Jousse scores for Roma in race two
Julien Jousse scored his first-ever series victory in the reversed-grid race two of Superleague Formula at Zolder in Belgium on Sunday for Roma, but the big news was that the other Italian club, AC Milan, has taken over at the top of the standings
Erstwhile leader, Tottenham's Craig Dolby, didn't even make it to the startline after a clash with Marcos Martinez (Sevilla) at the rolling start smashed the front of his car.
Martinez carried on, despite his damaged car, and hit Robert Doornbos (Corinthians) at the first corner, flipping him over into the gravel. Doornbos walked away unhurt.
Poleman Duncan Tappy led from the start for Flamengo, ahead of Jousse, but the positions would switch in the pitstops. Jousse exited the pits just ahead of Tappy, and although the Briton took a big look down the inside of the Kanaalbocht, Jousse slammed the door in his face.
From then on, Jousse extended a 10-second lead, but was lucky to escape a massive slide at Turn 1, which almost sent him into the gravel.
"I took the lead after the pitstop, and I pushed very hard, maybe too much," he admitted. "I made one big mistake, and got right out into the loose stuff."
Tappy finished second on his return to the series, Zolder being only his second time in the car this year. "If you'd have offered me a second place before this weekend I'd have taken it," he said.
Alvaro Parente should have finished third for Porto, but his gearbox system failed with just a few laps remaining, handing the spot to Galatasaray's Tristan Gommendy. He held off Max Wissel (Basel) and a charging Yelmer Buurman, whose fifth place for AC Milan was enough for him to overtake Dolby at the head of the championship.
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Julien Jousse AS Roma 45m16.364s 2. Duncan Tappy Flamengo + 10.461s 3. Tristan Gommendy Galatasaray + 12.809s 4. Max Wissel FC Basel + 13.377s 5. Yelmer Buurman AC Milan + 13.614s 6. Andy Soucek Sporting Clube de Portugal + 15.969s 7. John Martin Beijing Guoan + 22.939s 8. Chris van der Drift Olympiacos + 28.681s 9. Davide Rigon RSC Anderlecht + 32.221s 10. Jaap van Lagen Girondins de Bordeaux + 34.691s 11. Maria de Villota Atletico de Madrid + 1 lap Retirements: Alvaro Parente FC Porto 28 laps James Walker Liverpool FC 20 laps Narain Karthikeyan PSV Eindhoven 3 laps Marcos Martinez Sevilla FC 1 lap Robert Doornbos Corinthians 0 laps Craig Dolby Tottenham Hotspur 0 laps
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments