Alex again demonstrated how he has taken the Superfund Euro F3000 series by storm, as he got to terms immediately with the circuit, never out of the top 2 in every session, always that buzz of excitement when he took to the track. The circuit was dusty and slippery to start with, and Alex had to soften the car more and more each session to maximise the grip, improving the car each time. It was dry but cold. When it was time for qualifying, the weather was warmer, but there had been a truck race immediately beforehand, which Alex and his JVA team reasoned would make the circuit even more slippery. However, this proved not to be the case. The circuit proved to have far more grip than before – the trucks laying down quantities of rubber - and Alex, with his too-soft setup, could only qualify 3rd. A good effort, but after his total domination at the last two rounds, he couldn’t help a feeling of disappointment:
“I think we probably shot ourselves in the foot” Alex explained, “as we set the car up for the slippery track conditions which have since improved today. We didn’t get as much time out of the new tyres in Qualifying as we hoped but there’s still a lot of room for changes overnight. There’s everything still to play for and I can still do well from the second row.”
It rained overnight, and Sunday morning was damp. Alex and the team had altered the car, after using the data from the qualifying experience, and, in full race trim, he was once more on top of the timesheets throughout the official pre-race warm-up session, and was very confident in his race setup. He has been quickest in the morning warm-up on every circuit he has visited in F3000 so far. Dry and warm for the race itself, Alex lined up 3rd and made a superb start, straight into 2nd place by the first corner. Unfortunately, Nicky Pastorelli, who had also started well from 5th on the grid, tried to follow Alex into 3rd, misjudged his braking, and ploughed into the back of Alex, cracking his own carbon-fibre front wing and ripping a gash in Alex’s rear tyre, which pitched the unfortunate Isle of Man driver straight into the gravel, ending his race there and then.
“Siedler (who won the race from pole) was always going to be tough to beat here” revealed Alex afterwards “as he raced here well last year, and had the car dialed in straight away, but he is generally slow off the line, and I have always been a quick starter, so I knew I could challenge immediately. More importantly, I felt our race setup would definitely have given me the edge today. We made a huge improvement after misjudging the track for qualifying, and that suits my aggressive driving style. I would have made it exciting!” “I don’t exactly blame Pastorelli for getting it wrong” he said of the accident. “He got over-excited at the start and outbraked himself – you see lots of drivers do that - it’s just a racing incident. It’s just a shame I was on the end of it.”
Alex made headlines in several ways. The European media were relentless for his attentions throughout the weekend. “It has been non-stop live TV and press interviews and presentations” he said. “The busiest weekend I can ever remember. Now I see how hard these F1 guys have to work at a race weekend!” The prize in a recent “F1 Racing” competition was to be Alex’s guest at the meeting, and he was filmed showing the lucky winners around the car and garage and team facilities. He and his girlfriend, Sam – fast becoming the Posh and Becks of the paddock – were filmed by different TV stations throughout the weekend at the circuit, and in several “lifestyle” situations in the nearby town of Hasselt.
Despite having just joined the series, Alex was presented with the Man of the Race trophy for last week’s crushing performance at Dijon, which, added to his previous Man of the Race Award for his equally dominant Donington performance, made him the only driver to have won the award twice. Whilst very gratifying, Alex explained with a wry smile that he would rather have had the two straight race wins that he had been aiming for!
The final 2 races of the series will be held over the weekend of 30/31st October at Cagliari in Sardinia, which is a hugely popular street race, and promises to be an even more spectacular event, as Superfund will launch their new-for-2005 car there, which Alex has been asked to test.
