Qualifying: 1 B Schneider Mercedes 56.957 2 D Franchitti Mercedes 56.964 3 G Tarquini Alfa 57.149 4 G Fisichella Alfa 57.236 5 H Stuck Opel 57.255 6 JJ Lehto Opel 57.311 7 M Reuter Opel 57.619 8 U Alzen Opel 57.698 9 K Thiim Mercedes 57.776 10 M Bartels Alfa 57.786 11 J Van Ommen Mercedes 57.116 12 K Ludwig Opel 57.130 13 A Nannini Alfa 57.297 14 J Magnussen Mercedes 57.386 15 Y Dalmas Opel 57.406 16 A Wurz Opel 57.469 17 S Modena Alfa 57.553 18 N Larini Alfa 57.776 19 C Danner Alfa 57.888 20 O Gavin Opel 58.298 21 A Grau Mercedes 58.535 22 J Watt Alfa 58.636 23 B Maylaender Mercedes 59.022 24 E Lohr Mercedes 59.657 25 G Giudici Opel 1:00.69Note: Giudici now driving Opel not Alfa. Giudici is the only true privateer in the field.
Lap 2 and Grau briefly lost it, exiting the hairpin backwards having tagged Watt. He missed everyone and continued. At the front things had settled down, and mid-field scrapping was intense, Larini trying to pass Reuter, and succeeding when Reuter braked too late. Also on the move was Gavin, inside the top fifteen by lap four.
Magnussen was tenth, and was being hassled heavily by Alzen, who would soon have to cope with Larini. team-mate Nannini was in seventh and all over Ludwig, who in turn was giving serious attention to Bartels in eighth. the top six positions were still stable though, and on lap eight the positions were Schneider, Franchitti (@0.577), Tarquini (@2.935), Fisichella (@3.585), Lehto (@4.498) and Stuck (@5.416).
Lehto started to slow up slightly, and was soon passed by Stuck, and was quickly having to fend off the attentions of Modena. Magnussen got too much attention from Alzen, making contact when turning in at the hairpin, spinning around and dropping two places.
Lap fourteen and Wurz (sporting new Hutchinson Telecom colours) was past Reuter while under braking, the weight penalty seeming to pose more of a problem here, Reuter running with the full 50kg penalty. Meanwhile, the Alfa's in third and fourth were having a huge scrap, swapping positions on lap 22. This was allowing the front two Mercedes to pull away though, Franchitti playing the dutiful number two. Lap 24 though and Larini lost it, hitting the kerbs too hard. While spinning Alzen was blocked, and Wurz passed them both in the process. In the meantime, Ludwig was in the pits, looking unlikely to emerge again. Larini also retired to the pits.
Tarquini by now was just in front of Stuck, bu Stuck was having nothing of it, diving past under braking. Tarquini lost his braking point and hit the kerbs, launching the car in the air and out of control, spearing across the track and grass and into the barriers, barrel rolling and catching alight. Tarquini luckily climbed out unharmed, but the car was wrecked and the red flags were brought out. The cars were brought to a halt, and as over 50% of the race distance had been completed, the result was declared.
1 B Schneider Mercedes 28:23.081 2 D Franchitti Mercedes + 2.866 3 G Fisichella Alfa + 9.978 4 S Modena Alfa +11.395 5 H Stuck Opel +16.407 6 A Nannini Alfa +16.631 7 JJ Lehto Opel +19.289 8 M Bartels Alfa +21.961 9 A Wurz Opel +22.297 10 M Reuter Opel +28.667 11 U Alzen Opel +30.271 12 Y Dalmas Opel +30.800 13 J Van Ommen Mercedes +34.510 14 K Thiim Mercedes +35.139 15 O Gavin Opel +44.024 16 J Magnussen Mercedes +45.754 17 C Danner Alfa +45.902 18 A Grau Mercedes +55.201 19 B Maylaender Mercedes +56.088 20 E Lohr Mercedes -1 lap
Franchitti passed Schneider, and going into lap three the gaps were Schneider (@0.423), Stuck (@3.067), Nannini (@6.337), Modena (@6.927) and Van Ommen (@7.678). Stuck was comfortably on his own, while the Alfa's were lining up to scrap amongst themselves. Lap four and Ludwig was out again, parked in the pits with hydraulic problems.
Schneider was putting Franchitti under extreme pressure, circulating less than 0.4s from Franchitti, and there it syaed (Lehto coming in to the pits on lap 9 with a steering fault, Gavin passing Wurz on lap 15, Wurz passing Gavin lap 17 and Modena passing Stuck, while Danner retired on lap 21 with mechanical problems) until lap 21, when Schneider dived down the inside of Franchitti under braking. Schneider was now noticibly faster, and was also quicker through the traffic.
Lap 28 and Bartels was in the pits for a tyre change, Schneider leading Franchitti (@0.793) from Modena (@5.444), Stuck (@9.516), Van Ommen (@23.883) and Reuter (@24.681). Less than a second behind Reuter was Dalmas, with Wurz only inches further back. Wurz though started to drop back, and there followed an uneventful run to the flag.
Results 1 B Schneider Mercedes 36:08.296 2 D Franchitti Mercedes + 2.749 3 S Modena Alfa + 9.430 4 H Stuck Opel +15.002 5 J Van Ommen Mercedes +28.043 6 M Reuter Opel +28.654 7 Y Dalmas Opel +31.119 8 A Wurz Opel +36.229 9 O Gavin Opel +36.559 10 U Alzen Opel +36.773 Championship 1 M Reuter Opel 137 2 H Stuck Opel 94 3 B Schneider Mercedes 89 4 D Franchitti Mercedes 81 5 U Alzen Opel 73 6 JJ Lehto Opel 69 7 K Ludwig Opel 64 8 A Nannini Alfa 57 9 J Van Ommen Mercedes 53 10 J Magnussen Mercedes 51