Circuit de Monaco
Monaco Series Race No. 7
Friday, March 5, 1999
Race Report
The anticipated shoot-out in the "Nail That Track" Monaco series finale
appeared to be materializing when Australian Ian Lake slipped into the
***pit of his Coventry early in the hour long training session. But Lake's
fabled reputation didn't deter Monaco veteran Steve Blankenship, who put his
Lotus on the pole with a 1:29.00 lap on his seventh trip around the circuit.
But, as in the last Monaco race, Blankenship would sit on top for just
moments. Slightly more than a minute later, Lake would blast past the
timers, recording a pole-grabbing 1:27.98, having found the clear track that
he needed on his seventh lap, as well.
But Blankenship was not about to concede and he quickly answered the call by
reeling off laps of 1:28.57, 1:28.48, and 1:28.10. Returning to the pits
thinking that he was within striking distance of Lake, the affable, but
competitive Blankenship was disappointed to learn that during his run, Lake
had found 0.82 seconds dropping to 1:27.16. As he talked with Lotus
engineers in the pits, the news for Blankenship turned from bad to worse
when his teammate Greger Huttu recorded an amazing 1:27.74 on his *first*
timed lap of the circuit, bumping Blankenship to third on the grid.
What had appeared to be a certain pole for Lake, now appeared to be shaping
up to be quite a battle for the top spot. Sensing the threat from Huttu,
Lake began to push his Coventry to the limits and answered with a 1:26.98,
tightening his grip on the pole.
But with just under fif*** minutes remaining in qualifying, Huttu came
within 0.02 secs. of the pole by recording a 1:27.00 on his ninth practice
lap. But, Huttu's threat to Lake took on a whole new dimension when Huttu
found the perfect combination of rhythm and clear track and recorded a
remarkable 1:25.45. Now only twelve minutes remained, but Lake, convinced he
could match Huttu's performance, continued his hunt for speed. Though he did
not come up empty-handed, his final best time of 1:26.42 was not sufficient
to bump Huttu off the pole. The table was set.
With the glittery Monaco crowd intrigued by the Huttu/Lake showdown and a
field with fully five drivers below the magical 1:30, the e***ment was
palpable as the cars and teams assembled on the grid. But, a collective
groan was all that could be heard when the public address system announced
that, due to a last minute electrical failure, Huttu would not make it to
the grid.
The green flag saw Lake get away cleanly and Blankenship, with nothing but
clear track in front of him thanks to Huttu's absence, was in hot pursuit.
When Blankenship attempted to make a move up the inside at Sainte Dvote,
the cagey Lake slammed the door with vigor, sending Blankenship off to enjoy
a soft brush with the barrier. As Blankenship recovered, Lotus drivers Viman
Eiland and Pat Dotson slipped past.
On his fifth lap, Lake was already closing quickly on his first backmarker.
As Lake rocketed toward the Station Hairpin the startled backmarker pushed a
little too hard and slid wide in the turn. As a spot where lapped
backmarkers frequently yield to overtaking leaders, the move appeared to be
a concessionary maneuver by a considerate backmarker. Lake's appreciation
turned quickly to surprise when the backmarker got back on the throttle and
nosed into the passing Coventry. The ensuing spin allowed a veritable train
of Loti to pass: Dotson, Eiland, J. Bothell, and Blankenship.
And the challenges were to continue for Lake. Just a few turns after his
unfortunate incident at Station, Lake was sent spinning again as he passed
through the chicane and made contact with the nose of a recovering Bothell's
Lotus as Bothell started to pull off of the chicane hay bales.
When victim Lake recovered from his second fifth lap incident, he found
himself in fifth position with an fast, experienced Lotus squadron escaping
up the road: Eiland, Dotson, Blankenship, and Bothell, in that order. A
determined Lake then beginning squeezing every last ounce of energy from his
Coventry, By lap eight, only Dotson and Eiland lay ahead.
Lap twelve saw Lake slip by a spinning Eiland who had clipped the curbing
heading up the hill into Massenet. Dotson remained as Lake's only challenge.
On the four***th lap, the incredible happened. With Lake now hot on his
gearbox, Dotson was spun at Station by the same backmarker that had spun
Lake earlier on lap 5. Amazingly, the circumstances were identical to the
earlier incident, but this time it was Lake who was there to capitalize.
Dotson would recover from this incident, but would retire later on the
eigh***th lap after falling victim to a slow caution flag warning him of an
accident on the blind side of Mirabeau. With Lake cruising to victory, and
Dotson retired, the battle for second was heating up between Eiland and
Blankenship. On lap twenty-five of the thirty-lap event, Blankenship rounded
the Gasworks Hairpin as Eiland closed rapidly on a backmarker just up the
road in Dvote. With his timing thrown off by the backmarker, Eiland slid
sideways in the turn. When Blankenship reached Dvote, he spotted a
recovering Eiland just half way up the hill to Massenet. Incredibly, Eiland
once again clipped the curb into Massenet, allowing an ecstatic Blankenship
to slip into second as Eiland struggled to reel in the careening Lotus.
And so they would finish, but not before the amazing Ian Lake had put a lap
on the entire field whilst charging back from fifth position. Reputation
intact.
Official Standings
1 8 I. Lake COV 77.9 mph
2 12 S. Blankenship LOT -1L
3 5 V. Eiland LOT -1L
4 0 A. Windle FER -2L
5 4 J. Rambo FER -2L
6 0 D. Duncan FER -2L
7 20 J. Bothell LOT -12L
8 0 P. Dotson LOT -13L
9 0 C. Skidmore LOT -20L
10 11 P. Alesi LOT -29L
Fastest Lap
8 I. Lake COV 1:26.93
Practice
1 19 G. Huttu LOT 1:25.45
2 8 I. Lake COV 1:26.42
3 12 S. Blankenship LOT 1:28.10
4 5 V. Eiland LOT 1:28.92
5 20 J. Bothell LOT 1:29.51
6 0 P. Dotson LOT 1:30.29
7 18 G. Longfield REP 1:30.90
8 11 P. Alesi LOT 1:31.85
9 0 D. Duncan FER 1:32.77
10 3 P. Robitaille FER 1:33.07
11 0 A. Windle FER 1:33.14
12 4 J. Rambo FER 1:34.05
13 14 J. Larrauri FER 1:37.54
14 15 N. Stine COV 1:39.66
15 7 S. Hardy EAG 1:41.50
16 0 C. Skidmore LOT 1:53.77