Mansell claims Masters win
Nigel Mansell won the first GP Masters race in South Africa following a terrific battle with Emerson Fittipaldi.
Mansell led from the start of the 30-lap race at Kyalami but Brazilian Fittipaldi kept him under pressure for the whole of the race.
Ricardo Patrese won the battle for third ahead of fellow Italian Andrea De Cesaris.
Fifth went to Derek Warwick who led home a group of drivers including Hans-Joachim Stuck, Christian Danner, Eddie Cheever and Jan Lammers.
Elisio Salazar, Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay closed out the finishers as 12 of the 14 starters completed the race.
Former Formula One world champion Mansell used all of his experience to fend off Fittipaldi’s advances as he struggled with a Team Altech car which was not set up ideally for the circuit.
Fittipaldi’s Team LG car was always in Mansell’s mirrors but the twice F1 champion could not quite make a pass stick.
Mansell, who started from pole position, could not contain his enthusiasm for the format of the new championship.
“It’s unbelievable. I tried to pull away from him (Fittipaldi),” said Mansell.
“I just did not have the traction out of the corners. Emmo had the best set-up.”
Fittipaldi admitted he had tried for a late pass on the final lap but was kept at bay by Mansell.
He said: “Nigel did not make any mistakes. Three corners before the last (corner) on the last lap I tried to pass him on the inside.”
Third-placed Patrese held off De Cesaris in another exciting battle to the flag.
“It was a very hard job. It’s very surprising for me that I could last until the end with that speed,” Patrese added on Motors TV.
“The concept of the Masters was to come here for fun but from the very first lap of the race it was real racing.”
Following the inaugural race in South Africa the GP Masters plan five events for 2006 and are considering increasing the grid size from a current maximum of 16 cars to 20.
