Sporting Lisbon’s Pedro Petiz took his and the club’s first Superleague Formula by Sonangol victory at Monza today after a mature, untroubled drive from start to finish. Seville’s Sebastien Bourdais meanwhile came through to third after starting last to grab the Weekend Winner award.

Craig Dolby added a hard fought second position to race 1’s fifth place to finish the weekend third overall with Olympiacos’ Esteban Guerrieri second thanks to his runners-up spot in the opener and fourth in race two.
Just as in the opening race, the sprint down to the first corner saw three cars go side-by-side with AC Milan popping out from behind the front row starting Flamengo car of Jonathan Kennard. Sporting had just enough room to hold the lead into the chicane as the Englishman attempted to make amends by going around the outside of Pantano. Although ahead, he just clipped the Italian and span, partially blocking the track and forcing the rest of the field on to the grass, resulting a delay that allowed Petiz to end lap one nearly two seconds clear.
The action remained frenetic for those behind with PSV Eindhoven’s Carlo Van Dam relieving Pantano of second on lap two before Olympiacos and Anderlecht collided at the first chicane, sending both momentarily into the gravel. The accident triggered a chain reaction behind with race 1 podium finisher Julien Jousse receiving a right-rear puncture that was to end his and AS Roma’s race.

Sporting pitted at the end of lap eight with a healthy advantage over PSV who opted to stay out. FC Basel, who had now passed Pantano for third, followed the Portuguese in but was delayed badly when attempting to leave his box after Milan over-shot his marks and sat stranded in the pits. The incident backed up those who were also pitting, handing a significant advantage to the drivers who had opted to stay out.

With everyone having completed their stops by lap 12, Petiz regained his advantage to the tune of over six seconds from Van Dam who was shuffled down to third on his first lap out of the pits by Corinthians’ Antonio Pizzonia. Tottenham’s Craig Dolby, up from 14th on the reverse grid, soon followed suit with a recovering Max Wissel doing likewise on lap 15.
But FC Basel’s title challenge came to an end the very next lap when Wissel slowed along the pit straight. Behind, Seville’s Sebastien Bourdais, who’d started dead last after winning race one, slipstreamed PSV into the first corner and set off after Corinthians who a charging Dolby had passed a lap earlier.
With league-leaders Liverpool up to fifth, the Englishman needed all the points he could muster if he was to reduce his deficit at the top of the standings. Try as he might though there was simply no catching Petiz who reeled off the last ten minutes with consummate ease to claim victory by 6.051 seconds.
Dolby came home second with Bourdais completing an excellent weekend for Seville in third. Race 1 runner-up Guerrieri was fourth after an opportunist move on Liverpool, who finished fifth, while battling with the slowing Corinthians.
FC Porto’s retirement in the closing stages handed Anderlecht their second sixth place of the day, ahead of Galatasaray’s Ho-Pin Tung, PSV, Corinthians and Atletico Madrid’s Maria de Villota. 
The result sees Tottenham close to within 49 points of Liverpool ahead of the season finale in Jarama, Spain next month in what has effectively become a two-horse race for the title. Wissel’s disappointing weekend sees FC Basel replaced in third overall by Olympiacos while Milan lost out badly at home, tumbling from fourth to eighth.
Weekend Winner driver quotes:
Sebastien Bourdais, Seville: “For sure the second race was going to be more difficult to win. If someone had told me we would have finished third after starting dead last, I would have said you are kidding! We just took it easy to start with as I thought there would be a few tangles and kept my push-to-passes. I thought I had a puncture on a couple of occasions because my team mate actually ran in to the back of me when the other guys short-cutted the chicane. Overall I am very happy. The car was pretty solid and the team did a good job. We made no mistakes and that’s what won us the event.”
Esteban Guerrieri, Olympiacos: “Race 2 was a good race but it was a bit of a mess because there were a lot of incidents on the track and in the pit lane, with many cars stopping at the same time. I got stuck behind Olympique Lyonnais, which was stopping in front of me, and I lost a bit of time. Before that I made contact in the first chicane with another car and lost some time going into the gravel, so it was a bit of a mixed race with a lot things happening. But overall I had good pace, the car was really nice to drive and I pushed every lap at 100% trying to get the maximum out of the tyres. With all the incidents, fourth was the best we could have done.”
Craig Dolby, Tottenham: “The first few laps were unbelievable and very aggressive, as I knew I had to be. I needed to catch Max in the championship which meant finishing ahead. We caught up and passed before his problem so I did what I’d set out to do. After the issues in qualifying, I thought it would be difficult, but we never gave up. We came fifth in the first race with an engine problem which we fixed and came through from the back of the grid, passing all the people who had problems in the pit stops before they got there. I showed a few people that I am not going to back down and if my car is on the inside I will stay on the inside. A few people tried to push me on to the grass but I went wheel-to-wheel with them. For Jarama, the championship is still wide open so I will definitely be giving it large!”
Superleague Formula travels to Jarama for the final two races of 2009, November 7/8.

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Esteban Guerrieri scored his and Olympiacos’ first ever Superleague Formula by Sonangol pole position at Monza today after pacing Seville’s Sebastien Bourdais in the knockout final.
Guerrieri, who had earlier beaten Roma and FC Basel, was never tested in the final after Bourdais made a mistake at the first corner on his crucial qualifying lap and had to take to the escape road, leaving the goal wide open for the Argentine to score.
Bourdais starts second with FC Basel’s Max Wissel and home favourites AC Milan and Giorgio Pantano fourth, ahead of AS Roma, FC Porto, Galatasaray and league-leaders Liverpool.

In the first of the group stages, Wissel repeated yesterday’s trick from practice by posting the fastest lap of the day with only seconds to spare. His 1m36.444s effort proved a whopping 0.557 seconds faster than FC Porto’s Tristan Gommendy who likewise saved his best for last.
With drivers lying second, third, fifth and sixth in the standings drawn in Group A, it was perhaps a surprise to see series debutant Julien Jousse make it through. The AS Roma driver actually led the session into the final three minutes with a time of 1m37.066s which ultimately proved good enough for third. Likewise Ho Pin Tung, who put his extensive Monza experience to good use to end up fourth, pipping high profile casualties Tottenham’s Craig Dolby, who completed just one meaningful lap, and 2009’s top qualifier, Antonio Pizzonia.
Olympique Lyonnais, Sporting Lisbon and PSV rounded out the group.
Group B meanwhile proved a much closer affair with the top five drivers all breaking into the 1m26s bracket. It was Bourdais however who picked up where he had left off in Portugal to top the session with a time of 1m36.533s, pacing fellow Estoril winner Guerrieri and Pantano. Championship leader Adrian Valles squeaked through in fourth to deny Anderlecht’s Yelmer Buurman.   
Anderlecht, FC Midtjylland, Atletico Madrid and Flamengo, who were forced to pull off-track without recording a time thanks to an alternator failure, completed the group.
The result saw two of the championship heavyweights square up against each other in the opening quarter-final knockout with Liverpool taking on FC Basel. And it was Wissel who gave himself every chance of making up crucial points tomorrow by dumping championship leader Valles down to eighth on the race 1 grid thanks to a lap 0.306 seconds faster.
Bourdais continued to impress after dispatching Ho Pin Tung by over a second before Pantano went wheel-to-wheel with Gommendy, the home favourite ultimately out pointing the Frenchman. Olympiacos meanwhile completed the semi-finals after dismissing another of the home contenders, AS Roma, thanks to a 1m36.818s lap and the fastest time of the phase.   
With the four teams decided, it was Olympiacos who drew FC Basel. Guerrieri was the first to set a time, the Argentine emerging slightly slower from the first sector before reclaiming the time in the second. With only the long back straight and fast right-hander of Parabolica to go, the slightest mistake by either man would make the difference. And it was Wissel who blinked first, crossing the line 0.156 seconds shy of Olympiacos to line up third.
The second of the semis proved much more decisive with Bourdais edging out Pantano by over three tenths.
That left the championship’s form drivers to battle it out for pole position. Again Seville would lead from the front with Olympiacos this time chasing. But the fans were denied a dramatic showdown even before the first corner when Bourdais over attacked and out-braked himself into the tight chicane, ruining his lap, leaving Guerrieri to complete formalities.

Driver quotes:

Esteban Guerrieri: “I think my group was quite hard because there were a lot of quick cars. So I tried to do a good lap while saving my tyres. The semi-final with Max was really tight until the last corner where there was only a few hundredths difference. Sebastien had a lock-up in the first chicane which didn’t put him in contention for a quick lap. I couldn’t hear my engineer properly telling me that Sebastien had a problem but I understood something like ‘slow down a little bit’ so I completed my lap without pushing 100%.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “It was a mistake obviously. I’ve been struggling pretty much all weekend with brake balance and it happened in the first segment of qualifying. I went straight on twice before at the first chicane so I was pretty happy to make it through to the quarter-finals. Unfortunately for the final I knew I had to push really, really hard because with Esteban it was going to be really close. I just had a big lock-up and that was it really. We’ll try again tomorrow and see what happens.”

Max Wissel: “Thank you to my team, the car was really good and in the shootout with Esteban it was definitely my fault to not reach the final. So, sorry to the team. I’m happy with P3 and for tomorrow I think we have a good chance to finish on the podium. We know we have a really good pace. Normally we are stronger with the old tyres than with the new ones so I’m hoping for the best tomorrow.”    

Giorgio Pantano: "After what we did yesterday there was a good chance to have pole today. We need to check everything now because the car was not like it was on Friday. We are not far away. If we don’t go out at the first corner then it will be a good competition.”

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Max Wissel offered a timely reminder to his rivals that FC Basel hasn’t yet given up netting this season’s Superleague Formula by Sonangol title after recording the fastest aggregate time over the two free practice sessions at Monza, Italy today.

The 19 year-old, who suffered a frustrating weekend last time out in Estoril where he slipped 59 points behind league leaders Liverpool, posted a best time of 1m37.196s in the dying moments of the day’s second session to edge out Olympiacos’ Esteban Guerrieri by just 0.059 seconds after an equally late effort by the Argentine.

It was an excellent day’s work all round by the young German who ended opening free practice third before proving the most consistent performer of the day.

Home favourite and Monza specialist Giorgio Pantano had earlier stripped long-time pace-setter Nelson Panciatici of the top spot before ending the day third fastest thanks to his 1m37.371s lap, 0.151 seconds clear of Estoril Shootout winner Seville’s Sebastien Bourdais in fourth.

The morning session saw Tristan Gommendy – back at the wheel of his FC Porto car after Alvaro Parente’s Portuguese cameo – go some 0.739 seconds faster than anyone else when he became the only man to duck below the 1m38s barrier. And although the Frenchman would lower that time to a ’37.615 this afternoon, it would ultimately prove only good enough for fifth place.

Championship leader Adrian Valles finished second in the first session but could do no better than 12th in the second after failing to beat his best time of 1m38.734s from the morning. Closest title rival Craig Dolby meanwhile, who sits 58 points adrift of Liverpool in the League, wound up eighth, the Tottenham driver over a second down on Wissel’s ultimate pace.

Another “home” team, AS Roma, finished the day ninth quickest thanks to Superleague Formula debutant Julien Jousse’s 1m38.518s lap, with Antonio Pizzonia and Corinthians completing the top ten, 0.041 seconds further back.

Driver Quotes

Max Wissel, FC Basel: “The day was quite good for us. The first practice we were third and now we’re in first position. We used new tyres but I’m sure about nine or ten others did the same so it looks strong for tomorrow, like the whole year really. I’m really happy to be here, it’s my first time racing at Monza and I enjoyed it a lot. The track is fantastic to drive so I’m looking forward to qualifying, hoping for the best.”

Esteban Guerrieri, Olympiacos: “Today was a bit of a mixed day. At the beginning we had some problems in the last part of first free practice but as everyone was learning the car and circuit it wasn’t too bad. In the second session we found some good pace after sorting out the balance with my engineer, so I’m pleased.”

Giorgio Pantano, AC Milan: “We found a good set-up with the car today so we’re looking in good shape for qualifying tomorrow. At the moment I’ve got a good feeling. We’ll have to see tomorrow when everyone is out there on the same tyres when we’ll know who really is the quickest. We used older tyres which were in good condition so I think that’s a good lap time on those. We saw others were using a new set so I think it looks good for tomorrow.”

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