From Speedcar
Force India F1 test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi won the opening round of the second Speedcar season after a dramatic encounter at the Dubai Autodrome. Despite his obvious pace throughout the weekend, poleman Liuzzi (UP Team) found himself under attack on both sides at the rolling start. The battle raged between Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Christopher Zoechling and Gianni Morbidelli. As Liuzzi pulled out a lead of almost four second Frentzen, but the Italian crossed the line in first place. Frentzen's looked much more competitive than he did last season and several fastest laps helped him close the gap to Liuzzi as the leader suffered with flat-spotted tyres. But the early skirmishes had given Liuzzi too much of an advantage and Frentzen eventually fell short by just 0.8 seconds. Morbidelli shadowed Frentzen until the final couple of laps and took the final podium place, despite struggling with various problems, including a steering issue. He was well clear of a fine battle for fourth between Herbert and Damien Pasini. Ex-Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve (Durango-Laing O'Rourke) went from 13th to 10th in the opening exchanges, but then went off after a clash in the midfield. He headed for the pits to check for damage, but the safety car period allowed him to rejoin at the back of the pack without losing the lap. After everyone else's problems, Villeneuve was able to come home sixth, behind Hasher Al Maktoum, who was highest finisher of the non-F1 drivers. "Qualifying was difficult as I only had brakes at the front," told us Jacques Villeneuve. "On lap 2 of the race, I was pushed into the wall and that bent the car that became impossible to drive. I am nevertheless happy to finish the race. But we did not set-up the car at all, we were too busy fixing the mechanical problems." The Race 1 preliminary classification is as follows: Pos Driver Teams Laps Time/Gap 1. V. Liuzzi UP Team 16 40:55.976 2. H. Frentzen Phoenix Racing 16 0.839 3. G. Morbidelli Palm Beach 16 3.091 4. J. Herbert JMB 16 12.858 5. H. Al Maktoum UP Team 16 15.815 6. J. Villeneuve Durango 16 34.741 7. M. Lee HPR 16 40.868 8. D. Pasini JMB 16 78.517 9. E. Charles Continental Circus 16 97.722 10. J. Alesi HPR 16 111.563 11. C. Zoechling Durango 15 1 Lap Not Classified M. Lauda Phoenix Racing 4 DNF M. Tiemann Continental Circus 11 DNF S. Johansson Palm Beach 11 DNF Fastest Lap Heinz Harald Frentzen 2:05.910 on lap 15 Photos: Speedcar
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