PLM STES FASTEST LAP _ SEE BELOW!
Mansell storms to Qatar victory
By Tim Redmayne Saturday, April 29th 2006, 13:27 GMT
Nigel Mansell won the Grand Prix Masters of Qatar, dominating an incident-packed race.
The 1992 Formula One World Champion led every one of the race's 24 laps. However his drive was interrupted by two safety car periods and he was under pressure throughout from a variety of drivers, including Christian Danner and Eddie Cheever.
No driver other than Mansell has a led a lap in the series for over-45-year old ex-Grand Prix drivers, after the Briton dominated the inaugural Kyalami race last Novemeber in similar fashion.
Christian Danner, who had joined Mansell on the front row, shadowed Mansell in the early and late stages but eventually finished second, winning a hard battle with Eddie Cheever.
Cheever had muscled his way past Danner going into the first corner on the eighth lap, and the pair touched as they rounded the corner. Cheever stayed committed to the manoeuvre however and Danner lost the position when running wide onto the Astroturf that surrounds the Losail International Circuit.
Danner got his revenge after the first safety car period. The caution period, called to remove the stricken car of Eliseo Salazar, meant that Danner was able to be right on the tail of Cheever at the restart. He pulled alongside the American, and got by into the first corner.
At the same time Andrea De Cesaris' impressive race came to an end. Under pressure from Pierluigi Martini for the fourth position, the pair touched at the first corner, resulting in the former spinning out into the gravel, and causing another safety car period.
With three laps to go at the second restart, Mansell then pulled away to take the chequered flag by half a second.
Eric van de Poele finished third, after putting in a strong drive from 11th on the grid. The Belgian benefited form the final restart, getting past both Martini and Cheever as they squabbled over the final podium position in the final stages.
Cheever came home fourth, ahead of Derek Warwick, who put in a strong recovery drive. Warwick was looking strong in the early part of the race, however, he was passed for third by Martini on the fifth lap. Two corners later while following Martini, Warwick lost the back end of his car and spun round 180 degrees.
But Warwick was able to keep with the main pack thanks to the two safety car periods and fought his way back up to claim the same position he took in the inaugural race in Kyalami.
Martini finished sixth, ahead of Jan Lammers and Stefan Johansson. Rene Arnoux drove a respectable race to finish ninth, ahead of Riccardo Patrese in tenth.
Patrese's race was effectively over before it began. His car's engine failed to fire up on the grid and he was pushed back into the pits. The car eventually started before the rest of the cars had finished their parade laps, however he was let back out on the track instead of starting the race for the pit lane, and was nearly a full lap behind from the beginning.
However, the mid-race safety car period offered him a lifeline and he was able to catch up with the rest of the pack to pass Patrick Tambay and Emerson Fittipaldi and finish 10th.
CLASSIFIED:
Pos Driver Time
1. Nigel Mansell 52:06.000
2. Christian Danner + 0.562
3. Eric van de Poele + 1.174
4. Eddie Cheever + 3.016
5. Derek Warwick + 3.420
6. Pierluigi Martini + 5.710
7. Jan Lammers + 7.044
8. Stefan Johansson + 8.339
9. Rene Arnoux + 9.068
10. Riccardo Patrese + 9.423
11. Patrick Tambay + 15.506
12. Emerson Fittipaldi + 29.788
NOT CLASSIFIED:
Driver Laps
Hans Stuck 19
Eliseo Salazar 11
Andrea de Cesaris 8
Fastest lap: Pierluigi Martini, 1:49.116 on lap 23
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