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Herbert takes his first win in Bahrain

Posted on 24. Jan, 2009 by webmestre in Uncategorized

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Herbert takes his first win in Bahrain
Johnny Herbert won the second Speedcar Series race held in Bahrain this afternoon.
It was a win that came down to the wire with Gianni Morbidelli in second spot and a surprise podium for new driver Thomas Biagi in third.
The reverse grid for Speedcar Series’ second race put Giovanni Lavaggi on pole position which he lost almost immediately into the first lap. Biagi took the early lead for the initial lap but was put back to second by Gianni Morbidelli while Johnny Herbert moved in to third after having started sixth on the grid
The first three drivers maintained their positions for most of the 40 minute race
until Herbert gained a position on Biagi in the 12th lap. Gianni Morbidelli looked
strong in the lead but with just 6 minutes to go the Season 1 Champion inched closer
to the Itanlian closing the gap to less than a second.
All eyes were on the front of the pack just as Morbidelli lost his end in a corner
and Herbert squeezed past and took the lead into the final lap. With team mates
and fellow Italians Biagi and Morbidelli in the top three, they take Palm Beach
into the top spot on the Team Championship standings.
Johnny Herbert said of his win, “Sometimes you need a little bit of luck and I think
I was lucky today. I stayed out of trouble and it paid off in the end.”
Gianni Morbidelli who has been on the podium in Bahrain before during the first
season commented, “Today’s race was close and I made a mistake in the end and I
paid for it. However, it was a good clean race and that’s what is most important.”
Further down the pack, several drivers were battling for position. Yesterday’s race
winner Jean Alesi gained 2 positions off the starting grid and finished sixth while
current driver championship leader Heinz Harald Frentzen finished in fourth keeping
him the lead with 21 points. However the German is now level with Johnny Herbert
and will have to fight for every point from here on in with 4 rounds left to go
in the Series.
Performing impressively was young French driver Damien Pasini of the JMB team earning
points both yesterday and today by finishing in the top 8 positions. He and Johnny
Herbert bring their team into second position in the team standings.
Another young driver who showed his mettle was Hasher Al Maktoum locked in battle
with Jean Alesi for a few laps until the Frenchman came out on top. The UAE driver
still finished with points one spot ahead of his team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, both
of whom scored points for their team today.
Marchy Lee, Jacques Villeneuve, Christopher Zoechling and Enzo Panacci did not have
a very good day and were unable to finish the race.
Preliminary Classification Race 2
Pos  Driver         Team                Laps   Time / Gap
1   J. Herbert     JMB                 19    40:36.124
2   G. Morbidelli  Palm Beach          19        2.560
3   T. Biagi       Palm Beach          19        6.711
4  H. Frentzen   Team Lavaggi         19        14.668
5   D. Pasini      JMB                 19       20.253
6  J. Alesi       HPR                 19       20.920
7   H. Al Maktoum  UP Team             19        27.245
8   V. Liuzzi      UP Team              19        32.735
9  C. Buncombe    Team Lavaggi        19       42.400
10  G. Lavaggi     Team Siram          19       51.597
11  E. Charles    Continental Circus   19      137.688
Not Classified
C. Zoechling   Durango               10       DNF
J. Villeneuve  Durango               8      DNF
M. Lee         HPR                   7       DNF
E. Panacci    Continental Circus     2       DNF
Fastest Lap
H. Frentzen    Team Lavaggi          2:06.825 on lap 9
Drivers’ Championship Standings in Round 2
Pos  Driver                 R1   R2  R3   R4   TOTAL
1   Johnny Herbert          5    -    6   10   21
Heinz Harald Frentzen   8    -    8    5   21
2   Gianni Morbidelli       6   -    5    8   19
3   Jean Alesi              -    -   10    3   13
4   Vitantonio Liuzzi      10    -    -    1   11
5   Hasher Al Maktoum       4   -   4    2   10
6   Thomas Biagi            -    -    3    6    9
7   Damien Pasini           1    -    2    4    7
8   Jacques Villeneuve      3   -   -         3
9   Marchy Lee             2   -   -         2
10   Giovanni Lavaggi        -   -   1         1
Teams’ Championship Standings in Round 2
Pos  Team                   R1   R2   R3   R4   TOTAL
1   Palm Beach              6    -    8   14   28
2   JMB Racing              6    -    8   14   28
3   UP Team                14    -    4    3   21
4   HPR                     2    -   10    3   15
5   Team Lavaggi            -    -    8    5   13
5   Phoenix Racing          8    -    -    -    8
7   Durango                3    -    -    -    3
8   Team Siram              -    -    1    -    1
R1 = Dubai, UAE – December 5, 2008
R2 = Dubai, UAE – December 6, 2008 (cancelled due to rain)
R3 = Sakhir, Bahrain – January 23, 2009
R4 = Sakhir, Bahrain – January 24, 2009
Source Speedcar

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