A1-Ring main race: Bernd takes title

After storming to victory in the qualifying race, Schneider made a perfect start from pole in the main event and thus avoided the carnage that occurred in the pack behind him. Fellow front row man Peter Dumbreck wasn't so lucky, however, being spun around by Uwe Alzen, who had already been hit by a combination of Laurent Aiello, Alain Menu and Martin Tomczyk.

The multiple pile-up which ensued took out Tomczyk, Dumbreck, Christijan Albers, Michael Bartels and David Saelens. It left just 11 cars in the race, which became 10 when Mattias Ekstrom's rebuilt Audi ground to a halt.

After five laps under the safety car, Schneider leapt into the lead at the restart and pulled well clear of the chasing Aiello (Audi), Marcel Fassler (Mercedes), Joachim Winkelhock (Opel) and Manuel Reuter (Opel).

Winkelhock then took a trip through the gravel at Rindt Kurve, and dropped to the back of the pack, just as Patrick Huisman made a brave move on Alzen for fifth.

As the pit stop sequence unwound, Reuter found himself at the head of the field for a few laps of glory for Opel. When he finally pitted, Schneider swept through to take both the race win and the championship.

"I'm overwhelmed about how well this weekend went," said Schneider. "The car was perfect, it was great fun to drive it. I wanted to see how fast I could go. The team were telling me to slow down and relax, but I just wanted to keep pushing."

Aiello took second with Alzen, who scraped past Huisman with a fine move in the high-speed Berger Kurve, taking third. Reuter took a well deserved fourth, ahead of Huisman and Fassler, the latter surviving a late race spin.

Hubert Haupt, Yves Olivier, Winkelhock (all Opels) and Darren Turner (Mercedes) were the only others to survive.



Bernd Schneider, 2001 D2 Mercedes CLK, 24 laps
Laurent Aiello, 2001 Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R, +8.3s
Uwe Alzen, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, +20.3s
Manuel Reuter, 2001 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, +23.2s
Patrick Huisman, 2001 Eschmann-Manthey Mercedes CLK, +26.8s
Marcel Fassler, 2001 Warsteiner Mercedes CLK, +32.2s
Hubert Haupt, 2000 Euroteam Opel Astra Coupe, +38.1s
Yves Olivier, 2000 Phoenix Opel Astra Coupe, +40.1s
Joachim Winkelhock, 2001 Holzer Opel Astra Coupe, +48.0s
Darren Turner, 2000 Rosberg Mercedes CLK, +1m10.3s