Belloc and Dupuy win in Hungary

Returning after their brief American Le Mans Series holiday, Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta were expected to reassert their authority in the lead ORECA Chrysler Viper, but a fuel pick-up problem in their pit stop allowed Belloc to take his second consecutive win in the other ORECA entry, partnered by Dominique Dupuy.

Karl Wendlinger rejoined over a minute behind after his pit problem, and charged back through the field despite the searing heat. It was to no avail, Belloc and Dupuy winning by 11s.

'I drove on the limit, but it was too much in the hot conditions and I couldn't catch Belloc,' admitted Wendlinger, 'the tyres just weren't good enough by the end.'

Belloc agreed that the incredible in-car temperatures were the most difficult aspect of the race. The Frenchman won despite spinning his Viper and narrowly missing both a wall and a gravel trap. He actually lost very little time in the incident.

'I was lucky!' he admitted, 'but it was a very hard race.'

Third place went to the Konrad Motorsport Porsche 911 GT2 driven
by experienced duo Franz Konrad and Bob Wollek.

'We worked hard, had good
tyres, a good crew and good drivers,' Wollek explained

The Chamberlain Motorsport Viper tried a one-stop strategy again, with
Vann in a strong fourth before stopping on the side of the track one lap
short of the end.

'I'm so angry. I don't think it was just a fuel
problem, because Gläsel had 20 litres left at the end of his stint,' the
devastated driver said. 'To spend one and a half hours in the car and this
happens - it's awful." They were classified eighth.

Chamberlain's
second Viper, shared by Toni Seiler and Ni Amorim, made a last lap attack on the
Freisinger Motorsport Porsche, moving up to fourth and getting their first
points of the season. Freisinger spun, finishing sixth, behind the 1998
winner Sascha Maasen in the Roock Sportsystem Porsche.

Fastest lap of the race went to 1998 Le Mans winner Stéphane Ortelli.
Qualifying fourth, his Roock Racing Porsche stopped after eight laps, due
to a fuel sensor being disconnected. Rejoining the race after losing over
five laps in the pits, the car went well and Ortelli and Hürtgen finished
sixteenth. With two old and two new tyres, Ortelli set a time of 1:39.634
on lap 88. 'It shows what the Porsche can do. I am actually very happy
with my performance today,' he said.

The next round of the championship is at Zolder, in Belgium, on July 18th.


Results from the Hungaroring: