Jarama: Race report

Ricardo Zonta takes the lead after two great victories.
Montagny and Wilson completed the first podium of the race, while Leinders and Kartikheyan achieve their first podium in this Series.

Madrid, 9th June 2002 -- Ricardo Zonta (Gabord Competicion) took an impressive double win in the Telefónica World Series by Nissan: he crossed the line first in both races hold in the Jarama circuit and became the new leader of the championship. Besides, he has built an important gap of 26 points between him and Frank Montagny (Racing Engeenering), who finished second in the first race but didn't get a point in the second because of the compulsary pit stop took his team almost a second. 40,000 spectators admired the spectacle of the Dallara Nissan V6 in the second round of the World Series. The F-1 drivers Marc Gené and Fernando Alonso didn't lose the races.

Race 1
Ricardo Zonta won with a certain facility in the first race and this provided him the provisional leadership. He did a good start and capitalised his pole in front of Montagny (he made a lot of essays of starts last week). Justin Wilson was in third position, behind Ángel Burgueño. But the Repsol Meycom driver made a mistake and was relegated to the back positions (he finished 14th). The former Fórmula 1 driver defended his first place until the end. Montagny soon realized that it could be quite difficult to overtake him and was satisfied with second place. So the most thrilling fight was against Justin Wilson and Bas Leinders for the third place; the Belgium driver did his best to pass the former F-3000 FIA champion, but the British got in the podium at the end. Polo Villaamil was the best Spanish driver in the 5th place.

Race 2
Second race was full of incidents: Víctor Ordóñez didn't start and five drivers didn't finished because of they ran off the track. Actually, the accident of Polo Villaamil obliged the safety car to appear and avoided that Zonta escape from the rest. Montagny profited the safety car to join the Brazilian so the compulsory pit stop would be decisive. And it was. Both entered the pit lane at the same time: the Brazilian team lasted just 8 seconds to change the front wheels and, on the other hand, the Montagny's mechanics lasted almost a minute. It was a big mistake that made not only that the French said good bye to the race (and also the leadership) but also he finished almost the last driver. Zonta crossed the line in the first position above of Bas Leinders and Narain Karthikeyan, who took profit of their regularity.

Matteo Bobbi and Santiago Porteiro, two stars in the Fórmula Nissan 2000

Santiago Porteiro was the main focus of attention in the Jarama circuit. He was sanctioned on Saturday to the back of the grid because a technical problem with his vehicle. But he didn't mind: his performance reminded which Zonta did a month ago in Valencia, when he reached the podium starting from the last row. And so did Porteiro, but he was disqualified again in the first race (he overtook with yellow flag) and was second in the second.

Matteo Bobbi won both races (three of four races) ahead of Borja García and Jose Manuel Pérez-Aicart in the first race and Porteiro and Jose Antonio del Pino in the second.

-rpm-