CAPPELLINI WINS GRAND PRIX OF FRANCE!
GILLMAN CRASHES OUT; JONES 2 ND ; KARLOF 3 RD !

Chalon-sur-Saone, France: June 7 th - 4-time World Champion Guido Cappellini of Como, Italy won the Grand Prix of France for the 3 rd time in 4 years as he jumped to the front right from the start and controlled the race for all 61 laps to win his 2 nd event in three starts on the 1998 U.I.M. F1 World Championship tour.

The Laserline/Castrol team leader passed Finnish driver and pole sitter Pertti Leppala on the first lap and held off the Team Europe star in his charge for the lead during the first 25 laps before Leppala, who was 2.5 seconds behind, had engine problems and sat motionless for over a lap before he could refire his engine and eventually finish 7 th .

Jonathan Jones, a three time winner of this race and 3-time World Champion, then took up the run for the lead and got a close as 2.36 seconds before Cappellini pulled away near the end. Jones, scoring his 2 nd runner-up finish of the season is now 3 rd in the points for the World Championship with 30.

The drive of the day came from Swedish veteran Goran Karlof in the International Paints/DAC when he moved forward and took over 3 rd from Francesco Cantando in his Singha-Waircom/DAC midway through the 61 lap event. For Karlof it was an uphill struggle all weekend after crashing in St. Petersburg, Russia and continuing to repair the Italian hull until the very last minute prior to the start of the Grand Prix.

World Championship points leader and defending Champion Scott Gillman of Basalt, Colorado went out in the very 1 st lap, crashing with Massimo Roggiero and losing part of his Markers/Seebold sponson in the first turn and forcing his retirement. This marked the first DNF for the American driver in the last 53 weeks since joining the tour. Gillman now sits in 2 nd place in the Championship with 32 points, 8 behind new leader Cappellini and his 40.

Massimo Roggiero, the Italian who is the 2 nd driver on the Lazerline/Castrol team with Cappellini had a fine 4 th place finish despite being docked a lap for an early start. Francesco Cantando, who was up to as high as 3 rd , finished 5 th after being docked a lap for hitting a bouy in the event. The native of Milan is 4 th in the World Championship with22 points.

French star Phillipe Dessertenne of La Rochelle, wound up 6 th and is now 5 th in the championship table with 17 points, his best finish ever in his native France. Andy Elliott of Great Britian started 9 th and finished 8th, while Argentina's Carlos Maidana battled to a 9th place run after starting 11th. Italian Cipriano Lambri is now the only driver on the tour to pick up points in every event so far this season with a 10th place finish after starting in the 13th position.

The 4th round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship will be next Sunday, the 14th of June in Tampare, Finland. This will mark the first time in F1 history that the circus has raced in Finland.

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