Donington: Alesi hits double top
Former Formula 1 hero Jean Alesi added to his qualification race success by winning the main event at Donington Park today (Sunday) too
Alesi had to work just as hard for his main event win as he did earlier in the day. This time, his main rival was AMG Mercedes team-mate Bernd Schneider but the German was slapped with a stop/go penalty for speeding in the pit lane during his mandatory stop.
Alesi and Schneider were nose to tail when Bernd was forced to peel off into the pits, where he was again found to be speeding and had to observe another penalty, which dropped him to 12th.
"I pushed very hard to stay in front of Bernd, because I knew if he passed me that he would beat me," said Alesi. "As for the result of the race, I was first, he was...12th!"
Alesi's nearest rival was now Opel's Alain Menu, but the former BTCC champion suffered a puncture with just three laps to go. The resultant pit stop dropped him to eighth.
Abt-Audi duo Christian Abt and Mattias Ekstrom came through the chaos to finish second and third, even though Abt started the qualification race from the back row of the grid and Ekstrom started the main event from the pit lane.
Christijan Albers (Mercedes) finished fourth, but he was lucky to escape censure for a collision with Karl Wendlinger's Abt Audi, which dropped the Austrian to fifth. Marcel Fassler was sixth, having earlier battled for the lead with Alesi over the opening lap. He then tangled with Audi's Martin Tomczyk, which earned him a stop/go.
Britain's Peter Dumbreck (Mercedes) was 10th after two stop/gos during the day. His team-mate Thomas Jager lost a certain third place when he got a puncture in the closing stages. He finished 11th.
Jean Alesi (F) AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK, 25 laps
Christian Abt (F) Abt-Audi TT-R, +12.500s
Mattias Ekström (S) Abt-Audi TT-R, +14.745s
Christijan Albers (NL) Rosberg Mercedes-Benz CLK, +16.626s
Karl Wendlinger (A) Abt-Audi TT-R, +18.992s
Marcel Fässler (CH) AMG Mercedes-Bend CLK, +21.966s
Patrick Huisman (NL) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, +23.512s
Alain Menu (CH) Euroteam Opel Astra V8 Coupé, +31.068s
Bernd Maylander (D) Manthey Mercedes-Benz CLK, +33.165s
Peter Dumbreck (GB) Persson Mercedes-Benz CLK, +33.404s
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