Two second places in the first couple of heats and a sixth in the final kept Eriksson´s title hopes well alive. The 17-year-old Swede didn´t let circumstances drag him down in spite of an underserving setback early on.

"Our qualifying started in the wet. But it dried up pretty quickly fort he second group – so I realised pretty soon that my best time in Group A was only ever going to be good enough for second on the grid," Eriksson said. " Two second places aren´t too bad. It´s just a shame that my greatest rival for the championship won."

Michael Waldherr proved second best of Team Motopark´s four-man squad. The young German started race three from pole, after having finished tenth and ninth in the races before. He then stalled on both the first and second try to get heat three underway.

While Waldherr dropped to last, his team-mate Jonathan Cecotto tried to improve on his positions 14 and 22 from the first two races. The South American collected a wheel in the pack, got airborne – and landed straight on Waldherr´s car. Both drivers survived the spectacular pile-up unscathed.

"After suffering from understeer in heat one," reported Waldherr, "we managed a great step to improve the balance fort he last wto races. I sacrificed race two by opting for used tyres in order to have fresh rubber for heat three. The mistakes at the start drive me up the wall. But we have to leave the disappointment behind and focus on the next round, which is going to be on the team´s home soil in Oschersleben."

Jannes Fittje suscribed to 12th place in all the races. The young German showed promising speed in race three, when he held eighth until finally dropping back to 12th once more.

Source: Team