Round 3 - San Marino (Imola)
ACE SERIES Qualifying Starting Grid Race Report Finishing Order Race Statistics Driver Comments Action Replays Download Mixed Logfile Semi-Pro Results
	1996/97 Pole Position:  1:15.966 (Oliver Roberts) 1996/97 Race Time:  1h23m43.681 (Oliver Roberts) Race Distance:  61 laps

Qualifying

Race

After the start, the race developed in a very spectacular way, the lead was constantly changing and positions were only provisional - as soon as somebody overtook another driver, the next lap brought again a change in the rankings. Lap 1 had the first major incident already when Reinhold Schatzer had an accident that forced him to visit his pit crew to replace some of the car's damaged bodywork. Argyris Maistralis followed Reinhold's example in lap 2 and while nobody else came into the pits in the following laps, Argyris had another accident in lap 7, this time too heavy to allow him to continue the race. Three laps later, Ignacio Garcia Cuadrado and Eik Hoffmann crashed out. During this period, Alan Strang was leading the race, chased by Michal Janak and Oliver Roberts. But in case somebody thinks the mass of retirements had to do with the driver in the lead - with Michal Janak on position one, lap 11 saw the retirements of Rafal Ziarnik and Reinhold Schatzer while Reinhold's team mate Nuno Maltez ended his race 3 laps later. After that accident, the marshalls were allowed to breath deeply for a couple of laps as the remaining drivers concentrated now. Michal, Oliver and Alan were the top 3 at this point, but a bad 15th lap put Alan back on 5th behind Jan Svehlik and Mirko Patzenbein.

Martin Devine left the scene after a crash in lap 19, just one lap before the first series of regular pit stops started. The only change in the front positions resulted from different strategies: Alan regained 3rd place because he, unlike most others, opted for a one-stop strategy. Additionally, Jan and Mirko changed postions after the stop and were on 5th and 4th. The battle for 6th place was very close and not less than 6 drivers were in reach for it at this point, including Marco Saupe, Steffen Diener, Axel Bruns, Thomas Bodlien, Jonathan Stead and Markus Kruggel, all seperated by 15 seconds. Two drivers that weren't that far in the front retired in lap 25 and 25, namely Anthony Long and Scott Dryden. After Scott was out of the race, the number of incidents on the track decreased. Alan made his stop in lap 28 and that throw him back on 9th position. Until David Wright's crash in lap 51 marked the next period of heavy work for the marshalls, the only other situation of interest was connected to Oliver. The black box in his car indicated a retirement in lap 37, causing a massive uproar in the Digitech pit, but Oliver somehow managed to recover his car and rejoin the race, but this incident will later be subject of investigations by the technical administration of the IAF1GPC ;-) Oliver lost a couple of seconds and from then on Michal Janak was the clear race leader.

The last interesting moments of the race were mainly retirements: David Wright in lap 51, Mark McCubbin in lap 52, Alan in lap 53 and Thomas in lap 57. The very last overtaking manoeuvre was made by Juha Hyvonen who took 10th place from Jonathan Stead in lap 60, but Michal, Oliver and Jan were unchallanged podium finishers.

Race Statistics

What the drivers said about the race

Scott Dryden (Team Ecosse), 17th:
"Yes, again I failed to complete the race and am completly gutted, I'm beginning to think that I'll never finish, and to make matters worse I'm not even sure how I can improve things. I try'd to make sure I'd got everything 100 percent right for this race... I was totally focused throughout (no concentration lapses) and I wasn't pushing too hard. But still... (...) This is really anoying now, I've let Team Ecosse down badly in the first three races. Things must improve..."

Juha Hyvonen (FORT-Jiuqi), 10th:
"Almost boring race. If this had not been one of my favorits I would've chrashed just to end my misery. Last 30 laps or so were really fun to drive, although my setup was pretty slow - I'll be amazed if I'm not the last who finished."

Reinhold Schatzer (Rocketship), 21st:
"Well, this one does really seem not to be my season. Another race finished with a retirement due to an accident. I thought I am already past Coulthard, but he was a bit faster than me, so a crash was inevitable - just see the replay. Anyway, the race began with a pit for a new wing in lap 1, so my retirement in the early lap 11 seems just a logical consequence in that thrashed race."

James Luscombe (V-Tec F1), 8th:
"Started fourth on the grid, but was up to first at the end of the first lap. Outbraked myself at the first 2nd gear lefthander and went down to fifth. Worked back to the lead until I pitted on lap 33. Decided to have a DD tyre strategy as the tyres seemed to last well on the first stretch. Spent the rest of the race catching and passing MS and then HHF to regain the lead. I'm quite surprised that I managed the whole race with the car still intact, had several trips onto the grass especially on the second (4/5th gear) chicane and was lucky to avoid the 7 CC's lined up along the way. This is not one of my favourite tracks."

Action Replays

• Steffen Diener (Roadrunner):
  "Driving through a junkyard called 'Variante Alta'."

• Oliver Roberts (Digitech):
  "Had a few scary moments with crashed CCs: one of them is recorded in my replay, which demonstrates good avoiding action - unfortunately, I didn't do quite so well in other incidents :-("

• Alan Strang (Team Ecosse):
  "On the 53rd lap I approached Aqua Minerale at my normal speed, which would have been fine if it hadn't been for Berger's Benetton ahead of me. For some reason I didn't take this into account, so I was left with a split-second decision to make - stay on the track and risk losing my nose, or swerve off the track and try to rejoin ahead of Berger. If I was to make that decision again another 100 times, I would always choose to stay on. When it mattered, however, I chose to leave the circuit (see replay). Bad decision."

Download the replays (29K)