The racing career of Alex Katajamäki (2002-20??)

[BlindCaveSalamander]

Davies expresses concern for Katajamäki after horror road accident

Former-F1 racer and current NASCAR owner-driver James Davies has come out and expressed concern for fellow former-F1 racer Alex Katajamäki after the latter was involved in a horrific accident on the M8, just west of Glasgow. Upon hearing of the news, the Welshman spoke the following,

"It's quite tragic that this has happened to Alex. He's surely one of the greatest talents of this generation, and even though the guy's just a year and change older than me, I find myself looking up to him in some ways. It would be such a shame if we were to lose him at the beginning of his career, in such a way, when he still has so much left in him."

Davies, 19, currently part-owns and races for Team Great Britain in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, which is running a part-time schedule in 2002 in order to prepare for a full-time schedule in 2003. It is rumoured that Davies has offered a part-time seat to Katajamäki for 2003, though he has neither confirmed nor denied the rumours.

[Phoenix]

Kostas, that people doesn't post comments doesn't mean they don't read your stories. So, please, go and pray to HWNSNBM for Katajamäki to recover and get back to business ASAP

[AndreaModa]

Kostas, that people doesn't post comments doesn't mean they don't read your stories. So, please, go and pray to HWNSNBM for Katajamäki to recover and get back to business ASAP

Yup spot on Pheonix, I love this thread Katajamaki's like an ultra modern, international Jim Clark!

Keep it coming

[RejectSteve]

Kostas, that people doesn't post comments doesn't mean they don't read your stories. So, please, go and pray to HWNSNBM for Katajamäki to recover and get back to business ASAP

Yup spot on Pheonix, I love this thread Katajamaki's like an ultra modern, international Jim Clark!

Keep it coming

I'd prefer Karl Wendlinger - snap out of the coma and get back in the seat

What I quite enjoy about this career is that part of the focus is on rallying.

[Stramala]

Katajamäki released from hospital

Alex Katajamäki has been released from Glasgow Royal Infirmary after his horror smash on the M8 motorway - and appears to be in good health only days after the accident that could have killed him.

For sure it was a mighty crash...I've binned an F1 car at 180mph before, but that 70mph crash was probably the scariest accident I've ever had. Those two occasions were the only ones I genuinely believed I'd die.

He is scheduled to race for Ralliart in next week's Rally New Zealand - and will compete a refrsher test in Grizedale Forest to get back up to speed with the Mitsubishi Lancer he drove to victory in last week's Tour de Corse - on his WRC debut.

The crash didn't affect me too much I think - as long as all goes well with the test I'm doing in Cumbria I should be fine for New Zealand. Of course its not the same thing because the gravel roads there are much more twisty and technical, but in New Zealand with the massive cambers and smooth gravel it has much faster and flowing stages. I will just aim for points this time and focus on finishing every stage so I can get experience for the next JWRC round in Finland.

[Enforcer]

Alex Katajamaki is indestructible.

Time and Space are no obstacle for Alex Katajamaki...

[Stramala]

Press Release | 16th March 2002

Mercedes-Benz is proud to announce the signing of another former Formula One driver to the DTM family - Alex Katajamäki.

The Scot will race alongside Official Formula One Safety Car driver Bernd Mayländer at the the Persson Motorsport-run Original-Teile racing team, and will become the second ex-Formula One driver in the Mercedes fold after the signing of French superstar Jean Alesi earlier this year.

Mercedes-Benz is the biggest name in German racing, so it was obvious to sign for them in this series. The CLK has proven to be the best car in the field so far, and Bernd Schneider has helped show that. Obviously I doubt I can fight him for the title, but my aim is to score points consistently at every race. To finish in the Top 5 in the championship at the end of the year would be a great result. As for the other teams? Maybe Laurent Aiello or Karl Wendlinger will be fighting for the championship for Audi, as well as Alain Menu and Jo Winkelhock at Opel. But I think after a few races gaining experience I will be fighting with them at the front of the field!

The ITR also recently announced the new calendar for 2002 - and Katajamäki gave us his opinion on the 10 round calendar.

Obviosuly I've raced at a couple of the tracks in Formula One - like Hockenheim, Nurburgring and the A1 Ring. However I think I will be strong at Donnington Park as well, I have experience there from my days in Formula Ford. The Norisring may look simple but I think I could do well there - but Adria...well, I think you'll find every driver will agree with my opinion on this one. It's not really up to international standards - it's more like a kart track! Overtaking will be impossible, the two hairpins are far too tight and narrow to pass anyone. Maybe in touring cars you could pass with some argy-bargy, but these are 600hp silhouette racers, they can't just be thrown around like crazy! I will need to have nailed my qualifying form by then to get a good result there.

[Stramala]

Man that was one huge shunt I had on the Motorway recently...note to self, never use the Springburn off-ramp again! Then again...blind crests should be a Finn's forté...why didn't I inherit that as a family trait?!

Is this Karma giving me a swift kick in the arse for punching Dave Besnard in the face? I don't think so, that John Dory had it coming. Fair dinkum to Baird, he was just trying to make sure that blue lump of s**t Ford call a car didn't get past him...but he coulda done more to get out of the way. I hear they call me The Aggressor in Oz now cause of Adelaide...The Enforcer? Who he?

Anyway...New Zealand. I hear Alister has a knack for this rally, maybe he'll be much closer to me this time round. Maybe the Lancer was 50/50 on tarmac, but this being the first gravel event of the year I don't have a clue how good it'll be on gravel. Woulda been useful to have a 206 here...

Speaking of which, I hear Peugeot are grumbling about Panizzi throwing away points in the first two events. If he keeps up his poor form maybe I could inherit his drive for 2003?

[Phoenix]

I'm glad you decided to keep this...erm, I mean, good thing Alex Katajamäki has recovered and is in good shape to continue kicking asses on the racetracks and roads all over the world.

[Stramala]

Katajamäki has mixed comeback test session

Alex Katajamäki appears to have fully recovered from his car accident a week ago - although his warmup test in Grizedale Forest for the upcoming Rally New Zealand did not go quite to plan.

All the cars and other stuff has already been shipped over to Auckland so I was testing an Evo VI instead of the latest spec car. It's just as well it was a year old car and not one that was going to be raced again this year.

I might have erm...written the car off. Oops!

Basically I just clipped a rock at the inside of a fast right which pitched me off the road and straight into a tree. Now I think about it, it was quite similar to the accident I had in Sweden! Not a great sign...but hopefully I keep the car on the road in New Zealand and score some good points.

On the plus side, this was a monster shunt and I walked away easily, so I must be fit enough to rally this weekend then!

Possum Bourne will therefore not compete for Ralliart, and has instead found a last minute drive with a Prodrive-supported Impreza WRX.

[Stramala]

Supersub Katajamäki does it again

Some said Mitsubishi would be in the wilderness this year after the departure of superstar driver Tommi Mäkinen to Subaru - but the Scottish duo of McRae and Katajamäki proved everyone wrong this weekend - slaying the so far dominant Fords in New Zealand.

It was the other McRae that was leading to start with, older brother Colin setting the pace in one of the environments he seems to thrive in - however Katajamäki surprised many by translating his expected tarmac pace into genuine speed on gravel - he was 2nd quickest on the opening test and won the second stage, but McRae just had the edge over his younger compatriot. Championship leader Mäkinen was looking to stregthen his title challenge, but instead crashed out during the opening day and into retirement.

While day one saw the two Scots locked together in a battle for the lead, the start of the second day saw the duel came to and end. McRae - under pressure from the hard charging Katajamäki behind, ran wide into a ditch during the opening stage, which dropped him well over a minute behind the leaders. This meant Grönholm was now Katajamäki's closest rival, only 6 seconds behind, and Markko Märtin a further 2 seconds back.

The Waiphu Gorge rerun saw little change in the leaderboard, the gaps remaining almost exactly the same by the end of the day. The final day would decide the fate of the rally, and anyone in the Top 6 was in a position to win - perhaps even the hard charging McRae, who had made back much of the time he lost at the beginning of the day by winning every other stage.

So, for the second time in a row, we had a final day showdown. However this one was settled in one quick swoop instead of the last stage thriller in France. It was a short end to the rally - there would only be three stages.

In fact the first two were two different versions of the same stage - the second in reverse but taking a partially revised route. After doing the recce for the stage, Katajamäki had marked out Parahi as a stage where he could possibly take some time out of everyone. He wasn't wrong...

With only 6 seconds of time in hand, there was a fine line between immense speed and making sure he didn't throw his Mitsubishi Lancer off the road - and Katajamäki decided to play chicken with it. He went over jumps at full speed, landing on one or two wheels sometimes, aggressively cut corners and smashed through a couple of fences to avoid other corners but some minor cooling damage aside it paid off hugely.

The result at the end of Parahi 1 was a 14 second stage win over his team-mate Alister McRae. The stage really seemed to suit the Mitsubishis, and it was the beginning of a massive surge up the leaderboard for the younger McRae. As for the older McRae - he was also looking fast to begin with, but yet another accident dropped him even more time, and down to 9th behind Armin Schwarz's Hyundai.

The re-run through Parahi was more of the same - Katajamäki took a more cautious approach to the stage, making sure he made no mistakes at all, and still managed to take over 5 seconds out of everyone. As a result Alister McRae had leapt up to fourth - finally giving them a fighting chance against the tree Fords in the manufacturers points. It also spelled the end for an impressive run by Petter Solberg - he also had an impressive run through Parahi 1, and had moved up to second ahead of Gronholm and Sainz - however a crash midway through the stage ended Subaru's hopes for any points this weekend.

The superspecial was merely a formality for Katajamäki, who cruised round to seal his second win in a row, maintaining an incredible 100% win record; a feat unheard of in the WRC.

However all eyes were on the championship battle raging on for 2nd place - a showdown between Grönholm and Sainz. Katajamäki and McRae had been paired up instead giving Ralliart something of a ceremonial finish to the event, so two former champions could go head to head for vital championship points. Grönholm drove his socks off to set the fastest time around the Superspecial stage, however Sainz had just done enough to hang on to the middle step of the podium, by a tiny two tenths of a second.

Katajamäki seemed as stunned as everyone else that he had won here - on what was expected to be the weaker of the two rallies he was scheduled to drive for Mitsubishi.

I think the first run through Parahi is the best I've driven in my entire life. If I could translate that stage into, say, a lap of Spa-Francorchamps, I probably could have won back in 1998! It's not even that long a stage, so to take 14 seconds out of everyone - and most importantly 18 out of Gronholm, is quite unbelieveable...

With Alister's 4th place, it's given Mitsubishi a big haul of manufacturer points. They don't really have a chance to beat Ford or Peugeot, because they have an extra points scoring car, but these are valuable points against Subaru.

Amazingly this result means Katajamäki now leads the drivers championship - ahead of Sainz by virtue of winning two rallies compared to the Spaniard's zero. However the half Scot half Finn was quick to play down any speculation of replacing Panizzi at Peugeot or Delecour at Mitsubishi.

My work at Mitsubishi is done. Francois [Delecour] is almost fully recovered now so he will be back for Cyprus in a few weeks, so there is no chance I will replace him again. I don't know about Mr Panizzi, but the team has not mentioned promoting me to the WRC squad in his place at all, so that is also not true. This was a one off, and I am a Peugeot driver so I will stay with their programme - which is in the JWRC right now.

It would not be possible to do the rest of the season anyway - I am already commited to the DTM and V8 Supercars, so with date clashes and so on it would be impossible to fulful all my contract requirements. I intend to race in both series so there is no chance of me competing full time this year. As for next year, I am not discussing that with any team right now, it is too early in the year to be considering that.

Final Results

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Pos Driver          Team                  Time
1.  Alex Katajamäki MITSUBISHI RALLIART   16:19.44
2.  Carlos Sainz    FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM 16:46.27
3.  Marcus Grönholm PEUGEOT SPORT         16.46.50
4.  Alister McRae   MITSUBISHI RALLIART   16.55.76
5.  Harri Rovanperä PEUGEOT SPORT         17:20.31
6.  Markko Märtin   FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM 17.39:32
7.  Possum Bourne   PRODRIVE SUBARU RALLY 17:46.22
8.  Colin McRae     FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM 17:51.54

Drivers Championship

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Pos Driver             Team                     Points
1.  Alex Katajämaki    MITSUBISHI RALLIART      20
2.  Carlos Sainz       FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM    20
3.  Marcus Grönholm    PEUGEOT SPORT            17
4.  Tommi Mäkinen      SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM  14
5.  Colin McRae        FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM    8
=.  Harri Rovanperä    PEUGEOT SPORT            8
7.  Alister McRae      MITSUBISHI RALLIART      6
8.  Petter Solberg     SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM  3
9.  Sebastian Lindholm DHL PEUGEOT              1
=.  Markko Märtin      FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM    1

[Phoenix]

Yay! Katajamäki is BACK!

[Stramala]

A bump of epic proportions...


Alesi take pole on DTM debut
Jean Alesi has proven he has lost none of the skill of his glory days in F1 by planting his works Mercedes on pole for the DTM opener at the newly redesigned Hockenheim. The Frenchman beat the lead Audi Abt driver Laurent Aiello by almost half a second in the Top 10 shootout, and Mercedes locked out the second row of the grid with Christijan Albers and reigning champion Bernd Schneider.

Another former F1 driver making his debut was Alex Katajamaki - he had made the Top 10 Shootout by coming 4th in the first round of qualifying, driving for the Manthey Racing Mercedes squad. However a spin at the new Turn 4 hairpin ruined his superpole lap, consigning him to 10th on the grid.

However, by far the most surprising result in qualifying was Karl Wendlinger's failure to make it up the grid. The Austrain never looked at ease with the new layout and qualified a lowly 19th.

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DTM ROUND 1 - HOCKENHEIM
QUALIFYING
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT

1.  Jean Alesi          HWA AMG MERCEDES             1:16.94
2.  Laurent Aiello      AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +0.43
3.  Christjian Albers   TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES          +0.60
4.  Bernd Schneider     HWA AMG MERCEDES               +0.82
5.  Timo Scheider       OPC TEAM HOLZER                +1.24
6.  Mattias Ekstrom     AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +1.30
7.  Michael Bartels     OPC TEAM HOLZER                +1.57
8.  Joachim Winkelhock  OPC TEAM PHOENIX               +1.87
9.  Marcel Fassler      HWA AMG MERCEDES               +2.13
10. Alex Katajamaki     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES       +10.58

[Stramala]

PENALTIES APPLIED TO SEVERAL DRIVERS
The DTM has awarded grid penalties to a number of drivers for excessive cutting of Turn 1. As a result, the new grid will look as such;

1. Christian Abt (AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE)
2. Marcel Fassler (HWA AMG MERCEDES)
3. Bernd Schneider (HWA AMG MERCEDES)
4. Peter Dumbreck (PERSSON MERCEDES)
5. Mattias Ekstrom (AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE)
6. Laurent Aiello (AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE)
7. Martin Tomczyk (AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE)
8. Christjian Albers (TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES)
9. Jean Alesi (HWA AMG MERCEDES)
10. Alex Katajamaki (MANTHEY MERCEDES)

[Stramala]

Katajamaki wins debut DTM race
Alex Katajamaki gave the rest of the DTM field a strategy masterclass in Hockenheim today, after staying out until near the end of the race to take his mandatory pit stop and building an unassailable lead in the process.

The Scot had started in 10th place after a spin during Saturday's Superpole session, and did not get off to a good start after being passed by Michael Bartels at Turn 1. However he quickly repassed the German driver at Turn 3, and slipped down the inside of Jean Alesi and Martin Tomczyk to take 8th. The next few laps were filled with rough overtaking moves, with plenty of panel bashing between the drivers.

With a third of the race gone, Katajamaki was third and stuck in traffic. However, he was quickly up to third as drivers began to filter into pitlane to serve their mandatory fuel and tyre change stops. However, he surprised many by contiunuing out front long after all the other frontrunners had pitted, making it all the way to three-quarter distance before finally entering pit road. However, a series of fast and consistent laps in clean air had paid dividends - he exited pit lane with almost 8 seconds in hand to fellow Mercedes driver Marcel Fassler. From there, he controlled his pace, bringing the car home easily in first place.

I can't believe I won on my debut! The first few laps were mighty difficult, there was a ridiculous amount of argy bargy going on. The best example was on lap three when Albers pretty much ignored the braking zone at Turn 4 and ploughed straight into traffic. God knows how he did it but his car kept going without losing any speed and he'd made up three places. My suspension and cooling was a bit off after that altercation but thankfully it didn't slow me down too much.

Once I got into the clean air I was able to find a great rhythm, I made no mistakes at all. Apparently my fastest lap during that phase was only about half a second off my qualifying pace without really realising it at the time. I'm quite surprised at myself really.

Despite having 10 points on the board and the championship lead, Katajamaki doubts he will be fighting for the title by the time the DTM circus next visits Hockenheim.

I am only new at this series, and it also helped I knew part of the track from back in my F1 days. I think at some other circuits such as the next race at Adria, I will struggle somewhat. Also you must not forget, I may not even be doing the final round of the season due to JWRC commitments, we will have to wait and see what happens with that. But, I am quite sure there will be no DTM title for me this year.

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DTM ROUND 1 - HOCKENHEIM
RACE RESULT

1.  Alex Katajamaki     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES     14:16.33
2.  Marcel Fassler      HWA AMG MERCEDES               +6.81
3.  Bernd Schneider     HWA AMG MERCEDES               +9.72
4.  Laurent Aiello      AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE           +12.77
5.  Christijan Albers   TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES         +14.28
6.  Peter Dumbreck      PERSSON MERCEDES              +14.68
7.  Jean Alesi          HWA AMG MERCEDES              +15.57
8.  Christian Abt       AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE           +16.11
9.  Manuel Reuter       OPC TEAM PHOENIX              +17.37
10. Mattias Ekstrom     AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE           +19.59

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DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
CLASSIFICATION AFTER ROUND 1

1.  Alex Katajamaki     10
2.  Marcel Fassler       8
3.  Bernd Schneider      6
4.  Laurent Aiello       5
5.  Christijan Albers    4
6.  Peter Dumbreck       3
7.  Jean Alesi           2

[Stramala]

ROUND TWO | ADRIA RACEWAY | SUPERPOLE STANDINGS

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1.  Laurent Aiello      AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE
2.  Bernd Schneider     HWA AMG MERCEDES
3.  Christjian Albers   TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES
4.  Peter Dumbreck      PERSSON MERCEDES
5.  Jean Alesi          HWA AMG MERCEDES
6.  Timo Scheider       OPC TEAM HOLZER
7.  Michael Bartels     OPC TEAM HOLZER
8.  Alain Menu          OPC EUROTEAM
9.  Manuel Reuter       OPC TEAM PHOENIX
10. Alex Katajamaki     MANTHEY MERCEDES

[Stramala]

Press Release | Adria International Raceway | 5 May 2002

Original-Teile Mercedes Manthey Racing claimed its second victory in a row, with Alex Katajamaki once again driving the #17 car to victory.

A great first lap saw the Scot pass a gaggle of Opels and move up to 7th place. However on the following lap, HWA AMG driver Bernd Schneider made a mistake at the Turn 7 chicane, dropping from the lead to 6th and beginning a head-to-head battle which would last for the next few laps. The duo constantly swapped places until the reigning champion finally decided to pit, leaving the track open for Katajamaki.

Reminiscent of Hockenheim only a fortnight ago, Alex remained out front, leaving his mandatory stop until very late in the race. And once again, it paid dividends. He set personal best after personal best time, and with no response from the chasing pack, Katajamaki left the pits with 5 seconds still in hand.

I'm amazed. I expected Adria to be a track I'd struggle at, yet its clear I still had the pace over one lap. We struggled a little bit in traffic, but once I had room to myself I was able to push at the absolute maximum. The Original-Teile Mercedes crew did a great job today, it was a really clean pitstop as well which helped maintain the gap.

However team-mate Bernd Mayländer was not so fortunate - he was a stuck in a very physical battle with Stefan Mücke which cost him lots of time in traffic, and could only manage a 14th place finish.

RACE RESULTS

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1.  Alex Katajamaki     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES     10:57.42
2.  Christjian Albers   TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES          +5.17
3.  Bernd Schneider     HWA AMG MERCEDES               +5.91
4.  Peter Dumbreck      PERSSON MERCEDES               +6.74
5.  Jean Alesi          HWA AMG MERCEDES               +7.44
6.  Laurent Aiello      AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +9.21
7.  Manuel Reuter       OPC TEAM PHOENIX              +10.29
8.  Timo Scheider       OPC TEAM HOLZER               +11.27
9.  Mattias Ekstrom     AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE           +12.39
10. Alain Menu          OPC EUROTEAM                  +13.95

14. Bernd Maylander     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES       +15.15

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

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1.  Alex Katajamaki     20
2.  Bernd Schneider     12
=.  Christijan Albers   12
4.  Marcel Fassler       8
=.  Laurent Aiello       8
=.  Peter Dumbreck       8
7.  Jean Alesi           6
8.  Manuel Reuter        2
9.  Christian Abt        1
=.  Timo Scheider        1

NC. Bernd Maylander      0

[Phoenix]

Wait... wasn't Alex Katajamäki shot down in his apartment? Or is that supposed to happen in the future?

[Stramala]

Wait... wasn't Alex Katajamäki shot down in his apartment? Or is that supposed to happen in the future?

Way in the future. This is still 2002, he's still alive and kicking back then.

[Stramala]

JOURNAL ENTRY - 18/05/2002 - DONNINGTON PARK

I don't think I've ever driven so badly in my whole life. That was woeful. 16th on the grid for the race tomorrow, what the hell? And, surprise surprise, Schneider is on pole...he's a machine, how am I suppose to beat him to the title?

At least I picked Mercedes over Audi or Opel though, as usual we've been dominating, considering the top 5 is locked out by the HWA AMG cars & Albers' Rosberg car.

I'll be lucky to score a point at this rate..

[Stramala]

Katajamaki on a hattrick at Donnington
Alex Katajamaki took his third consecutive DTM victory at Donnington Park, after an epic duel with reigning champion Bernd Schneider in the closing laps went in the young Scot's favour.

However, Katajamaki started way down in 16th place and did not have the best of starts - dropping to 17th at the end of the first lap. However from there he started methodically picking off driver after driver, eventually capitalising on a half-spin by Jean Alesi which held up a group of cars, which he was able to sneak straight by and move up to 4th. Just as he came up behind championship rival Albers, the leaders pitted, leaving the road clear and left Katajamaki the clear air he used to great effect at thhee previous two rounds.

As expected, after putting in a string of fast laps, he made his mandatory stop and emerged just in front of Schneider. However this time, it was far from the end of the story. A poor outlap by Katajamaki meant Schneider was able to capitalise at Turn 1 a lap later and steal the lead. His lead did not last for long though, with the Scot sneaking back up the inside at the Melbourne hairpin to reclaim the lead.

The rest of the race was a defensive masterclass from Katajamaki, closing the door on Schneider time and time again. On the final lap the German driver managed to get alongside the long-term leader heading towards the same hairpin he had lost the lead at earlier, however Katajamaki swiftly shut the door and held on to claim victory once again.

Bernd [Schneider] made it extremely diificult for me today. In all honesty I was surprised I managed to get that far up the order in the first place, my start was woefully bad and I made zero progress. If anything this may be a sign I've matured as a driver a bit, I can imagine just going crazy and trying to pass four cars at once from there on in 5 years ago. But this time, I just lost count of time, how many laps there had been and so on, it was just a case of focusing solely on one car at a time. Before I knew it I had run out of cars to pass!

It was only after I came out of pit-lane I realised could actually win the race. But man, Schneider made it really difficult. All credit to him, he didn't try anything Schumacher-esque, all his passing attempts were for the most part clean. There's a line between rubbing and shoving, and thankfully he knew where it was. He is the reigning champion after all...

Despite winning three races on the bounce, Katajamaki was keen to sidestep any talk of winning the drivers championship this season.

It's far too early in the year to be talking about championships. Maybe we can talk about it when Hockenheim comes, but for now it isn't relevant at all. I am here to score as many points as I can for the team. Contractual obligations come first, and winning the title isn't there, so for now I'm not considering it at all.

RACE RESULTS

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1.  Alex Katajamaki     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES     12:59.96
2.  Bernd Schneider     HWA AMG MERCEDES               +1.08
3.  Christjian Albers   TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES          +2.45
4.  Jean Alesi          HWA AMG MERCEDES               +3.27
5.  Peter Dumbreck      PERSSON MERCEDES               +4.52
6.  Marcel Fassler      HWA AMG MERCEDES               +5.14
7.  Laurent Aiello      AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +6.50
8.  Timo Scheider       OPC TEAM HOLZER                +7.74
9.  Christian Abt       AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +9.63
10. Mattias Ekstrom     AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE           +11.04

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

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1.  Alex Katajamaki     30
2.  Bernd Schneider     20
3.  Christijan Albers   18
4.  Peter Dumbreck      12
5.  Marcel Fassler      11
=.  Jean Alesi          11
7.  Laurent Aiello      10
8.  Manuel Reuter        2
=.  Timo Scheider        2
10. Christian Abt        1

[Stramala]

...e dietro l'angolo finale arriva Alex Katajamaki...vittoria per il Minardi!!!!...O Flower of Scotland........when will we see......your like again............Fratelli d'Italia...l'Italia s'è desta......vittoria a Monza...




"Woah. Weird dream".

[Stramala]

ROUND FOUR | NURBURGRING | SUPERPOLE STANDINGS

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1.  Marcel Fassler      HWA AMG MERCEDES             1:13.88
2.  Bernd Schneider     HWA AMG MERCEDES               +0.30
3.  Alex Katajamaki     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES        +0.47
4.  Jean Alesi          HWA AMG MERCEDES               +0.49
5.  Christjian Albers   TEAM ROSBERG MERCEDES          +0.87
6.  Bernd Maylander     MANTHEY RACING MERCEDES        +1.03
7.  Christian Abt       AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +1.33
8.  Mattias Ekstrom     AUDI ABT SPORTSLINE            +1.56
9.  Alain Menu          OPC EUROTEAM                   +1.75
10. Peter Dumbreck      PERSSON MERCEDES               +2.11

[Stramala]

JOURNAL ENTRY - 02/06/2002 - NURBURGRING

What a f**king pile of garbage to drive that car was. More understeer than a boat. Hell, considering the conditions a boat would have been more appropriate. It can't have been me...my best result in F1 came here, in the wet...it's the first time this year I've finished lower than I've qualified, I suppose it had to happen someday. However Schneider's gone and cut my championship lead in half now. It's just one race with an unexplained lack of pace...no reason to worry...right? Nah it'll be fine, Norisring is next, surely this will be a good race for me, I have a feeling...

Nurburgring 2002 - 1st B.Schneider, 2nd M.Fassler, 3rd C.Albers, 4th Yours Truly, 5th J.Alesi, 6th L.Aiello 7th. P.Dumbreck 8th C.Abt

Standings; 1st A.Katajamaki 35, 2nd B.Schneider 30, 3rd C.Albers 24, 4th M.Fassler 19, 5th J.Alesi 15

Everyone in the top 5 is in a Mercedes...can't be expecting any favours from the team then I suppose...