Goddard keeps on winning
Third win already for the Minardi driver, who slowly starts to pull away in the championship. Lesley Buurlage took a strong second place after the misfortune last round, Manolis Sigoulakis took 3rd and his first podium driving for Williams.
At the start Brugman snatched the lead coming from 3rd, putting Goddard and Martins behind him. Lots of spin then in the first few laps, shaking up the order a lot. Amongst the spinners were Diehl, Rinneaho, Engberink, Said, Kederer, Reed, Harvey and Laad, the Brit being the only one who couldn't keep his car out of the wall and retired. Brugman was leading, Goddard close behind. Martins and Hunsley already had a slight gap. Utzer was up to 5th, Buurlage 6th, Sigoulaksi 7th. Laskey was in 8th, but retired with a water leak. Keranen crashed out the very same lap.
The first round of pitstops came, and Goddard took the lead as Brugman retired with a gearbox failure shortly after his stop. A few laps later and Jordan's day was over, as Engberink suffered an engine failure and retired as well. Goddard was under pressure from Martins, who had closed the gap during the stops. Not for long though, as Martins was forced to retire with a water leak, giving Goddard a comfortable 10s lead over Hunsley and Buurlage. Sigoulakis was in 4th, as Buurlage he too could get past Utzer during the stops. Heymans, Harvey and Noack followed in the remaining points places. Harvey then had to make an unscheduled stop, reporting engine problems, and had to retire the car a few laps later. Heymans and Noack were fighting for 6th, when the Toyota driver made a mistake and had to pit for a new wing. Further up front Hunsley was under immense pressure from Buurlage. He couldn't hold on to 2nd, and lost 3rd on lap later when he spun off while defending against Sigoulakis.
Final stops came, but they didn't change the order at the front. Goddard led with 25s over Buurlage, who had Sigoulakis right behind him. Utzer followed in 4th, already 40s down the road. Kederer was up to 5th, having kept it clean after the mistake early in the race. Noack was in 6th, but had to pit a 3rd time due to electrical problems. This got Black up to 6th, Heymans to 7th, and Diehl to 8th. With 10 laps to go Kederer snatched 4th from Utzer. With 5 laps to go Goddard made it exciting again, seemingly lacking concentration he made a mistake, reducing his lead over Buurlage from 30s to only 5s. The car didn't take any damage though, and he kept first until the end.
FIA Press Conference
@Mane Goddard: What happened there close to the end, the mistake almost cost you a safe win?
@Lesley Buurlage: Your pace seems to get better with every race, will we soon see you on the top step again?
@Manolis Sigoulakis: Your best result since joining Williams, what more will be possible this season?
Market is open!