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Race 1 : Christian Klien didn’t have the chance to convert his domination from qualifying into a good race result. The Austrian having retired after a collision on the first corner with Nico Rosberg, his Mücke Motorsport team-mate won the race. The points leader of the Formula 3 Euro Series, Ryan Briscoe (Prema Powerteam) was also unfortunate on the first day, because he, too, became a victim of the start accident. Even though Christian Klien was overtaken at the start by his team-mate, he had never expected that his race would already be over before the first corner. Nico Rosberg (Team Rosberg) braked too late and ran into the car of the young Austrian. “It could have been a nice race, but I had no chance. Tomorrow, I will do better and I will be watching out for Nico…”, the recent winner of the Marlboro Masters said. The turbulent start also claimed other victims. Alvaro Parente (Team Ghinzani) ran over Ryan Briscoe’s car, who also had to retire. Jan Heylen, Richard Lietz and Daniel La Rosa were also among the drivers who raced no more than 300 metres… The clerk of the course immediately deployed the safety car. It stayed out on the track for eight minutes before letting the 22 drivers that were left resume the race. Markus Winkelhock was in the lead from Olivier Pla (Team ASM) and Robert Doornbos (Team Ghinzani). From there on, the positions on top of the field were to remain unchanged. Markus Winkelhock once more proved the supremacy of his team and of the Mercedes engine, finishing almost five seconds clear of the Frenchman. The situation was quiet among the frot runners, but there was plenty of action in the middle of the field. There was an excellent battle between Nicolas Lapierre, Charles Zwolsman and Robert Kubica. The latter had the upper hand and came home in ninth place. The best recovery was shown by Cesar Campanico (SRT), who was put back to the last row of the grid for overtaking under yellow in qualifying. He recovered in the race to finish 13th. Action continued until one minute before the end. Simon Abadie collided with Bruno Spengler and barrel-rolled, which brought the red flags out in the 29th minute. INTERVIEW: Markus
Winkelhock (Mücke Motorsport) : “It was a perfect race. After Christian
has his crash, I knew I could show a good performance. When the safety
car came in, I pushed very hard during the first three laps. I won
at the Nürburgring last year, so it is a good track for me.” Race
2: The start of this second race was once again turbulent. But this time, the action happened in the middle of the field. When positions seemed to be taken with a domination for Christian Klien, the rain set in during the final stages, leading to collisions and a finish behind the safety car. This time, Christian Klien clearly benefited from his pole-position. Behind the front runners (Klien, Winkelhock and Rosberg), the victims of the first corner included Nicolas Lapierre (Signature Plus), Bernhard Auinger (TME), Andreas Zuber (Team Rosberg) and Charles Zwolsman (Kolles). Fabio Carbone (Signature Plus) also became involved in the accident, but he could resume the race, albeit in 25th position. After this turmoil, things were considerably more quiet. Christian Klien had a two seconds’ advantage over his team-mate, the winner of yesterday’s race, and Nico Rosberg. All of them seemed to settle with their positions. Less lucky than in the first race, Robert Doornbos retired after an excursion on the third lap. Ryan Briscoe followed Olivier Pla in seventh place, but never was a serious threat to the Frenchman. Fabio Carbone caught the attention and got a warning for pushing Stefano Proetto during his recovery, while Harold Primat got a red flag (failing to come in for his penalty for a jump start). The final part of the race brought plenty of action, because during the 15th lap, the rain set in. Christian Klien was the first driver to be caught by surprise and he was followed by the rest of the field. Many drivers went straight on at the first corner after the main straight. Unfortunately, Fabio Carbone ran fiercely into the car of new KMS-driver Hendrik Vieth and notably Philip Baron. The latter had some pain getting out of his car. Olivier Pla (ASM) lost three positions, leaving his seventh place to the points leader of the Formula 3 Euro Series, Ryan Briscoe. Because of the accidents, the clerk of the course deployed the safety car. It wasn’t possible to re-start the race, so it was finished under safety car with the first double win of the season for the Mücke Motorsport team. Christian Klien scored his second victory and is now runner-up to Ryan Briscoe in the drivers’ standings.
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