Crucial win for Rinneaho
The Finn beat Ben Utzer for the win at the German GP, which was important to keep his title hopes alive. Albeit still 23 points behind the German, there's still enough races left to make up the gap. Ben Utzer had to settle for 2nd at his home GP, despite having lead the race for most parts. During the final stops however the Minardi crew was a tad quicker, allowing Rinneaho to pass him. Engberink finished 3rd, having started 9th only. A great opening lap got him up to 5th, which was 4th one lap later. He could go the pace of the leaders, however never got in a position for an overtake.
Ancevski finished 4th, a position held by Graham until lap 65, when the Brit made a mistake, allowing Ancevski to pass him. Harvey took 6th, having started 16th he too had a stellar opening lap, moving up to 10th. First points of the season for Aaron Reed, profiting a bit from the late retirements of Laskey and Diehl. Sigoulakis dragged his Ferrari from 21st on the grid to 8th, to take the final point.
Further places went to Kederer, Lintner, Heymans, Cornes, Black, Keranen, Noack and Mishra, the latter two being one lap down.
The race saw 6 retirements. Buurlage suffered a gearbox failure early on. Goddard's engine blew up in lap 12 while driving in 2nd right behind Utzer. Laad too had an engine failure around the halfway point, while driving in 4th place. Martins retired from 10th with an oil leak in lap 42. In lap 58 both Diehl and Laskey retired, driving in 7th and 8th respectively.
FIA Press Conference
@TTupsi: You could easily pull away from Utzer after passing him in the pits, however you didn't seem to be able to attack him on track before. Why was that?
@Timmieturner12: Is the main focus on the constructors' title, now that the drivers' most likely out of reach?
@Azabadaza: Didn't look like you'd get anywhere near points after quali, all the more happy that it finally worked out?
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