By Huw Alban
April 29 2002

OrangeArrows had an eventful race at Sepang today, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen the only finisher for the team. Frentzen had start line problems again for the 2nd race in succession & Enrique made places & had a good scrap with a recovering Michael Schumacher but retired around lap 21. As the competitors lined up for the dummy grid the weather forecasters were predicting a 50/50 chance of rain about 1 hour into the race, but for the formation lap and the start the track was dry and Sepang basked under brilliant sunshine.

At least this time both OrangeArrows cars made it off the dummy grid to start the formation lap. Both cars appeared to make the start too, and the entire pack made it around the first corner - quite remarkable. At the end of lap 1 Enrique Bernoldi had made up 4 places to 12th, but Heinz-Harald Frentzen didn't even appear on the TV timings. What happened to him ?

Michael Schumacher had to make a pit stop for a new front wing, and as he pulled away from his garage an OrangeArrows car could be seen in the pit lane parked up in front of the garage with mechanics swarming all over it.

At the end of lap 2 Bernoldi had made two more places to 10th.

On a replay of the start it even looked as if Frentzen didn't even make it away from the grid ! The TV commentary also stated that Frentzen wasn't parked outside his own garage - looks as if the starting procedure for the Cosworth A23 needs some work.

At the end of lap 6 Bernoldi has dropped to 11th, conceeding a place to the Toyota of Alan McNish. By lap 7 McNish has made another place on the Renault of Jarno Trulli to move up to 9th, and Bernoldi is coming under intense pressure from the Sauber of Felipe Massa.

On lap 8 Jarno Trulli pulls into the pit lane promoting Bernoldi to 10th, and Massa's pressure has eased slightly, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen is now showing on the timing computer in 19th place. Looks as if the team managed to get the car started, and have legally joined the race.

Lap 14 sees Michael Schumacher making his was back through the field and coming up behind the Massa/Bernoldi scrap. Schumacher takes the Sauber just before the last corner, and Bernoldi on the next lap. On lap 16, Schumacher makes a small mistake at the first corner and Bernoldi cooly takes the position away from the world champion. Schumacher rapidly recovered from his mistake and calmly passes up the inside of the Brazilian at the last corner again and immediately opens up a gap. Great racing from Enrique !

Unfortunately this was the highlight of Bernoldi's race. As Juan Pablo Montoya makes his pit stop around lap 21, Enrique's car was seen on the TV coverage parked sideways on the road with marshals desparately trying to move it. A great shame, and a sad end to a strong race.

Frentzen is still running, albeit in last position, and makes his first arranged pit stop around lap 24. Unfortunatley the TV coverage of the tail end of the field is scant at best, but by lap 34 Frentzen has moved up to 12th, tucked up behind the Jordan of Takuma Sato.

By lap 44 Frentzen has made two pit stops and is running in 11th position, just behind the Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa. Frentzen finished the race in 11th position, 2 laps down. All in all a disappointing race for the team, but Enrique Bernoldi showed some fine driving in front of the best of the field. The team now move onto Brazil, and are not expected to attend next weeks major test in Barcelona.