Round 6 - Monaco (Monte Carlo)

ACE SERIES Monaco (Monte Carlo)
1997/98 Pole Position: Markus Kruggel (1:11.594)
1997/98 Race Winner: Michal Janak (1h59:13.489 - wet)
Race Distance: 78 laps

Qualifying

PosNo.DriverTeamTimeDiff.Pts
1.  # 9  Jan Svehlik  Wild 13-Bolgani  1:11.693  +00.000  20
2.  # 7  Markus Kruggel  Wild 13-Bolgani  1:11.878  +00.185  16
3.  #22  Nuno Maltez  Rocketship  1:11.922  +00.229  14
4.  #36  Steffen Diener  Roadrunner  1:12.110  +00.417  12
5.  #49  John Duncan  Players-Racing  1:12.133  +00.440  10
6.  # 1  Michal Janak  Digitech-Magia  1:12.464  +00.771  8
7.  #25  Rafal Ziarnik  Yapamotox  1:12.593  +00.900  6
8.  #03  Mirko Patzenbein  Digitech-Magia  1:12.659  +00.966  5
9.  #31  Eric van der Veen  Dutchy  1:12.720  +01.027  4
10.  #26  Tomasz Bielawski  Yapamotox  1:12.796  +01.103  3
11.  #37  Tom Nielsen  Graton Grand Prix  1:12.878  +01.185  2
12.  # 2  Marco Saupe  Digitech-Magia  1:12.935  +01.242  1
13.  # 8  Axel Bruns  Wild 13-Bolgani  1:13.176  +01.483   
14.  #17  Argyris Maistralis  Crash Heads  1:13.329  +01.636   
15.  # 5  Scott Dryden  Team Ecosse  1:13.986  +02.293   
16.  #16  Hendrik Mehl  Crash Heads  1:14.510  +02.817   
17.  #50  Amy Myers  Players-Racing  1:14.628  +02.935   
18.  #52  Stephen J.Wallace  Maverick  1:15.592  +03.899   

Race

For the main event, a grid of 16 cars took to the track, many teams missing this race out to concentrate on getting their cars fully up to speed after the break. Thankfully though the crowd were treated to a fantastic lead battle as Svehlik kept his pole position as the field scrambled through the first lap. Nuno Maltez made a lightning start to blast past Kruggel at the lights. On lap 3 Maltez pulled off one of the most audacious overtaking manouveres ever seen in Monte Carlo, passing Svehlik for the lead on the OUTSIDE of the Rascasse! With his grandstand view of the action Kruggel ran wide into the same corner and Michal Janak took his chance, squeezing past the Wild 13 to take 3rd and promptly set the fastest lap. Svehlik repassed Maltez straight away at Lowes and on lap 6 Janak did the same, continuing his rise from 6th on the grid. On lap 9 Svehlik braked much too late at the end of the tunnel straight and promptly spun 360 degrees, allowing Janak and Maltez to pass but still getting going almost straight away. Things weren't over yet and the crowd cheered as Maltez once again forced the Rocketship passed the all conquering Digitech to take the lead again. On lap 12, however, Janak slipstreamed past and started to pull away. Svehlik had to make his move now and on lap 13 he squeezed past Maltez at the end of the tunnel straight to steal second and try to catch Janak. Further back Kruggel and Dienner were having a fierce battle over fourth, Kruggel eventually pulling away from the Roadrunner. While Janak and Svehlik cruised around nose-to-tail at the front, Maltez was falling back into the clutches of Kruggel and when the pair pitted together on lap 52 it was the more experianced Wild 13 pit crew who were faster and Kruggel grabbed the final podium slot. Janak increased his lead towards the end of the race to 14 seconds and Maltez took a well earned fourth spot ahead of Dienner.

PosNo.DriverTeamTimeDiff.Pts 
1.  # 1  Michal Janak  Digitech-Magia  1h39:33.083  +0:00.000  180+5+3
2.  # 9  Jan Svehlik  Wild 13-Bolgani  1h39:47.323  +0:14.240  170+5
3.  # 7  Markus Kruggel  Wild 13-Bolgani  1h40:40.237  +1:07.154  165 
4.  #22  Nuno Maltez  Rocketship  1h41:00.835  +1:27.752  160+5
5.  #36  Steffen Diener  Roadrunner  1h41:08.516  +1:35.433  155 
6.  #25  Rafal Ziarnik  Yapamotox  1h41:25.197  +1:52.114  151 
7.  # 2  Marco Saupe  Digitech-Magia  1h41:25.738  +1:52.655  147 
8.  # 3  Mirko Patzenbein  Digitech-Magia  1h41:47.391  +2:14.308  143 
9.  #26  Tomasz Bielawski  Yapamotox  1h42:06.508  +2:33.425  139 
10.  # 8  Axel Bruns  Wild 13-Bolgani  1h42:23.677  +2:50.594  135 
11.  # 5  Scott Dryden  Team Ecosse  -1 laps     132 
12.  #16  Hendrik Mehl  Crash Heads  72 laps  92.3%  119 
13.  #18  Ross Kirk  Crash Heads  67 laps  85.9%  108 
14.  #17  Argyris Maistralis  Crash Heads  45 laps  57.7%  70 
15.  #31  Eric van der Veen  Dutchy  40 laps  51.3%  61 
16.  #40  Mike Hogg  MSP Racing  23 laps  29.5%  34 

Team by Team Analysis

Crash Heads - The team lived up to their name with none of the three finshing the race. Maistralis made up a couple of places at the start from his 14th grid slot but dropped back before retiring. Mehl started 16th and circulated towards the back, retiring on lap 72. Ross Kirk had not qualified on Saturday and ran towards the back of the field before retiring on lap 67.

Digitech - The team had an unusually poor qualifying with Janak 6th, Patzenbien 8th and Saupe 12th. Janak had a storming start to the race, eventually taking the lead and staying there to the end. Patzenbien and Saupe never really recovered from their low grid placings and finished 8th and 7th respectively, Saupe only being credited with his points after a stewards inquiry over the legality of his car.

Dutchy - Van Der Veen qualified 9th and made a good start to run 6th but steadily fell back to last with gearbox problems before retiring on lap 40.

MSP Racing - The team barely made it for Sunday morning practice, starting dead last on the grid and staying there throughout the race. The lack of a decent set up sent Hogg into the wall twice, the first time necessitating a visit to the pits and the second ending the day for the team.

Roadrunner - Dienner qualified a fine fourth and ran close to the lead group for most of the race. He finished 5th behind race hero Maltez.

Rocketship - Maltez had a fabulous weekend, qualifying 3rd and finishing 4th in a race he could well have won had he not gone off the boil in the second half of the event. The first half though showed him to be a talent to watch for the future.

Team Ecosse - The team sent only one car to Monaco and Scott Dryden qualified 15th, finishing one lap down in last place.

Wild 13 Bolgani - A strong qualifying saw Svehlik take pole and Kruggel 2nd. Svehlik ran strongly as usual but made a couple of mistakes to perhaps open the door to Janak to try and claw back the Championship lead. Kruggel fell back at the start but the team made an excellent pit stop to put him back ahead of Maltez and give him the final podium position. Bruns qualified 13th and finished 10th.

Yapamotox - Bielawski qualified 10th and finished 9th while Ziarnik once again put in a consistent performance to finish 6th from 7th on the grid.

Last modified: Thursday 15 April 1999 - 17:53