Zolder report

            "ADAC STW-Cup 1997" - 2nd Round at Zolder (B)
            ---------------------------------------------

First BMW Win for Over a Year

With a double win at Zolder Johnny Cecotto (Venezuela) and "Smokin Joe" Winkelhock ended the long drought for victory in the ADAC STW-Cup. The last victory for BMW was in 1995 at AVUS Berlin. Although BMW won three sprints last year the race win always eluded them.

In front of 43,000 fans BMW dominated the whole weekend. Cecotto and Winkelhock filled the first places in practice,qualifying, sprint and race.

Shortly before the start of the race a hefty rainfall caused last minute panic. Drivers who sat there on intermediate rubber were well shod. In contrast title defender Emanuele Pirro who managed well in the sprint, fell steadily behind the top to tenth place in the race on his slicks. Although Winkelhock had a better start Cecotto overtook him later. "I saw Laurent catching up and thought I'd better get a move on." However Aiello was not really a threat to the BMWs as braking problems kept his speed in check. "We never reckond on more than a third place on this circuit, and I didn't want to risk that," commented Laurent.

As in Hockenheim BMW and Peugeot were in a class of their own. Next best car was the fourth placed Audi of Christian Abt, almost 50 seconds behind! This fourth place put the private Abt team ahead of the works Audis.

Results STW-Sprint over 12 laps=50.328 km:

Pos     Driver                  Team/Car                        Time
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      Johnny Cecotto/YV       BMW Team Bigazzi/BMW 320i       20:14.265
 2      Joachim Winkelhock/D    BMW Team Bigazzi/BMW 320i         + 2.222
 3      Laurent Aiello/F        Peugeot Esso/Peugeot 406            4.378
 4      Emanuele Pirro/I        A.Z.K./ROC Auto/Audi A4             6.787
 5      Christian Abt/D         Abt Sportsline/Audi A4             26.483
 6      Philipp Peter/A         A.Z.K./ROC Auto/Audi A4            29.732
 7      Eric Helary/F           Isert BMW-Team/BMW 320i            31.977
 8      Sascha Maassen/D        Nissan Primera Racing/Primera eGT  38.579
 9      Jorg van Ommen/D        Peugeot Esso/Peugeot 406           40.285
10      Yvan Muller/F           ROC Auto/A.Z.K./Audi A4            40.365
11      Christian Menzel/D      Isert BMW-Team/BMW 320i            40.748
12      Manuel Reuter/D         Opel Team SMS/Opel Vectra          40.997
13      Tamara Vidali/I         ROC Auto/A.Z.K./Audi A4            41.517
14      Stefano Modena/I        JAS Engineering/Alfa Romeo 155TS   42.595
15      Uwe Alzen/D             Opel Team Zakspeed/Opel Vectra     43.063
16      Kris Nissen/DK          Abt Sportsline/Audi A4             44.041
17      Michael Bartels/D       Opel Team SMS/Opel Vectra          44.699
18      Alexander Burgstaller/D Opel Team Holzer/Opel Vectra       45.079
19      Ronny Melkus/D          Opel Team Holzer/Opel Vectra       54.585
20      Klaus Niedzwiedz/D      AUGROS-MIG Austria/Audi A4         55.664
21      Roland Asch/D           Nissan Primera Racing/Primera eGT  57.016
22      Franz Engstler/D  Cool Fire Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo 155TS 58.586
23      Christian Danner/D      JAS Engineering/Alfa Romeo 155TS 1:03.427
24      Kurt Thiim/DK           Opel Team Zakspeed/Opel Vectra   1:03.943
25      Marco Bromberger/D    Beru Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155TS 1:18.260
26      Danny Pfeil/D         Beru Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155TS 1:30.277
27      Michael Heigert/D       MHT Sports/BMW 318is             1:30.886
28      Altfrid Heger/D         Team Honda Sport/Honda Accord     -1 lap
29      Frank Schmickler/D Cool Fire Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155T -3 laps
30      Marco Werner/D          Team Honda Sport/Honda Accord     -3 laps

FL: Joachim Winkelhock 1:39.090

Not classified: Marc Gindorf/D PMC sports/BMW 320i

Results STW-Race over 24 laps=100.656 km:

Pos     Driver                  Team/Car                        Time
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1      Johnny Cecotto/YV       BMW Team Bigazzi/BMW 320i        43:02.67
 2      Joachim Winkelhock/D    BMW Team Bigazzi/BMW 320i         + 0.989
 3      Laurent Aiello/F        Peugeot Esso/Peugeot 406            9.217
 4      Christian Abt/D         Abt Sportsline/Audi A4             50.059
 5      Philipp Peter/A         A.Z.K./ROC Auto/Audi A4            52.392
 6      Kris Nissen/DK          Abt Sportsline/Audi A4             59.623
 7      Sascha Maassen/D       Nissan Primera Racing/Primera eGT 1:00.527
 8      Manuel Reuter/D         Opel Team SMS/Opel Vectra        1:17.321
 9      Eric Helary/F           Isert BMW-Team/BMW 320i          1:19.628
10      Emanuele Pirro/I        A.Z.K./ROC Auto/Audi A4          1:36.464
11      Yvan Muller/F           ROC Auto/A.Z.K./Audi A4           -1 lap
12      Altfrid Heger/D         Team Honda Sport/Honda Accord     -1 lap
13      Kurt Thiim/DK           Opel Team Zakspeed/Opel Vectra    -1 lap
14      Alexander Burgstaller/D Opel Team Holzer/Opel Vectra      -1 lap
15      Uwe Alzen/D             Opel Team Zakspeed/Opel Vectra    -1 lap
16      Christian Menzel/D      Isert BMW-Team/BMW 320i           -1 lap
17      Franz Engstler/D  Cool Fire Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155TS -1 lap
18      Roland Asch/D           Nissan Primera Racing/Primera eGT -1 lap
19      Jorg van Ommen/D        Peugeot Esso/Peugeot 406          -1 lap
20      Klaus Niedzwiedz/D      AUGROS-MIG Austria/Audi A4        -2 laps
21      Ronny Melkus/D          Opel Team Holzer/Opel Vectra      -2 laps
22      Danny Pfeil/D         Beru Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155TS  -2 laps
23      Christian Danner/D      JAS Engineering/Alfa Romeo 155TS  -2 laps
24      Marco Bromberger/D    Beru Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155TS  -2 laps
25      Marco Werner/D          Team Honda Sport/Honda Accord     -2 laps
26      Michael Bartels/D       Opel Team SMS/Opel Vectra         -2 laps
27      Stefano Modena/I        JAS Engineering/Alfa Romeo 155TS  -6 laps

FL: Laurent Aiello 1:44.819

Not classified: Frank Schmickler/D Cool Fire Team Engstler/Alfa Romeo155TS Michael Heigert/D MHT Sports/BMW 318is Tamara Vidali/I ROC Auto/A.Z.K./Audi A4 Marc Gindorf/D PMC sports/BMW 320i

Drivers' standings: Pos Driver Pts ----------------------------------- 1 Johnny Cecotto 154 2 Laurent Aiello 150 3 Joachim Winkelhock 137 4 Kris Nissen 81 5 Christian Abt 75 6 Emanuele Pirro 73 7 Jorg van Ommen 70 8 Philipp Peter 66 9 Yvan Muller 60 Christian Menzel 60 11 Manuel Reuter 59 12 Sascha Maassen 48 13 Marco Werner 47 14 Stefano Modena 46 15 Eric Helary 38 16 Roland Asch 36 17 Uwe Alzen 30 18 Michael Bartels 23 Alexander Burgstaller 23 20 Kurt Thiim 20 21 Altfrid Heger 18 22 Marc Gindorf 11 23 Leopold Prinz von Bayern 8 Tamara Vidali 8 Franz Engstler 8 26 Klaus Niedzwiedz 5 27 Ronny Melkus 4 Christian Danner 4

Manufacturers: 1 BMW 291 2 Peugeot 220 3 Audi 139 4 Opel 89 5 Nissan 84 6 Honda 65 7 Alfa Romeo 50