Porto's Parente wins, title still open
FC Porto's Alvaro Parente won the second Superleague Formula race at Navarra in Spain, but the battle for the €1million championship prize will go to the five-lap super final, as Craig Dolby finished fourth for Tottenham Hotspur and series leader Davide Rigon (Anderlecht) was only 11th after a spin
Dolby's late-race pass on Maxi Cortes (Roma) gave him enough points to keep his title dream alive. He goes into the six-car super final four points behind Anderlecht, with six points on offer for the win. So he has to win to have any chance of winning the title, but Rigon's hopes will be helped by the presence of team-mate Franck Perera (Bordeaux), who could move aside for him.
"That was awesome, I loved that race," said Dolby on his slowing-down lap. "There were some great moves, the move on Max [Wissel] was the move of the year. Let's see what I can do in the super final."
From 16th on the grid, Dolby fought his way to the podium in an amazing charge. The race was neutralised for five laps after Adrian Valles spun at the final corner, and the crane that was sent to retrieve him fell down a hole and needed another crane to lift it out! Basel driver Wissel's title bid effectively ended when he became stuck behind Valles's spun car.
Soon after the Valles spin, Rigon was clipped by Dolby's team-mate John Martin (Beijing Guoan) at Turn 1, dropping him to 11th.
Parente won the race by 1.8 seconds from Esteban Guerrieri (PSV) and Marcos Martinez (Sevilla). Behind Dolby and Cortes, Martin finished sixth from last on the grid.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Alvaro Parente FC Porto 40m46.976s 2. Esteban Guerrieri PSV Eindhoven + 1.893s 3. Marcos Martinez Sevilla FC + 6.681s 4. Craig Dolby Tottenham Hotspur + 7.042s 5. Maxi Cortes AS Roma + 8.209s 6. John Martin Beijing Guoan + 9.171s 7. Chris van der Drift Galatasaray + 11.663s 8. Ben Hanley Olympiacos + 11.963s 9. Franck Perera Girondins de Bordeaux + 12.395s 10. Maria de Villota Atletico de Madrid + 13.459s 11. Davide Rigon RSC Anderlecht + 14.351s 12. Yelmer Buurman AC Milan + 14.848s 13. Tristan Gommendy Olympique Lyonnais + 15.906s 14. Max Wissel FC Basel + 19.646s Retirements: Robert Doornbos Corinthians 6 laps Adrian Valles Sporting Clube de Portugal 5 laps Frederic Vervisch Liverpool FC 5 laps Andy Soucek Flamengo 0 laps
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