Sevilla’s Martinez claims first win

September 5th, 2010

Sevilla’s Marcos Martinez atoned for the mistakes that cost him a podium at Brands Hatch by scoring his maiden victory in the second Superleague race at Adria.

After a difficult first race – where he struggled with a misfiring engine – Martinez went wheel-to-wheel with polesitter Celso Miguez at the rolling start, taking the lead at the first corner when the Olympique Lyonnais driver ran wide.

Having saved a new set of tyres, Martinez quickly pulled away from his fellow Spanish racer by up to a second a lap, and eased to his first series victory by over five seconds. It was Sevilla’s first race victory since Monza last autumn, and made Martinez the 12th different race winner in Superleague this season.

The championship lead changed hands again, courtesy of Craig Dolby’s second-place finish for Tottenham. Dolby, angry that a collision with AC Milan’s Yelmer Buurman in the first race had cost him valuable points, jumped ahead of PSV Eindhoven stand-in Hywel Lloyd at the rolling start to run third early on. He was promoted further on lap eight when a gearbox problem slowed Miguez dramatically on the start-finish straight.

After pressuring Dolby early on, Duncan Tappy (Flamengo) struggled in the closing stages on worn tyres, and only just held a string of five cars at bay to take third position, his fifth podium in only four Superleague events this year.

He was shadowed to the line by Buurman and Frederic Vervisch (Liverpool), who made a sublime late-braking manoeuvre around the outside of Robert Doornbos (Corinthians) into Turn 1 for fifth place. Moments later, the hard-charging Belgian pulled another bold move on ATECH-Reid team-mate Buurman to grab fourth place at the Turn 3 hairpin.

One lap later, however, a bizarre loss of drive for the Liverpool car allowed Buurman back through again. Many in the paddock questioned if team orders had been administered between the two cars.

Max Wissel (FC Basel) enjoyed a quiet run to seventh – guaranteeing himself a place in the five lap ‘dash for cash’ Super Final in the process – ahead of race one winner Davide Rigon (Anderlecht).

John Martin (Beijing Guoan) finished a disappointed ninth. After a fighting first lap, the Australian again locked his brakes into Turn 2 – repeating a similar error that arguably cost him victory in race one – whilst attempting to overtake eventual 10th-placed finisher, Ben Hanley (Olympiacos). He lost further time later on when he overshot the pitlane exit, and was forced to complete one lap more than scheduled as a consequence.

There was further disappointment in the AS Roma and FC Porto garages. Julien Jousse, after a clumsy collision with Tristan Gommendy (Galatasaray) early on, served a drive-through penalty, whilst Alvaro Parente was similarly penalised when his crew failed to change all four tyres during his mandatory pitstop.

Pos  Driver             Team                  Time/Gap

 1.  Marcos Martinez    Sevilla FC          45m53.970s

 2.  Craig Dolby        Tottenham Hotspur     + 5.651s

 3.  Duncan Tappy       Flamengo              + 9.576s

 4.  Yelmer Buurman     AC Milan             + 10.046s

 5.  Frederic Vervisch  Liverpool FC         + 10.567s

 6.  Robert Doornbos    Corinthians          + 11.021s

 7.  Max Wissel         FC Basel             + 11.975s

 8.  Davide Rigon       RSC Anderlecht       + 12.529s

 9.  John Martin        Beijing Guoan        + 13.223s

10.  Ben Hanley         Olympiacos           + 20.156s

11.  Alvaro Parente     FC Porto             + 26.606s

12.  Hywel Lloyd        PSV Eindhoven        + 35.556s

13.  Tristan Gommendy   Galatasaray          + 38.273s

14.  Julien Jousse      AS Roma              + 40.639s

Retirements:
     Celso Miguez       Olympique Lyonnais  12 laps