Alesi wins Dubai Speedcar opener

Alesi grabbed the lead after a ragged rolling start, over which poleman Christopher Zoechling complained that Alesi had jumped ahead of him and gained an unfair advantage. The race winner disagreed, blaming Zoechling for braking when he was on the throttle.

"I was on the power, he braked, so I braked, but I was straight back on the throttle," said Alesi. "It meant I had a bit more speed than him on the run to the first corner."

Alesi still had to brake late to dive around the outside of Zoechling at Turn 1, and they were followed by Vitantonio Liuzzi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Johnny Herbert and Gianni Morbidelli.

Frentzen passed Liuzzi for third at Turn 12, but had to drive hard to fend him off into the following 'bowl bend'. Liuzzi regained the position a lap later at Turn 10, only to run wide and let Frentzen and an opportunistic Herbert past. Liuzzi eventually retired with a puncture.

At the front, Alesi pulled out a three-second lead before Zoechling put in a mid-race spurt. By lap 17 Zoechling was just 0.6 seconds behind, and pushing Alesi hard.

Despite the 30-degree air temperature, which was more like 55-degrees inside the cars, the pace at the front was relentless. Alesi held off Zoechling to the finish, with a winning margin of 0.703 seconds.

"My car developed a little oversteer as the race progressed, but the Michelin tyres were very consistent," said Alesi. "It was very hot in the cockpit though. When I tried to get more cooling, there was nothing more to come."

Zoechling was happy with second, and said: "I ran out of time to catch Jean, unfortunately. I'm pleased with the result, but I've never been in such a hot racing car."

Frentzen finished a distant third, but suffered a gearbox problem in the closing stages. He lost second gear, but managed to coax his car home just ahead of series returnee David Terrien.

"I didn't have as good a pace as I thought I would," said Frentzen. "Although I had the gearbox problem, I could not attack as much as I had planned."

Terrien took fourth place at the expense of Herbert, who he passed with a smart manoeuvre at Turn 12 - just in front of the office building in which Terrien works (he runs the kart track at Dubai). Herbert finished fifth, ahead of Hasher Al Maktoum.

Morbidelli could only manage seventh after he was hit into a spin on the opening lap. Damien Pasini finished eighth, and will start Saturday's second race from reverse grid pole position.

Qatar star Marco Melandri didn't shine quite so brightly at Dubai. He ran eighth early on, but spun down to 13th position at Turn 14. He recovered to finish 10th.

Pos  Driver                 Team                Time
 1.  Jean Alesi             HPR                 41:15.994
 2.  Christopher Zoechling  Continental Circus   +  0.703
 3.  Heinz-Harald Frentzen  Team Lavaggi         + 11.222
 4.  David Terrien          Durango              + 11.778
 5.  Johnny Herbert         JMB                  + 16.478
 6.  Hasher Al Maktoum      UP Team              + 17.829
 7.  Gianni Morbidelli      Palm Beach           + 34.677
 8.  Damien Pasini          JMB                  + 38.057
 9.  Thomas Biagi           Palm Beach           + 39.882
10.  Marco Melandri         Team Lavaggi         + 50.412
11.  Marchy Lee             HPR                  + 53.845
12.  Vitantonio Liuzzi      UP Team              +  1 lap
13.  Hamad Al Fardan        Durango              + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Driver                 Team                Laps
     Eric Charles           Continental Circus  19