Suzuka notes and final 1996 standings

INTERNATIONAL TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP 1996 - FINAL ROUND AT SUZUKA

Qualifying was changed to the formerly used top ten qualifying mode.

-------------------Top 10 qualifying / Starting grid-------------------- Pos. Driver Team - Car Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Christian Danner/D Alfa Corse TV Spielf.Alfa 155 V6Ti 2:02.737 2 Bernd Schneider/D D2 Team AMG-Mercedes C-Class 2:02.924 3 Stefano Modena/I Alfa Corse JAS-Alfa Romeo 155 V6Ti 2:03.099 4 Nicola Larini/I Alfa Corse Martini-Alfa 155 V6 Ti 2:03.100 5 Giancarlo Fisichella/I Alfa Corse TV Spielf.Alfa 155 V6Ti 2:03.349 6 Alessandro Nannini/I Alfa Corse Martini-Alfa 155 V6 Ti 2:03.476 7 Bernd Maylander/D Team Persson AMG-Mercedes C-Class 2:04.756 8 Gabriele Tarquini/I Alfa Corse JAS-Alfa Romeo 155 V6Ti 2:04.999 9 Dario Franchitti/GB D2 Team AMG-Mercedes C-Class (puncture) 0 10 Jan Magnussen/DK Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes C-Class (gearbox) 0

11 Uwe Alzen/D Zakspeed-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:03.461 12 JJ Lehto/FIN Rosberg-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:03.650 13 Joerg van Ommen/D UPS Team AMG-Mercedes C-Class 2:03.734 14 Manuel Reuter/D Joest-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:03.812 15 Aguri Suzuki/J UPS Team AMG-Mercedes C-Class 2:03.999 16 Yannick Dalmas/F Joest-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:04.104 17 Hans-Joachim Stuck/D Rosberg-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:04.285 18 Oliver Gavin/GB Joest-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:04.292 19 Klaus Ludwig/D Zakspeed-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:04.293 20 Michael Bartels/D Alfa Corse JAS-Alfa Romeo 155 V6Ti 2:05.559 21 Masanori Sekiya/J Joest-Opel Calibra V6 4x4 2:05.621 22 Alexander Grau/D Warsteiner AMG-Mercedes C-Class 2:07.238 23 Naoki Hattori/J Alfa Corse JAS-Alfa Romeo 155 V6Ti 2:07.345 24 Ellen Lohr/D Team Persson AMG-Mercedes C-Class 2:08.052

Weather: cloudy, dry, 28 deg.C Spectators: 55,000

Guest drivers at Suzuka were Aguri Suzuki (Mercedes), Naoki Hattori (Alfa) and Masanori Sekiya (Opel).

2 x 18 laps a 5.864 km

Race notes:

DNS: Tarquini stalls at the beginning of the information lap with a broken clutch. Start: Danner, Schneider, Modena, Fisichella, Nannini, Larini lap 1: Lehto into pits with gearbox problems. Almost a collision between Schneider and Modena as they were both attacking Danner. Nannini passes Larini. 2: Nannini through gravel and grass, goes back on the track, but Larini and Franchitti get past. 3: Collision Gavin/Stuck, both continue. Danner, Schneider, Modena, Fisichella, Larini, Franchitti 4: Lehto into the pits again. Another collision between Stuck and Gavin leads Stuck to an excursion through the gravel. 5: Franchitti overtakes Larini spectacularly. 6: Danner, Schneider, Fisichella, Modena, Franchitti, Larini, Nannini, Maylander, Magnussen, Alzen, Reuter, Dalmas. 8: Stop and go penalty for Gavin for punching Stuck into the gravel. 9: Franchitti takes fourth position from Modena. Modena takes it back immediately. 10: Ludwig slides into the gravel. 11: Ludwig pits, out. Schneider attacking Danner again and again, but can't find a gap. Franchitti gets past Modena again. 12: Franchitti overtakes Fisichella after knocking two times on his rear. Schneider gives a sign for Franchitti to overtake. 13: Danner, Franchitti, Schneider, Fisichella, Modena, Larini, Nannini, Magnussen, Maylander, Alzen, Reuter, Suzuki. 14: Nannini obviously with tyre problems, drops back to ninth position. 16: Alzen gets past Nannini. 17: Franchitti now beside Danner, the cars hit one another, Franchitti squeezing through and gets past.

FL: Christian Danner 2:05.278

------------RESULTS RACE 25----------- Pos. Driver Time/Gap -------------------------------------- 1 Dario Franchitti/GB 38:23.290 2 Christian Danner/D + 2.338 3 Bernd Schneider/D 2.762 4 Giancarlo Fisichella/I 2.931 5 Stefano Modena/I 3.421 6 Nicola Larini/I 5.435 7 Jan Magnussen/DK 5.886 8 Bernd Maylander/D 7.791 9 Uwe Alzen/D 9.425 10 Alessandro Nannini/I 14.777 11 Aguri Suzuki/J 15.025 12 Yannick Dalmas/F 17.687 13 Manuel Reuter/D 19.983 14 Joerg van Ommen/D 28.408 15 Michael Bartels/D 36.562 16 Oliver Gavin/GB 46.840 17 Alexander Grau/D 48.976 18 Hans-Joachim Stuck/D 55.866 19 Naoki Hattori/J 57.536 20 Masanori Sekiya/J 59.677

Race notes second heat:

DNS: Suzuki (gearbox), Sekiya (engine blow) Start: Schneider with a fantastic start takes the lead from Franchitti, Modena, Fisichella, Danner only fifth, Magnussen, Larini, Maylander, Nannini, Alzen, Dalmas, v.Ommen. lap 2: Collision Maylander/Alzen, Maylander out with a destroyed radiator. 3: Schneider 2.6 sec.-->Franchitti, Modena, Fisichella, Danner, Magnussen, Nannini, Larini, Alzen, Dalmas, Reuter, v.Ommen. 5: Modena very sideways, gets almost off the track. Franchitti too late on his brakes, goes straight through the gravel and ends his race by crashing into a tyre wall. 6: Fisichella gets past Modena. Danner trying to pass Modena as well, but Modena shuts the door, a slight collision follows, but both keep control, and Danner gets past. 7: Schneider 6sec-->Fisichella, Magnussen, Nannini, Larini, Danner, Modena, Alzen, Dalmas, Reuter, v.Ommen, Gavin, Ludwig. Lohr out with mechanical problems. Tarquini pits, out. 9: Lehto from 14th position gets successively past Ludwig, Gavin, v.Ommen and Reuter. Modena takes sixth from Danner again. 10: The margin between Schneider and Fisichella with the rest of the persuers is now over 10 seconds. 11: Stuck overtakes Ludwig, slides over the grass and drops back again. 12: Modena takes back sixth from Danner, Larini fourth from Nannini. 13: Schneider, Fisichella, Magnussen, Larini, Nannini, Modena, Danner, Alzen, Lehto, Reuter, Dalmas, Ludwig, Stuck, Gavin, v.Ommen. 14: Lehto through the gravel, but continues. 15: Stuck drops back and stalls with a smoking engine. 16: Modena brakes out Nannini and is now attacking Larini. 17: Alzen over the grass, drops back behind Gavin. 18: Modena takes fourth place from Larini right in front of the finish line.

FL: Bernd Schneider 2:03.886

------------RESULTS RACE 26----------- Pos. Driver Time/Gap -------------------------------------- 1 Bernd Schneider/D 37:43.477 2 Giancarlo Fisichella/I +19.050 3 Jan Magnussen/DK 19.597 4 Stefano Modena/I 28.157 5 Alessandro Nannini/I 28.227 6 Nicola Larini/I 28.229 7 Christian Danner/D 36.023 8 JJ Lehto/FIN 37.878 9 Yannick Dalmas/F 45.119 10 Klaus Ludwig/D 45.497 11 Oliver Gavin/GB 47.016 12 Uwe Alzen/D 56.026 13 Joerg van Ommen/D 58.084 14 Manuel Reuter/D 1:05.602 15 Alexander Grau/D 1:07.310 16 Naoki Hattori/J 1:15.812 17 Michael Bartels/D -1 lap 18 Hans-Joachim Stuck/D -2 laps

Final standings:

Pos Driver Pts ----------------------------------- *1****Manuel Reuter/D***********218**CHAMPION**1996* 2 Bernd Schneider/D 205 3 Alessandro Nannini/I 180 4 Dario Franchitti/GB 171 5 JJ Lehto/FIN 148 6 Giancarlo Fisichella/I 139 7 Klaus Ludwig/D 130 8 Uwe Alzen/D 119 9 Hans-Joachim Stuck/D 112 10 Jan Magnussen/DK 97 11 Nicola Larini/I 95 12 Stefano Modena/I 92 13 Joerg van Ommen/D 87 14 Gabriele Tarquini/I 60 15 Christian Danner/D 48 16 Alexander Wurz/A 43 17 Yannick Dalmas/F 33 18 Kurt Thiim/DK 22 19 Jason Watt/DK 17 Max Wilson/BR 17 Bernd Maylander/D 17 22 Michael Bartels/D 16 Alexander Grau/D 16 Oliver Gavin/GB 16 25 Ellen Lohr/D 7 26 Christian Fittipaldi/BR 1

Manufacturers 1 Opel 349 2 Alfa Romeo 340 3 Mercedes Benz 305