Hockenheim,  Sunday 16th May 2004

Car no. 18 Bert Longin/ Ian Khan/Thomas Bleiner – JMB Racing Ferrari 575 Maranello

Grid: 15th/Race: 12th

Bert Longin made a good start. On lap 34 Bert ran out of fuel and came in five laps before planned. At the same time JMB team-mate Wendlinger had the same problem and both cars pitted at the same time. Given the premature stop, Bleiner’s team-mate Ian Khan was not ready to do the driver change and 9 places were lost with the delay. On joining, Kahn joins the race in 18th position moving up to 17th during his stint before handing over to Bleiner. To make up the time loss the team opted to double-stint the tyres so Bleiner took over with tyres that Khan had already run for 32 laps making the car hard to drive due to under-steer.

“For me it was a very difficult race with a car that was vicious and unstable. I had to fight a lot to keep the car on the track. It was really very hard. Not changing the tyres was a mistake. We nevertheless tried to compensate for the loss of time in the first change of drivers. Racing is like this, when things turn to negative it is a succession of consequences. In fact it was the right rear tyre that blew at lap 83 just after turn 4. I restarted and the car was even harder to drive. Things went like this. We finished in 12th position but with a little regret and optimism as at one point we were driving in front of Livio/Calderari/Bryner who finished on the podium.

My head is already thinking of Brno. I want nevertheless to thank all the spectator’s that where in the grandstands as I really felt the presence of passionate people of our sport this weekend.”