Round 5 - Spain (Barcelona)

ACE SERIES Spain (Barcelona)
1997/98 Pole Position: Michal Janak (1:11.796)
1997/98 Race Winner: Michal Janak (1h25:40.267)
Race Distance: 65 laps

Qualifying

PosNo.DriverTeamTimeDiff.Pts
1.  # 3  Mirko Patzenbein  Digitech-Magia  1:11.786  +00.000  20
2.  # 9  Jan Svehlik  Wild 13-Bolgani  1:11.793  +00.007  16
3.  # 1  Michal Janak  Digitech-Magia  1:11.812  +00.026  14
4.  #19  Claudio Bacchelli  CBRacingF1  1:12.126  +00.340  12
5.  #25  Rafal Ziarnik  Yapamotox  1:12.167  +00.381  10
6.  # 4  Alan Strang  Team Ecosse  1:12.195  +00.409  8
7.  # 6  Ignacio Cuadrado  Team Ecosse  1:12.289  +00.503  6
8.  #26  Tomasz Bielawski  Yapamotox  1:12.300  +00.514  5
9.  #36  Steffen Diener  Roadrunner  1:12.435  +00.649  4
10.  # 7  Markus Kruggel  Wild 13-Bolgani  1:12.488  +00.702  3
11.  #22  Nuno Maltez  Rocketship  1:12.645  +00.859  2
12.  # 2  Marco Saupe  Digitech-Magia  1:12.733  +00.947  1
13.  #17  Argyris Maistralis  Crash Heads  1:12.950  +01.164   
14.  #27  Mariusz Smiechowicz  Yapamotox  1:13.088  +01.302   
15.  #31  Eric van der Veen  Dutchy  1:13.165  +01.379   
16.  # 8  Axel Bruns  Wild 13-Bolgani  1:13.367  +01.581   
17.  #40  Mike Hogg  MSP Racing  1:13.379  +01.593   
18.  #11  Fernando Alvarez  Supercraft  1:13.665  +01.879   
19.  #16  Hendrik Mehl  Crash Heads  1:14.053  +02.267   
20.  #18  Ross Kirk  Crash Heads  1:14.179  +02.393   
21.  # 5  Scott Dryden  Team Ecosse  1:14.479  +02.693   

Race

With the Beginner and Pro races having been run earlier in the morning, the Ace Championship cars purred onto the track in the mid-day sun, the intense heat adding to the considerable heat haze which was burning off the sleek machines. When the red lights went out Jan Svehlik jumped immediately into the lead. At the first corner Tom Nielson was up to second from dead last having not set a qualifying time but he was going far to fast for the corner and plowed off into the dusty grass, eventually rejoining in 21st place. Patzenbien had a terrible start and dropped to fourth but his Digitech was in fine form and he picked off the 3 cars ahead of him to lead into the second lap. The Team Ecosse car of Cuarado was also on a charge, up to third from 7th on the grid. On lap 3 he went one better, taking the Championship favourite Svehlik and then passing Patzenbien who had outbraked himself. To fill the Team Ecosse cup of joy to overflow, Alan Strang had ruthlessly picked his way to 2nd - the white and blue cars proudly leading the field. Strang took the lead on lap 5 while Markus Kruggel finished a round of fantastic overtaking manouveres to steal fourth. Jan Svehlik then stole 2nd from Cuarado and immediately charged off after Strang. All hell was breaking loose behind him with Janak getting some speed up and passing Kruggel for 4th only to be immediately slipstreamed by the former who used the extra momentum to pull a surprise attack on Cuarado. On lap 11 Svehlik made his move and dummied past Strang to take the lead and immediately began to fade into the distance. Patzenbien then pulled off one of the moves of the race by picking up a slip stream behind the battling group of Janak, Cuarado and Kruggel and blasted past them all, all wheels locked into the hairpin. Kruggel managed to repass the Digitech man followed by Janak who then took advantage of the extra space by getting past first Kruggel and then Strang to go off in search of Svehlik who had burned off into the horizon. The first major pit stops were those of Kruggel and Strang on lap 22 and both Svehlik and Janak pitted on lap 28, Svehlik rejoining in the lead but Janak had a slow one, rejoining 4th. On lap 30 Nuno Maltez ended his day in the wall and Janak started his comeback - passing Patzenbien on lap 33. Towards the end Svehlik had opened a 16 second gap to Janak and never looked back. On the last lap Alan Strang lost a hard fought battle for third with Patzenbien having to settle for fourth but surely happy with his days work. Kruggel also finished a hard day with 5th place ahead of Cuarado, Saupe and Ziarnik.

PosNo.DriverTeamTimeDiff.Pts 
1.  # 9  Jan Svehlik  Wild 13-Bolgani  1h25:08.487  +0:00.000  180+5
2.  # 1  Michal Janak  Digitech-Magia  1h25:26.458  +0:17.971  170 
3.  # 3  Mirko Patzenbein  Digitech-Magia  1h26:08.152  +0:59.665  165+5+3
4.  # 4  Alan Strang  Team Ecosse  1h26:08.587  +1:00.100  160+5
5.  # 7  Markus Kruggel  Wild 13-Bolgani  1h26:25.983  +1:17.496  155 
6.  # 6  Ignacio Cuadrado  Team Ecosse  1h26:33.650  +1:25.163  151+5
7.  # 2  Marco Saupe  Digitech-Magia  1h26:42.059  +1:33.572  147 
8.  #25  Rafal Ziarnik  Yapamotox  1h27:06.676  +1:58.189  143 
9.  # 8  Axel Bruns  Wild 13-Bolgani  1h27:13.935  +2:05.448  139 
10.  #26  Tomasz Bielawski  Yapamotox  1h27:16.415  +2:07.928  135 
11.  #19  Claudio Bacchelli  CBRacingF1  1h27:37.060  +2:28.573  132 
12.  #31  Eric van der Veen  Dutchy  1h27:37.830  +2:29.343  129 
13.  #37  Tom Nielsen  Graton Grand Prix  1h27:51.157  +2:42.670  126 
14.  #11  Fernando Alvarez  Supercraft  1h28:32.273  +3:23.786  123 
15.  # 5  Scott Dryden  Team Ecosse  1h28:49.858  +3:41.371  120 
16.  #17  Argyris Maistralis  Crash Heads  -1 laps     117 
17.  #16  Hendrik Mehl  Crash Heads  -1 laps     114 
18.  #27  Mariusz Smiechowicz  Yapamotox  63 laps  96.9%  107 
19.  #50  Amy Myers  Players-Racing  -5 laps     108 
20.  #40  Mike Hogg  MSP Racing  49 laps  75.4%  79 
21.  #36  Steffen Diener  Roadrunner  39 laps  60.0%  61 
22.  #22  Nuno Maltez  Rocketship  29 laps  44.6%  44 

Team by Team Analysis

CBRacing F1 - Bachelli made his usual strong qualifing run - clinching 4th but steadily fell back during the race to finish 11th.

Crash Heads - 3 cars showed up for qualifying but the team decided to only run the 2 fastest. Maistralis qualifyed 13th and started well to hold 10th but dropped back during the race to finish one lap down in 16th. Mehl started 19th and didn't really progress finishing one place behind his team-mate.

Digitech - The usual dominant performance from the team in qualifying - Patzenbien wrapping up pole with Janak 3rd. Saupe ended up in 12th. Janak had his usual strong race fighting his way to 2nd after a poor start but couldn't catch Svehlik in the end. Patzenbien had an eventful time, falling back at the start only to pull off two superb multiple overtaking manouveres during the race. He passed Alan Strang on the last lap to clinch the final step of the podium. Saupe never recovered from his lowly grid position, eventually taking 7th.

Dutchy - Eric Van Der Veen qualified 12th and stayed there for most of the race taking 12th at the flag.

Graton GP - Tom Nielson failed to set a qualifing time but didn't let starting at the back stop him from being second at the first corner only to plough off the track and rejoin at the back again. He finished 13th.

MSP Racing - A poor qualifying position (17th) was followed by an equally poor race performance - Mike Hogg running in the rear group before breaking a rear wing on lap 40 only for the replacement to fly off on lap 50 sending the purple car spinning off the end of the pit straight.

Players Racing - The team debuted the first lady driver of the year and Amy Myers finished 19th, 5 laps behind the leader.

Roadrunner - Steffan Dienner qualifyed 9th and a good first lap saw him up to 6th. He fell back during the race and crashed out on lap 40 avoiding debris left from the MSP Racing car which had broken a wing.

Rocketship - Nuno Maltez had a good race, running as high as 5th during the pit stops but went off the track on cold tires on lap 29 following his pit stop.

Supercraft - Alvarez ran the car from 18th on the grid to 14th at the flag.

Team Ecosse - A fantastic race meeting for the team with Alan Strang leading the race on lap 5 having started 6th. Dropped back a little towards the end but was still desperately unlucky to miss out on a podium finish when pipped at the post by Patzenbien's Digitech. Cuarado started 7th and led for a short time himself but fell back as other cars picked up pace during the middle part of the race. He finished a creditable 6th. Scott Dryden drove the third car to 15th from 21st.

Wild 13 Bolgani - Jan Svehlik was once again the star of the show as he powered to another victory - enjoying a fierce tussle with a few others at the start before blasting off to another win. Markus Kruggel also had a great race - mixing it with the same group as his team-mate but the pitstops did not fall well for him and he finished a fine 5th. Axel Bruns had a steady run up through the order in the third car to take a well earned 9th place finish from 16th on the grid.

Yapamotox - Ziarnik started the weekend well in 5th for raceday but the ferocious contest saw him end up 8th at the end. Bielawski started 8th but couldn't take advantage of the position, losing places and eventually ending up in 10th at the end. Smiechowicz started 14th and was classified 18th at the finish.

Last modified: Tuesday 06 April 1999 - 21:49