Tough Scheld for Fortec.

Fortec Motorsport's troubled start to the F3000 season continued at the Nurburgring on Saturday when local man Andreas Scheld was disqualified from second place.

The German, who is more used to not qualifying and had to pit for a new nose at the end of the opening lap, managed to keep his car on the track while all around were losing theirs, and led the race for a long time before being passed by championship leader Bruno Junqueira in the closing stages. He then held on to finish ahead of Italian backmarker Fabrizio Gollin, who completed an unusual podium trio.

Gollin's crew, however, noticed Scheld 'interfering' with his car in parc ferme and reported him to the stewards, who issued the disqualification. Scheld claims that he was merely taking a piece of masking tape of the front wing, and not making any illegal adjustments, but the ruling stood.

Fortec team boss Richard Dutton decided not to appeal against the disqualification, and remained philosophical about a second set back in successive races, following Mario Haberfeld's Barcelona injury.

''Andrea thought the tape looked untidy and ripped it off,'' Dutton explained, ''He drove a fabulous race and was overjoyed with the result, but wasn't thinking clearly about anything else. The responsibility ultimately lies with us, however, because the tape should not have been there. If the argument had been about the tape being left on the car, we may have appealed, but Andrea touched the car when he shouldn't have, so we have to take it on the chin.''