Round 9 - Germany (Hockenheim)

Qualifying * The Grid * Race Report * Result
Fastest Laps * Driver Statements
Mixed Race Log * Action Replays * Semi-Pro Results

* Qualifying - Pole time last season: 1m28.548 (Stephen Leary)

After the unexpected defeat in Silverstone's qualifying, Oliver stroke back with an impressive session at Hockenheim. To Digitech's fortune, new team member Michal Janak showed his best qualifying result so far.

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

* Race - 45 Laps - Winning time last season: 1h12m33.138 (Oliver Roberts)

The 9th race of the season can be described as 'ordered' - everything went quite clear and without bigger turbulences...

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.

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

* Fastest Race Laps

(Old Lap Record: 1:30.439 by M.Janak 95/96)
 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          -:--.---

* Some of the driver statements

Axel Bruns (Wild 13): "Considering that the primary objective was simply to finish the race, then, it went remarkably well (...)"

Steffen Diener (Roadrunner): "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."

Hans Gunnar Hansen (FORT-Jiuqi): "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."

Michal Janak (Digitech): "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)."

Oliver Roberts (Digitech): "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."

Reinhold Schatzer (RST Racing): "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."

Alan Strang (Team Ecosse): "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."


Last modified: Sat Mar 01 11:21:45 1997