From the Speedcar Series
MotoGP star Marco Melandri came within four laps of a shock Speedcar Series victory under the lights at Losail in Qatar on Saturday night, but a mechanical failure took him out, handing the victory to Vitantonio Liuzzi, who headed an Italian 1-2-3.
Melandri, who started only his second-ever car race from pole position, rocketed away at the start and built up a 7.5sec lead by lap nine, which was when Liuzzi passed Thomas Biagi for second place.
Liuzzi got the hammer down, and ate into Melandri's lead initially, but the Italian bike racing star had stabilised the gap, and was on course for a major shock victory, until his car suddenly slowed on lap 15, suffering gear box problems.
That gifted the lead to Liuzzi, who had been guiding Melandri on his learning curve all weekend, and he stroked home ahead of yesterday's winner Gianni Morbidelli. Thomas Biagi finished third.
Morbidelli is leading the professional classification, ahead of Herbert, Liuzzi and Frentzen.
Canadian Jacques Villeneuve stands in position 9, forced to retire after not even one lap completed.
"Instants after the green flag was waved, the transmission broke. I selected third gear and the gearbox went 'bang!' I slowly got back to the pits to retire. It was really disappointing because everything looked so good," Jacques Villeneuve told Auto123.com.
photo:Speedcar Series
MotoGP star Marco Melandri came within four laps of a shock Speedcar Series victory under the lights at Losail in Qatar on Saturday night, but a mechanical failure took him out, handing the victory to Vitantonio Liuzzi, who headed an Italian 1-2-3.
Melandri, who started only his second-ever car race from pole position, rocketed away at the start and built up a 7.5sec lead by lap nine, which was when Liuzzi passed Thomas Biagi for second place.
Liuzzi got the hammer down, and ate into Melandri's lead initially, but the Italian bike racing star had stabilised the gap, and was on course for a major shock victory, until his car suddenly slowed on lap 15, suffering gear box problems.
That gifted the lead to Liuzzi, who had been guiding Melandri on his learning curve all weekend, and he stroked home ahead of yesterday's winner Gianni Morbidelli. Thomas Biagi finished third.
Morbidelli is leading the professional classification, ahead of Herbert, Liuzzi and Frentzen.
Canadian Jacques Villeneuve stands in position 9, forced to retire after not even one lap completed.
"Instants after the green flag was waved, the transmission broke. I selected third gear and the gearbox went 'bang!' I slowly got back to the pits to retire. It was really disappointing because everything looked so good," Jacques Villeneuve told Auto123.com.
photo:Speedcar Series