Round 4 - Monaco (Monte Carlo)

ACE SERIES Monaco (Monte Carlo)
1995/96 Pole Position: 1:12.164 (Robert Schaftlein)
1995/96 Race Time: 1h42m06.850 (Rene Smit)
Race Distance: 78 laps

Qualifying

PosDriverTeamTimeGapPoints
1.Oliver RobertsDigitech1:11.681 20
2.Markus KruggelWild 131:12.252+0.57116
3.Hans Gunnar HansenFORT-Jiuqi1:12.269+0.58814
4.Nuno MaltezMaverick1:12.292+0.61112
5.Robert SchaftleinDigitech1:12.376+0.69510
6.Reinhold SchatzerRST Racing1:12.472+0.7918
7.Steffen DienerRoadrunner1:12.624+0.9436
8.Axel BrunsNameless Horror1:12.650+0.9695
9.Michal JanakMAGIA-Crysler1:12.834+1.1534
10.Alan StrangTeam Ecosse1:13.110+1.4293
11.Juha HyvonenFORT-Jiuqi1:13.929+2.2482
12.Derek WatersMaverick1:13.978+2.2971
13.Ignacio GarciaIGC Racing Team1:14.198+2.517 
14.Martin DevineEnigma Racing1:14.564+3.883 
15.Uwe SchuerkampWild 131:14.670+3.989 
16.Paul BranneyTeam Ecosse1:16.410+4.729 

Race

Oliver Roberts not only dominated the qualifying session of this year's fourth GP, he also won the race with a massive gap of 1m30s. Only Digitech teammate Robert Schaftlein was able to follow Roberts and even he was only able to do so during the first couple of laps. Oliver began early to build up his lead and he extended it constantly during the race.

Together with Schaftlein, Michal Janak and Nuno Maltez were the drivers to make the race an interesting one. Especially between lap 52 and 62 the three showed the spectators a hard battle for the runner-up place on the podium. Schaftlein dropped out of this group in lap 62 due to a broken front wing that forced him into the pits. During the same time Reinhold Schatzer, Axel Bruns and Markus Kruggel were trying to give a similar spectacle and they were even closer: they crossed the start-finish line after 56 laps with .2 of a second between them. Getting around the sharp right corner after the straight must have been an exciting moment for all three drivers :-) Axel went into the pits after the next lap for a planned stop but Reinhold had to visit his pit crew for a new set of wings after he had a massive accident in lap 72.

One of the first to retire was FORT-Jiuqi's Juha Hyvonen who ended the race after just 18 laps. Derek Waters was the man who had the most pit stops (4) and maybe he wasn't too sad as he stepped out of his damaged car in lap 58. His appearance lasted 8 laps longer than that of Martin Devine whose race was over after he completed 49 laps.

PosDriverTeamTimeGapPoints
1.Oliver RobertsDigitech1h40m17.238 175
2.Michal JanakMAGIA-Crysler1h41m47.421+1m30.183170
3.Nuno MaltezMaverick1h42m07.739+1m50.401165
4.Robert SchaftleinDigitech1h42m11.054+1m53.816160
5.Markus KruggelWild 131h42m38.478+2m21.240155
6.Steffen DienerRoadrunner1h42m46.314+2m29.076151
7.Axel BrunsNameless Horror1h42m59.472+2m42.234147
8.Reinhold SchatzerRST Racing1h43m01.031+2m43.793143
9.Hans Gunnar HansenFORT-Jiuqi1h43m01.435+2m44.197139
10.Uwe SchuerkampWild 131h44m19.877+4m02.639135
11.Alan StrangTeam Ecosse1h44m41.701+4m24.463132
12.Ignacio GarciaIGC Racing Team1h45m20.264+5m03.026129
13.Derek WatersMaverick56 laps 126
14.Martin DevineEnigma Racing49 laps 123
15.Juha HyvonenFORT-Jiuqi19 laps 120
16.Paul BranneyTeam Ecosse14 laps 117

Fastest Race Laps

PosDriverTeamTime
1.Oliver RobertsDigitech1:13.309 LR
2.Robert SchaftleinDigitech1:13.926
3.Steffen DienerRoadrunner1:13.989
4.Michal JanakMAGIA-Crysler1:14.216
5.Axel BrunsNameless Horror1:14.301
6.Markus KruggelWild 131:14.335
7.Hans Gunnar HansenFORT-Jiuqi1:14.699
8.Reinhold SchatzerRST Racing1:14.785
9.Alan StrangTeam Ecosse1:14.940
10.Ignacio GarciaIGC Racing Team1:15.074
11.Nuno MaltezMaverick1:15.224
12.Uwe SchuerkampWild 131:15.458
13.Derek WatersMaverick1:16.337
14.Martin DevineEnigma Racing1:18.063
15.Juha HyvonenFORT-Jiuqi1:20.177

Some of the driver statements

Oliver Roberts (Digitech): "An excellent race, apart from the last lap when I drove into a backmarker and damaged my front wing - that cost me about 10 seconds. Apart from that though it went almost perfectly. I remember saying that last season, but as I have beaten Rene's time by 2 minutes I think I really did do well this time. My DDD strategy probably had something to do with it."

Michal Janak (MAGIA-Chrysler): "When I crossed the checquered flag, I was tired but very happy with my result. I didn't damage the car, but many times I made contact with deadly looking walls."

Nuno Maltez (Maverick): "Being my favourite circuit and the first race of the holiday season, I put some special care into its preparation. (...) The main trick is to avoid losing your head when overtaking slow CCs, which will inevitably lead to losing valuable time. So, I tried to do a regular race with a fairly simple pit-stop strategy."


Last modified: Monday 14 July 1997 - 18:02