ITC

Helsinki

9 June 1996

Stuck Dominant as the rest fall away

Qualifying:

1
44Stuck Opel1:25.544
2
17Ludwig Opel+ 0.165
3
10Bartels Alfa+ 0.276
4
16Alzen Opel+ 0.366
5
43Lehto Opel+ 0.418
6
6Nannini Alfa+ 1.115
7
5Larini Alfa+ 1.136
8
14Fisichella Alfa+ 1.285
9
1Schneider Mercedes+ 1.466
10
25Wurz Opel-----
11
2Franchitti Mercedes1:25.367
12
8Gavin Opel+ 0.011
13
9Modena Alfa+ 0.364
14
7Reuter Opel+ 0.784
15
18Tarquini Alfa+ 0.907
16
11Van Ommen Mercedes+ 1.085
17
24Dalmas Opel+ 1.306
18
12Thiim Mercedes+ 1.615
19
3Magnussen Mercedes+ 1.775
20
19Watt Alfa+ 1.913
21
4Grau Mercedes+ 2.393
22
22Maylaender Mercedes+ 3.671
23
21Lohr Mercedes+ 4.577
24
13Giudici Alfa+ 6.603
25
15Danner Alfa-----



Qualifying notes:

* Reuter had a practice crash, damaging the front end of the car. He had to wear a precautionary neck brace for a while.

* Franchitti set the fastest qualifying time of all, but was unfortunately in Group B qualifying, so could only get 11th. "The lap wasn't anywhere near perfect.....it was sliding a lot."

* Alexander Wurz understeered out of a corner, crashing into a wall, wrecking his front end. He was then collected in the rear by a UPS Team Mercedes as it came around the corner, wrecking the back end to. Wurz was unable to take part in qualifying, but by dint of being in Top Qualifying, he managed tenth place.

* Nicola Larini's Alfa looked very unhappy over the bumps, and he lost it under braking, gently going into a wall. He reversed out and continued with no major damage. He was exciting to watch, the back end often sliding out exiting corners.

Race 1

Temperature: 20 C. Track Temperature: 22 C. Wind: 3.6 kmh. Cloudy

Helsinki is a street track, and as we have seen recently, street tracks tend to provide exciting races. This was no exception. Street tracks also favour four-wheel drive, but someone should have told this to Franchitti in his two wheel drive Mercedes.

Stuck was on pole, with an interesting new addition to his Opel's cockpit. Mounted on the far left of the dashboard was a new switch labelled "Vox TV Bullshit Switch," with which he could toggle the camera should he think it worthwhile. Vox provide the TV coverage.

Stuck led into the first corner from Ludwig, Bartels, Alzen, Lehto and Nannini, was was soon pulling out a gap. The rest of the field filed through cleanly, Danner soon past the hopelessly slow '95 Alfa of Giudici. Further up front, Alzen was all over Bartels, who in turn was having to defend from Lehto. Typical of all street tracks, it was difficult to overtake, although Franchitti didn't seem to mind. He was in eigth and tracking the Alfa of Larini closely, having moved up from eleventh on the grid - he was also the fastest Mercedes by far.

After an incident free first couple of laps, things started to happen. After Grau went into the pits on lap 3, Alzen lost it on lap 4, spinning on exiting the second corner, but stopping off the racing line. He let everyone through before spinning it back around and rejoining last. Perhaps Eddie Irvine should have been watching.

Lap 5, and Franchitti finally got past Larini, and he soon set about catching Nannini, catching and passing him into the first corner hairpin on lap 6. Again, Franchitti soon pulled away, setting a 1:27.219 for what was to be the fastest lap of the race. By lap 7 Franchitti had caught Lehto, but getting past was a different matter. Franchitti's presence spurred Lehto to go faster, and soon they were in a three car train headed by Bartels. At the start of lap 9, the gaps were Ludwig +3.2s (from Stuck), Bartels +4.5, Lehto +5.0, Franchitti +5.3, Nannini +6.8.

Going into the first corner hairpin, Franchitti pulled his favourite overtaking manouevre, diving down the inside of Lehto. The next lap and Franchitti tried the same again on Bartels, but this time wasn't close enough, the Alfa chopping back across, just missing the front of the Mercedes. Franchitti was forced to back off, and this allowed Lehto to catch up again.

The next time around and Franchitti repeated the manouevre, this time successfully, and he soon pulled away. Less successful was Jan Magnussen, who missed the apex of the corner and ploughed straight on into a tyre wall. "We

haven't been able to get the car right this weekend," said the unhappy Dane. "I lost brake pressure completely, couldn't brake and hit the tyres." He damaged the car sufficiently that he wouldn't start race two.

Lap 12 and the present ITC champion Bernd Schneider was in the wall. He was overtaking Tarquini around the outside of a fast left hander, and came back onto the racing line before he had fully passed him. Schneider tagged his left rear on the Alfa, and was spun around, not to get going again.

Franchitti by now was rapidly catching Ludwig, and by lap 13 was only 0.23s

back. Lap 15 and he converted this to second place. It looked to be only a matter of time before he caught Stuck, but traffic and Stuck speeding up meant that although the gap oscillated, Franchitti never really got that close. In the closing stages, Franchitti started to drop back, perhaps having rooted his tyres in the first half push.

Lap 16, and the Alfa squad's problems got worse, Tarquini pulling over with his car on fire, Modena also spinning but continuing. Lap 19 and off went Larini, locking up the tyres under braking on the start/finish straight, sailing up the escape road with a suspected dead ABS system. He got going again, but slowly, and headed into the pits.

By lap 24 the Opel of Reuter was on the move, his heavy weight handicap seemingly not presenting much of a problem. Reuter passed Lehto at the hairpin

on lap 25. Lap 27 and Reuter was lapping 1 second a lap than the man ahead, Bartels. Thiim wasn't catching anyone though, having spun and parked it next to the wall, not going anywhere.

The drama wasn't yet over. Going into the final corner to start the final lap, Franchitti went wide and into the wall, putting him out of this race and the following one. "I had had a steering problem or rear suspension problem since the beginning of the race, but I was still fast," he said. The rest were lucky he had this problem. "Coming into the final corner, I hit some oil and went

off." Funny how everyone else avoided it though.

Results (also Qualifying order for Race 2)

1 StuckOpel 47:29.380
2 ReuterOpel + 24.015
3 LudwigOpel + 26.594
4 BartelsAlfa + 30.060
5 LehtoOpel + 37.507
6 DalmasOpel + 38.490
7 ModenaAlfa + 41.612
8 DannerAlfa +1:01.801
9 Van OmmenMercedes +1:12.592
10 GavinOpel -1 lap
11 Maylaender Mercedes -1 lap
12 Fisichella Alfa-1 lap



Lehto would start the next race from the pit lane

Race 1 Top 6 Lap Chart

Lap/Pos
1
2
3
4
5
6
0
44
17
10
16
43
6
1
44
17
10
16
43
6
2
44
17
10
16
43
6
3
44
17
10
16
43
6
4
44
17
10
43
6
2
5
44
17
10
43
6
2
6
44
17
10
43
2
6
7
44
17
10
43
2
6
8
44
17
10
43
2
6
9
44
17
10
2
43
6
10
44
17
10
2
43
6
11
44
17
2
10
43
6
12
44
17
2
10
43
6
13
44
17
2
10
43
6
14
44
17
2
10
43
6
15
44
17
2
10
43
6
16
44
2
17
10
43
6
17
44
2
17
10
43
6
18
44
2
17
10
43
6
19
44
2
17
10
43
7
20
44
2
17
10
43
7
21
44
2
17
10
43
7
22
44
2
17
10
43
7
23
44
2
17
10
43
7
24
44
2
17
10
43
7
25
44
2
17
10
7
43
26
44
2
17
10
7
43
27
44
2
17
10
7
43
28
44
2
17
10
7
43
29
44
2
7
17
10
43
30
44
2
7
17
10
43
31
44
7
17
10
43
24




Quote of the week: "God made humans sexy, and then he put hair on all the

others." A balding Hans Joachim Stuck, June 1996

Race 2

Stuck again led into the first corner, from Reuter, Modena and Ludwig, Stuck

pulling out a two second gap on the first lap. On lap 2, Danner's engine let go in a big way, spraying a huge plume of oil out of the rear before catching fire. With oil flags flying with abandon, the organisers sent out the safety car for two laps. It circulated rapidly, but the tyres would still be cooling down. The restart promised to be interesting.

Lap 5 and they were let loose again, Ludwig passing Modena for third at the end of the second straight. Bartles tried to follow through, but couldn't manage it, eventually tagging Modena three-quarters of the way around the lap, Modena spinning into the wall and out. Next time around and Dalmas passed Bartels for fourth, the Alfa driver best known for being Steffi Graf's boyfriend going wide.

Bernd Maylaender and Ellen Lohr, both in 1995 spec Mercedes, were having problems with faster cars behind them, due to their high start positions, having not crashed in race one. Both chose avoidance tactics, letting the faster cars through once they were in a position to pass. Come the end of the race, this proved to be good tactics.

At the start of lap 11, the order was Stuck, Reuter (@3.1s), Ludwig (@4.7s), Dalmas, Nannini and Fisichella, Alzen and Lehto passing Van Ommen into the

first hairpin to go eighth and ninth. Lehto was on a charge though, and a couple of corners later was up to eighth. Next time into the hairpin and Lehto was past Bartels for seventh. Bartels had a problem though, and he went into the pits never to be seen again. Lap 14 and Grau was also out, courtesy of a spin. Alzen disappeared into the pits on lap 15.

Lap 17, and the order was Stuck, Reuter (@9s), Ludwig (@11.3s), Dalmas (@11.6s), Nannini (@18.0s) and Lehto (@21s), but not for long. Going into the first corner hairpin, Dalmas lost it under braking, having approached the corner too fast. He slid up the escape road, nudging some tyres and damaging the front splitter. He rejoined in eighth place, and on lap 21 his bonnet flew off. Two laps later and Dalmas was in the pits, out. Also out by this time was Ludwig, who was in the pits with a badly smoking Opel.

Lap 25, and Bernd Schneider was lining up to pass the Alfa of Fisichella, but to no avail. When turning into the chicane, Schneider suddenly swerved right, parking the car in the escape road permanently. Nothing appeared to be obviously wrong, and Schneider had already started to turn into the corner before swerving off. It was all very strange.

Lap 26, and Van Ommen also went out, spinning and gently hitting a barrier. He got going again, but had to pull over later with his car on fire.

The next lap, and more Mercedes action, Thiim spinning into a wall. Also spinning was Ellen Lohr, having turned into a fast right hander and being tagged by the Opel of Wurz. Lohr went through 180 degrees, but missed the walls. Both cars kept going, but Lohr was a long way down on Wurz.

From then on it was a quiet run to the flag, Stuck gently extending his lead lap by lap. Opel were having a field day. But it was embarrassment for Mercedes though. All the top AMG cars were out, and it was left to the Team Persson MS 1995 spec cars of Maylaender and Lohr to uphold honours in seventh and ninth, one lap down. They'll be soul searching in Stuttgart tonight.

Race 2 Results

1
StuckOpel 49:36.662
2
ReuterOpel + 13.201
3
LehtoOpel + 33.680
4
NanniniAlfa + 40.467
5
FisichellaAlfa + 49.638
6
LariniAlfa + 56.342
7
MaylaenderMercedes + 1 lap
8
WurzOpel + 1 lap
9
LohrMercedes + 1 lap
10
GrauMercedes + 1 lap




Championship Placings

1
ReuterOpel 101 pts
2
MagnussenMercedes 51
3
FranchittiMercedes 43
4
AlzenOpel 42
=
StuckOpel 42
6
NanniniAlfa 41
=
SchneiderMercedes 41
8
Van OmmenMercedes 38
9
LehtoOpel 31
10
FisichellaAlfa 28



Race 2 Top 6 Lap Chart

Lap/Pos
1
2
3
4
5
6
0
44
7
17
10
43
24
1
44
7
9
17
10
24
2
44
7
9
17
10
24
3
44
7
9
17
10
24
4
44
7
9
17
10
24
5
44
7
17
10
24
14
6
44
7
17
24
10
14
7
44
7
17
24
10
14
8
44
7
17
24
10
14
9
44
7
17
24
10
14
10
44
7
17
24
6
14
11
44
7
17
24
6
14
12
44
7
17
24
6
14
13
44
7
17
24
6
14
14
44
7
17
24
6
14
15
44
7
17
24
6
43
16
44
7
17
24
6
43
17
44
7
17
6
43
14
18
44
7
17
6
43
14
19
44
7
17
6
43
14
20
44
7
6
43
14
1
21
44
7
6
43
14
1
22
44
7
6
43
14
1
23
44
7
6
43
14
1
24
44
7
43
6
14
1
25
44
7
43
6
14
5
26
44
7
43
6
14
5
27
44
7
43
6
14
5
28
44
7
43
6
14
5
29
44
7
43
6
14
5
30
44
7
43
6
14
5
31
44
7
43
6
14
5




More International Race News