
Oliver Roberts took the lead from the first lap on, followed by his new team
mate Michal Janak. The race saw two early retirements on the same location,
the chikane before the 'Ostkurve'. Steffen Diener was the first in the very
first lap followed by Nuno Maltez in lap 4. Then, between lap 8 and 11
major decisons for the race outcome were made: 6 accidents happened during
this period, the drivers who got off lightly were Reinhold Schatzer, Alan
Strang and Juha Hyvonen as they only broke some wings and were able to
continue their race. But for Ignacio Garcia Cuadrado, Andrew Clark and
Martin Devine the race was over. A bit later, around lap 15, the pit crews
had to cope with the first rush to the pits.
After the pitstops the field devided: while Michal, who took the lead soon
after his stop, and Oliver were setting the pace at the front, all the
other drivers equally lost the same amount of time, around 1:10m, until the
next series of pitstops in lap 30. During this phase the positions
stabilized: behind the two Digitech drivers was Hans Gunnar Hansen, who
wasn't able to hold the gap to Michal and Oliver, but widened the distance
to the drivers from Wild 13 on 4th and 5th, Axel Bruns and Markus Kruggel.
They again were chased by Reinhold Schatzer and Juha Hyvonen on 6th and 7th
while Alan Strang's gap was already bigger, he suffered from another
accident in lap 22 that costed him his rear wing.
The race was perhaps partly decided by pit strategy: Michal, as most
others, opted for a two stop race, using C tyres all the time. Oliver chose
to make three stops and used D compounds at his second and third stop.
Although Oliver had the faster tyres, most of the time Michal drove the
faster laps, only on the last five laps Oliver was able to close the gap to
Michal a bit.
Steffen Diener (Roadrunner):
Hans Gunnar Hansen (FORT-Jiuqi):
Michal Janak (Digitech):
Oliver Roberts (Digitech):
Reinhold Schatzer (RST Racing):
Alan Strang (Team Ecosse):
Pos Driver Team Time Diff. Pts
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Oliver Roberts Digitech 1:28.289 20
2. Michal Janak Digitech 1:29.190 +0.901 16
3. Alan Strang Team Ecosse 1:29.564 +1.275 14
4. Hans Gunnar Hansen FORT-Jiuqi 1:29.695 +1.406 12
5. Martin Devine Enigma Racing 1:29.714 +1.425 10
6. Reinhold Schatzer RST Racing 1:29.992 +1.703 8
7. Steffen Diener Roadrunner 1:30.017 +1.728 6
8. Markus Kruggel Wild 13 1:30.476 +2.187 5
9. Axel Bruns Wild 13 1:30.583 +2.294 4
10. Ignacio Garcia IGC Racing Team 1:31.027 +2.738 3
11. Nuno Maltez Maverick 1:31.235 +2.946 2
12. Juha Hyvonen FORT-Jiuqi 1:31.432 +3.143 1
13. Paul Branney Team Ecosse 1:31.618 +3.329
14. Andrew Clark Ant Hill Mob Racing 1:31.655 +3.366
15. Derek Waters Maverick 1:32.002 +3.713
The 9th race of the season can be described as 'ordered' - everything went
quite clear and without bigger turbulences...
Race - 45 Laps - Winning time last season: 1h12m33.138 (Oliver Roberts)
Pos Driver Team Time Diff. Pts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Michal Janak Digitech 1h11m35.983 175
2. Oliver Roberts Digitech 1h11m55.657 +0m19.674 170
3. Hans Gunnar Hansen FORT-Jiuqi 1h13m00.735 +1m24.752 165
4. Markus Kruggel Wild 13 1h14m01.901 +2m25.918 160
5. Axel Bruns Wild 13 1h14m05.722 +2m29.739 155
6. Reinhold Schatzer RST Racing 1h14m55.291 +3m19.308 151
7. Juha Hyvonen FORT-Jiuqi 1h15m15.390 +3m39.407 147
8. Alan Strang Team Ecosse 1h16m05.828 +4m29.845 143
9. Andrew Clark Ant Hill Mob Racing 9 laps 139
9. Martin Devine Enigma Racing 9 laps 139
11. Ignacio Garcia IGC Racing Team 8 laps 132
12. Nuno Maltez Maverick 3 laps 129
13. Steffen Diener Roadrunner 0 laps 126
13. Paul Branney Team Ecosse 0 laps 126
(Old Lap Record: 1:30.439 by M.Janak 95/96)
Fastest Race Laps
1. Michal Janak Digitech 1:29.951 LR
2. Oliver Roberts Digitech 1:30.643
3. Hans Gunnar Hansen FORT-Jiuqi 1:31.132
4. Markus Kruggel Wild 13 1:32.766
5. Axel Bruns Wild 13 1:33.681
6. Juha Hyvonen FORT-Jiuqi 1:34.783
7. Alan Strang Team Ecosse 1:35.480
8. Reinhold Schatzer RST Racing 1:35.556
9. Ignacio Garcia IGC Racing Team 1:38.973
10. Martin Devine Enigma Racing 1:38.982
11. Nuno Maltez Maverick 1:40.746
Paul Branney Team Ecosse -:--.---
Andrew Clark Ant Hill Mob Racing -:--.---
Steffen Diener Roadrunner -:--.---
Axel Bruns (Wild 13):
Some of the driver statements"Considering that the primary objective was simply to finish the race,
then, it went remarkably well (...)"
"It was a very short race, I didn't even complete one lap. After the first
chicane Damon Hill got into my sleepstreem, overtook my and then braked far
too early for the second chicane. I crashed into his car twice and the race
was over."
"A much better end of the race than the beginning, but as this is NOT my
favourite track I would be surprised if I get a top place."
"For this race I used diferent tire strategy then last year. I start on
C's. Car setup was good and driving wasn't dificult. I like this track
because there isn't too many curves, but there is one very dangerous place
- Bremskurve 2 (with wall facing to you)."
"I revised my setup and stategy from last season, which seemed to help as I
easily beat my time from last year. So all in all, another good race."
"I wasn't looking forward to this race, because I do not like this circuit
at all. I did finish the race, achieving my goal for this round. The fact
that I ended up in 3rd position was probably due to my unhappy strategy and
my accident in lap 9 in the notorious second chicane."
"Despite finishing the race this season, my opinion of Hockenheim has not
changed one bit. The long straights and brutal chicanes make it quite unlike
any other circuit, and I would be glad if I never had to race there again."
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