10th Round at the Italian GP

Jorg Bergmeister Steps Closer to the Trophy with Sixth Victory

Monza/Stuttgart. With a green light to chequered flag victory at the tenth round of the Porsche-Pirelli-Supercup in Monza, series' leader Jorg Bergmeister took another step closer to the trophy. His team mate and toughest rival sitting second overall, Marco Werner, ended the 12 lap race in eighth, giving Bergmeister now a 26 point lead. Two races in the US are left on the calendar, each victory is rewarded with 20 points. Ranking third overall, Wolf Henzler (D) started from eighth and finished sixth, which now leaves him with a purely theoretical title chance.

Immediately after the start mid-fielders Alessandro Zampedri and Bruno Eichmann became involved in an accident. Both drivers were unhurt, but the safety car led the field until the end of lap four.

When the race resumed, Bergmeister showed his domination once again, and defended his lead over the entire race distance against Timo Bernhard. Bernhard, who competed as a guest in Monza, overtook Philipp Peter in lap five for second.

Behind the leading duo, Peter allowed Sascha Maassen to pass him in the tenth lap. With third place Maassen celebrated his second podium finish of the season. Driving for the British Software AG Racing team he had already secured third at round two in Barcelona.

Jorg Bergmeister (D, winner): RAn excellent start was decisive. I calculated that either Philipp or Timo would try to overtake me at the beginning. I also predicted an accident, and I wanted to be as far away as possible when it happened. When the safety car left the track I made the most of the situation and by the first corner I had built up a 100 metre gap. Then Timo was suddenly number two and within two laps had caught me. Luckily during qualifying I'd practiced maintaining the fighting line as well as braking ultra late at the end of the finish straight. This is where overtaking manoeuvres are most likely to happen.R

Timo Bernhard (D, second): RThe four laps behind the safety car ruined my race strategy. I was able to put Jorg under pressure over the rest of the race, and towards the end he began making small mistakes. Unfortunately the race wasn't long enough. Perhaps if we'd gone over the whole distance I could have passed him.R

Sascha Maassen (D, third): RI chose a flatter rear-wing for highest possible speed today. For this reason I was able to gain a couple of metres on the straights and had a tiny advantage by the time we reached the corners. I was able to pass Philipp Peter because he took one corner too wide.R

Race Classification: 1. J. Bergmeister (D, Infineon Team Farnbacher) 27:46.059 2. T. Bernhard (D, UPS Porsche-Junior Team) 0.222 secs behind 3. S. Maassen (B, Software AG Racing) 5.525 4. P. Peter (A, Infineon Team Farnbacher) 6.211 5. S. Ortelli (MC, Kadach Tuning) 6.752 6. W. Henzler (D, PZ Rhein-Oberberg) 7.051 7. T. Bergmeister (D, MAT Racing Team) 7.358 8. M. Werner (D, Infineon Team Farnbacher) 7.789 9. M. Neugarten (MC, Kadach Tuning) 16.347 10. J. v.d. Ende (NL, Martin Flitton Racing) 19.269

Standings: 1. J. Bergmeister 157 2. Werner 132 3. Henzler 123 4. Ortelli 111 5. T. Bergmeister 104 6. Peter 97 7. Maassen 87 8. Zampedri 78 9. Couceiro 61 10. Kosutic 56