Nigel Mansell Hot, Hot, HOT!
Britain’s Nigel Mansell took 1st place Saturday at the Losail International Raceway in Qatar at what many have described as the hottest race in living memory. The Doha (Qatar) desert heat produced almost unbearable conditions as a track temperature of 58 degrees (130 plus degrees fahrenheit) 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), Salazar (Chile) and Stuck (Germany) retiring.
(1st) Nigel Mansell: ” 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 o
