, touching in the Veedol Chicane, Gavin losing his bonnet. Wurz: "The start was very confusing, and I dropped a few places. I was held up by some cars in front, and there was oil on my windscreen, which meant I couldn't see properly. When Gavin and I collided it really was just a racing accident - no problem really, and it wasn't anybody's fault." Gavin: "It was a really exciting race, the car was absolutely brilliant and I enjoyed racing with Alex, but at the chicane we touched, and it dislodged my bonnet. At the same time, Bartel's Alfa was throwing out oil and it covered my windscreen, it was really difficult to see." At least there are no recriminations on the surface. However, Gavin's rear diffuser was also broken, one vertical vane flapping uselessly, and this cost him downforce. He gradually fell back.

The rain got slightly harder, to compound the driver's problems. It affected the cars in different ways, and the Opel's seemed to benefit the most. Magnussen was in close attendence of Reuter, who was catching Lehto. "My tyres went off very quickly, but I think it was because I was pushing too hard early in the race - I was doing a lot of sliding," explained Lehto. Lap 18 and he slid too much, Reuter flashing past.

Stuck, by this time, was also on the move, catching up rapidly to the boot lid of Thiim, and was paying close attention to Magnussen. Lap 21 and he had caught Thiim. Coming up to the Veedoll, and Stuck was through. He wasn't finished through, diving past Magnussen on the dash to the finish line.

"That was a good race," said Stuck. "I really enjoyed the fight with Magnussen and Thiim - they are two good professional drivers, there was no door banging, just a good clean fight. I could feel my tyres going off in the last two laps, so the rain was good for me." Reuter was also pleased with his third place. "The car was really good. I made a very good start, and I was quicker than JJ (Lehto) who was in front of me, but I didn't want to pass him too quickly - instead, I wanted to save my tyres. Then after 18 laps JJ gave me the opportunity to overtake, so I took it and caught Schneider - I think he was having problems with the damp track."

Just to complete Alfa's bad weekend, Modena span in the Veedol Chicane on the last lap. He recovered to finish 17th.

Results

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME
1	Joerg Van Ommen	AMG Mercedes	37:12.332 / 164.51kph
2	Dario Franchitti	AMG Mercedes	37:14.649
3	Manuel Reuter	Opel Calibra	37:24.832
4	Bernd Schneider	AMG Mercedes	37:25.912
5	JJ Lehto	Opel Calibra	37:27.552
6	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Opel Calibra	37:28.667
7	Jan Magnussen	AMG Mercedes	37:28.790
8	Kurt Thiim	AMG Mercedes	37:29.697
9	Christian Danner	Alfa Romeo	37:36.817
10	Gabriele Tarquini	Alfa Romeo	37:42.695
11	Michael Bartels	Alfa Romeo	37:46.312
12	Alexander Wurz	Opel Calibra	37:47.313
13	Jason Watt	Alfa Romeo	37:53.085
14	Oliver Gavin	Opel Calibra	37:56.089
15	Ellen Lohr	AMG Mercedes	37:58.332
16	Bernd Maylaender	AMG Mercedes	37:58.493
17	Stefano Modena	Alfa Romeo	38:11.628
18	Uwe Alzen	Opel Calibra	38:46.506
	Not Classified
	Yannick Dalmas	Opel Calibrea	-12 laps
	Nicola Larini	Alfa Romeo	-22 laps
	Alexander Grau	AMG Mercedes	-22 laps
	Klaus Ludwig	Opel Calibra	-22 laps
	Gianni Giudici	Alfa Romeo	-22 laps

Car Top Speeds

POS	DRIVER	KPH
1	Ellen Lohr	244
2	Jason Watt	244
3	Bernd Maylaender	243
4	Stefano Modena	243
5	Uwe Alzen	242
6	Oliver Gavin	242
7	Manuel Reuter	241
8	Joerg Van Ommen	241
9	Kurt Thiim	241
10	Alexander Wurz	241
11	Dario Franchitti	241
12	Jan Magnussen	240
13	Hans-Joachim Stuck	240
14	Bernd Schneider	239
15	Yannick Dalmas	239
16	JJ Lehto	239
17	Michael Bartels	238
18	Christian Danner	237
19	Gabriele Tarquini	237

* These provide interesting reading. Despite running 1995 spec cars, Ellen Lohr and Bernd Maylaender are well up in the top speed stakes. The cars obviously don't lack grunt, but they seem to lack the cornering ability of the 1996 spec cars.