Monaco report

Third Round at the Monaco Grand Prix ------------------------------------

Masterpiece of Balance: Collard Wins Wet Monaco Race

Formula One test driver Emmanuel Collard (F, JMB Competition) once again demonstrated his high class driving skills when he led the Monaco round of the Porsche Pirelli SuperCup from the start to the unscheduled stop of the race in lap nine due to torrential rainfall. The winner of the first round of the fastest Marques Cup in the world gave a perfect performence throughout the weekend, setting fastest lap in the quali- fying and the fastest race lap as well. Last year's winner, Jean-Pierre Malcher (F, Larbre Competition) drove to a second place through pouring rain, running like the rest of the field on slick tyres.

German Juergen von Gartzen (Oberbayern Motorsport) came in third. Last year's runner-up commented: "I started from fifth position and had a tremendous fight with Ralf Kelleners and my team mate Patrick Huisman in the opening laps. In the end, I came off best. After the race was stopped, I had a slight off into the barriers. Good timing." Patrick Huisman from the Netherlands was three seconds behind von Gartzen when the race was stopped, only half a second ahead of former Formula One driver Jean-Pierre Jarier (F, Zepter Racing).

Ex Formula One pilot Olivier Beretta from Monaco entered the Porsche VIP Carrera with starting number two for his home race. After his ninth place in the qualifying he improved to a fine seventh in the race. Ahead of Beretta, German Ralf Schumacher, Michael's younger Brother, was sixth in today's race.

German Ralf Kelleners, the winner of the 1996 opening round on the Nurburgring, experienced bad luck taking fourth in the qualifying but only eighth in the race. Ralf: "It was my first race in Monaco, and our set-up was for a dry track without any compromise. Okay, at least the car is in one piece, it was a very challenging drive."

Top ten results:

Pos     Driver                  Team                            Time
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      Emmanuel Collard/F      JMB Competition             14:34.156
 2      Jean Pierre Malcher/F   Larbre Competition            + 3.231
 3      Juergen von Gartzen/D   Oberbayern Motorsport          10.938
 4      Patrick Huisman/NL      Oberbayern Motorsport          13.033
 5      Jean-Pierre Jarier/F    Zepter Racing                  13.488
 6      Ralf Schumacher/D       Porsche AG                     14.992
 7      Olivier Beretta/MC      Porsche AG                     16.510
 8      Ralf Kelleners/D        Porsche Zentrum Koblenz        20.078
 9      Harald Grohs/D          Manthey Racing                 21.743
10      Oliver Mathai/D         Manthey Racing                 21.996

CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos     Driver                  Pts
-----------------------------------
 1      Collard/F                66
 2      Malcher/F                52
 3      Kelleners/D              45
 4      von Gartzen/D            42
 5      Mathai/D                 40
 6      Huisman/NL               22
 7      Becker/D                 19
 8      Grohs/D                  18
 9      Farnbacher/D             17
10      Kulundzic/D              12