Round 10 - Hungary (Hungaroring)

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

* Qualifying - Pole time last season: 1:10.819 (Rene Smit)

Pos  Driver              Team                  Time        Diff.      Pts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1.  Hans Gunnar Hansen  FORT-Jiuqi            1:11.023                20
 2.  Oliver Roberts      Digitech              1:11.122   +0.099       16
 3.  Markus Kruggel      Wild 13               1:11.693   +0.670       14
 4.  Reinhold Schatzer   RST Racing            1:11.712   +0.689       12
 5.  Steffen Diener      Roadrunner            1:11.829   +0.806       10
 6.  Alan Strang         Team Ecosse           1:11.912   +0.889        8
 7.  Michal Janak        Digitech              1:11.959   +0.936        6
 8.  Nuno Maltez         Maverick              1:11.964   +0.941        5
 9.  Martin Devine       Enigma Racing         1:11.974   +0.951        4
10.  Ignacio Garcia      IGC Racing Team       1:12.130   +1.107        3
11.  Stephen Orr         Ant Hill Mob Racing   1:12.309   +1.286        2
12.  Juha Hyvonen        FORT-Jiuqi            1:12.652   +1.629        1

13.  Axel Bruns          Wild 13               1:12.810   +1.787
14.  Andrew Clark        Ant Hill Mob Racing   1:13.024   +2.001
15.  Paul Branney        Team Ecosse           1:14.663   +3.640

* Race - 77 Laps - Winning time last season: 1h39m37.331 (Stephen Leary)

At the beginning of the so incredible 'popular' Hungarian GP, Oliver Roberts had to fight for the lead with Nuno Maltez. The Maverick driver was able to stay ahead of last year's champion until lap 9 but from then on Oliver was in the lead, doing what he did at most of the race before. But on the Hungaroring the drivers stayed together for a much longer period than on most other circuits: 8 drivers were still within 30 seconds by lap 20. While Oliver was in the lead now, Maltez was able to hold his 2nd position until lap 18, then he was overtaken by Michal Janak. Lap 21 saw the retirement of Stephen Orr just three laps before it was time for new tyres for all the drivers. Maltez was first in the pits (lap 24) and after Steffen Diener was the last to make his stop in lap 32, the first part of work for the pitcrews was done. After the stops, Roberts, Janak and FORT-Jiuqi's Hans Gunnar Hansen were able to build up a lead on the rest of the drivers.

But Oliver's lead melted from 13 seconds in lap 28 down to 4 seconds in lap Lap 44. Hansen dropped out of the battle for the victory when he came into the pits in lap 45, following his 3-stop strategy. Although he was in the lead in laps 60 and 61, it was mainly due to the fact that Oliver and Michal made their last stop while Hans Gunnar still had to come into the pits once. His third stop then set him back on 3rd again.

Meanwhile, a number of drivers were battling for 4th position: Martin Devine and Markus Kruggel were alternately holding the position between lap 28 and 58. It was Maltez who had this position from lap 59 to lap 63 but then Kruggel was able to overtake Maltez and defend the 4th place until he saw the checkered flag.

After their second stops in lap 59, Michal wasn't able to follow the pace that Oliver set on the front and so Oliver's lead grew from the 4 secs before the stop to 24 seconds at the end of the race. His team mate just managed to stay ahead of Hansen, who finished less than two seconds behind him.

The last laps saw two late retirements: Martin Devine on 7th position ended the race in lap 70, and Andy Clark just needed about one mile to complete his race when he crashed out :-( 

Pos  Driver              Team                  Time        Diff.      Pts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1.  Oliver Roberts      Digitech              1h40m10.628            175
 2.  Michal Janak        Digitech              1h40m35.529 +0:24.901  170
 3.  Hans G. Hansen      FORT-Jiuqi            1h40m37.305 +0:26.677  165
 4.  Markus Kruggel      Wild 13               1h41m36.073 +1:25.445  160
 5.  Steffen Diener      Roadrunner            1h41m56.600 +1:45.972  155
 6.  Nuno Maltez         Maverick              1h42m02.949 +1:52.321  151
 7.  Axel Bruns          Wild 13               1h42m22.616 +2:11.988  147
 8.  Alan Strang         Team Ecosse           1h42m50.449 +2:39.821  143
 9.  Ignacio Garcia      IGC Racing            1h43m23.139 +3:12.511  139
10.  Andrew Clark        Ant Hill Mob Racing      76 laps             135
11.  Martin Devine       Enigma Racing            69 laps             132
12.  Juha Hyvonen        FORT-Jiqui               45 laps             129
13.  Stephen Orr         Ant Hill Mob Racing      20 laps             126
14.  Paul Branney        Team Ecosse               0 laps             123

* Race Statistics

Pos Driver        Car Fast_Lap FL LL/TL PS Avg_Pits AG  A  B  C  D  Q  W
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1. O.Roberts       1 1:13.181 70 69/77  2 0:19.863 93       59 18
 2. M.Janak         2 1:13.225 75  0/77  2 0:21.517 93       59 18
 3. H.G.Hansen     10 1:13.170 73  2/77  3 0:20.800 94       27 50
 4. M.Kruggel       7 1:14.203 68  0/77  2 0:23.178 93       58 19
 5. S.Diener       33 1:14.477 70  0/77  2 0:20.961 93       77
 6. N.Maltez       29 1:13.059 76  6/77  2 0:19.772 91          77
 7. A.Bruns         8 1:14.166 72  0/77  2 0:19.995 92       62 15
 8. A.Strang        5 1:14.644 72  0/77  2 0:25.527 93       58 19
 9. I.G.Cuadrado   15 1:14.536 72  0/77  3 0:35.569 92       77
10. A.Clark         4 1:14.990 72  0/76  2 0:37.000 93       60 16
11. M.Devine       39 1:14.536 64  0/69  2 0:24.191 93       56 13
12. J.Hyvonen       9 1:18.278 42  0/45  1 0:26.434 91    27 18
13. S.Orr           3 1:20.219 19  0/20  0          94          20

Fastest Lap: 1:13.059 Nuno Maltez (Maverick) LR
(Old Lap Record: 1:13.816 by O.Roberts 95/96)

* Some of the driver statements

Andy Clark (Ant Hill Mob Racing): "Boo hoo !!!! sniffle sniffle !! wail wail !! sob sob !! I cant believe it. Crashed out over half way round the last lap :( If anyone wants me, i`ll be in the cupboard ... sulking !!"

Hans Gunnar Hansen (FORT-Jiuqi): "Didn't have any major problems in the race, but instead I lost quite a lot of time lapping the CC's. (...) I thought I would go a lot faster this year than last year, but I didn't. Felt good, but I'm afraid it's not good enough for a top place."

Michal Janak (Digitech): "Race I ended very happy, because this race ended for me in best possible way, I bettered my last year time in about 1m20s and my FL was better than last year race record."

Oliver Roberts (Digitech): "I decided to use a similar setup and tyre strategy to last season, with a few tweaks on the gear ratios and brake balance. It seemed to work pretty well and the last 10 laps were really satisfying."

Alan Strang (Team Ecosse): "Using my set-up and Oliver's strategy from last season, I found the car surprisingly easy to drive. Unfortunately, this didn't provide me with a possible race-winning time. However, if it hadn't been for the processions of computer cars and a few small errors, I'm sure I could have been at least a minute faster. Still, I'm very satisfied with the result, especially after my Lola-like performance at Hockenheim."

Martin Devine (Enigma Racing): "The increased testing time paid off - almost. The new-look silver and black Enigma was eight laps short of finishing its first race! I had a very easy race - just overtake a green-and-black roadblock every few laps until about lap 60. Then I found out why I hadn't found much traffic - there was a queue of at least 10 CCs in front of me. Two minor disagreements with a Williams lost me about 20+ seconds, and then I tried an impossible overtake... This was a much better race, though. Hopefully, I'll carry this into the Easter races."


Last modified: Sat Mar 15 19:59:24 1997