Herbert wins Speedcar race one

Herbert swept into a firm lead at Turn 1 and quickly opened up a lead over second-placed Jean Alesi, who beat front row starter Heinz-Harald Frentzen down to the first corner.

Alesi's race didn't last long as his engine blew up on the main straight at the end of the fourth lap, just as Vitantonio Liuzzi made a move on Frentzen for what was now second. The pair touched and Liuzzi sailed straight on, although he was soon back on Frentzen's tail.

Herbert enjoyed a trouble-free race and was 10 seconds clear by the end.

"I got a nice start and luckily I had some breathing space because you never know what can happen," Herbert said. "Then it was just settling down into a nice pace. I pushed a bit more at the beginning because I had new tyres, and I used those."

Liuzzi followed Frentzen home in third and Christopher Zoechling beat Morbidelli to fourth place, allowing Herbert to close the gap in the standings to a single point.

"Getting to him is the problem," said Herbert. "That was always going to be the key. It's a bit like last year, I had to win today. It's where I expected to be,and now it's down to who races best.

"Hopefully I've got the pace to get him. I did it last time we came here and hopefully I can do it again. But it isn't going to be easy."

Pos Driver                  Team                         Gap
 1. Johnny Herbert          JMB                   40m59.350s
 2. Heinz-Harald Frentzen   Continental Circus       10.339s
 3. Vitantonio Liuzzi       UP Team                  12.545s
 4. Christopher Zoechling   Continental Circus       20.396s
 5. Gianni Morbidelli       Palm Racing              23.398s
 6. Hasher Al-Maktoum       UP Team                  25.168s
 7. Damien Pasini           JMB                      26.539s
 8. Tomas Biagi             Palm Racing              34.563s
 9. Nicolas Navarro         Durango                  39.483s
10. Ramez Azzam             Scuderia Giudici         46.854s
11. Massimo Cioci           Durango                  61.776s
12. Marchy Lee              HPR                       +1 lap

Retirements

    David Terrien           West Tec                 12 laps
    Gianni Giudici          Scuderia Giudici         11 laps
    Chris Buncombe          West Tec                  9 laps
    Jean Alesi              HPR                       4 laps


Fastest Lap, Liuzzi 2m07.791s on lap 2