Britain’s Nigel Mansell took 1st place at the Losail International Raceway in Qatar at what many have described as the hottest race in living memory. The Doha desert heat produced almost unbearable conditions as a track temperature of 58 degrees was recorded at the start of the event. A cock-pit temperature of 77 degrees was recorded with the highest previously known to be 68 degrees!

Mansell, who started from pole, led the incident packed race from the beginning and recorded his second consecutive victory following his win at the inaugural round in South Africa. Germany’s Christian Danner finished in second place and Belgian debutant Eric Van de Poele came home in 3rd. Eddie Cheever (USA) was fourth, Warwick (Britain) fifth and also making his GP Masters debut was Pierluigi Martini who finished in 6th.

The six fastest laps overall were split by a mere tenth of a second in a race that produced drama in the way of overtaking, safety cars, retirements and at times four cars running abreast down Losail’s 1068m main straight. Out of the15 that started, 12 cars finished with De Cesaris (Italy), Salazer (Chile) and Stuck (Germany) retiring.

“A brilliant result but an incredibly tough race out there today. It was a tactical race right from the very start and the pace was really quick out there. I was pleased with the set-up strategy we had adopted on the car because as you saw, I had problems going with turns one and two but the last four corners is what we specially set the car up for and that’s what ultimately won me the race,” Mansell said. “About three laps into the race, I suffered a seat installation problem which must have been caused by the high g-loadings but in the end, it came good. These guys were catching me down the main straight and as you saw, I was weaving around the place to avoid anyone getting a tow off me. The first re-start after the safety car was great as I caught everyone unaware and got a great head start. A fantastic weekend all round and my congratulations to everyone involved in staging a truly stunning event. Qatar has made us all feel extremely welcome and we very much look forward to racing here again in the near future.”

GPMasters