Qualification race: Alesi wins!

The race got off to a bang as Joachim Winkelhock stalled his Opel on the grid and was struck at high speed by Uwe Alzen's Mercedes, causing a safety car period for four laps. Both drivers were uninjured but their cars were destroyed.

Poleman Manuel Reuter made a poor start, allowing Alesi to rocket past him. Reuter lost a further place on the opening lap to Tomczyk, who then attacked Alesi at the restart.

The young German threw everything he could at Alesi at Redgate and drew alongside on the Craner Curves. Jean needed all his experience to repell the Audi after a sensational few seconds where the cars streamed through the Craners side-by-side.

Despite his best efforts, Tomczyk had to follow Alesi to the chequered flag. Reuter took third, but fell back into the clutches of a raging battle between young guns Timo Scheider (Opel) and Marcel Fassler (Mercedes). The latter won through after a daring lunge at the final corner. Alain Menu, who made a terrible start from third on the grid, finished a close sixth.

Series leader Laurent Aiello ended his race in the pits after a collision with another Abt-Audi, that of Mattias Ekstrom, which dislodged his bonnet. Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) finished eighth from 16th on the grid, right behind Karl Wendlinger (Audi).