A disastrous pitstop cost John Martin a shot at victory in Race 2 of the opening round of the Superleague Formula series at Magny Cours in France.

By virtue of the reverse grid format for Race 2, Martin had started his Rangers FC machine from the front row of the grid after being eliminated in a crash on the opening lap of Race 1.

As the field crossed the line at the rolling start, the 24-year-old Australian timed his run to perfection on the pole sitter Olympiacos’ Davide Rigon.

“I hung back a little bit, because obviously you are not allowed to overtake before the start line,” explained Martin. “I got off the throttle just a little bit before the line when I was almost alongside him and then got back on it at the right moment. By Turn One I was clear in front of him and pulled away.”

A sensational first lap saw the gap at 1.222s. By lap 3 it was out to 1.621s with Martin settling into a rhythm, but looming large in his mirrors was ex-Formula One driver Giorgio Pantano for AC Milan. The Italian ace moved into 2nd place behind Martin on lap 5 and took over the lead on lap 9 when Martin pitted from the lead for the compulsory pitstop.

It was there that the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Champion’s race began to unravel.

“I could see Pantano coming,” said Martin. “He was catching me under brakes mostly so he might have been running more downforce than I was. But he wasn’t that much quicker. I don’t know that he would have been able to get past.”

Tragically for Martin the car fell off the front jack at the pitstop and while the Alan Docking Racing crew lifted the car back up 35 seconds was lost.

“That was that really,” said Martin. “I think if we had of had a good pitstop we could have got out in front of Pantano and won the race. Instead I came out 13th.”

Not having had the opportunity to evaluate the car over the 44 minute plus 1 lap race duration due to the accident in Race 1, Martin found the balance changed after the pitstop. Determined to make up as much ground as possible after the slow stop he spun in the Grande Courbe.

“It was just a small mistake,” admitted Martin. “I ran wide and stalled on the exit road. I didn’t hit anything. Unfortunately with these cars when you stall its all over as they need a starter put into them.”

Ruing a missed opportunity, Martin wasn’t taking any solace in having set the second fastest lap of the race, 1m28.290s which was only eclipsed by ex-Formula One driver Antonio Pizzonia’s 1m28.120s effort for Corinthians. With Pizzonia finishing ninth, Martin was quicker than the top eight finishers including Pantano (1m28.486s) who went onto win the race and fellow ex-Formula One driver Enrique Bernoldi who finished eighth.

“It is not much of a consolation really,” said Martin. “I’m so disappointed. I had the pace to win and it didn’t come to anything.”

Race One also left Martin thinking what might have been. From fifth on the grid he got off to a good start but found himself being dive-bombed at the Adelaide Hairpin on the opening lap by last year’s series champion Rigon.

The Italian collected Yelmer Buurman’s Anderlecht car and spun, while FC Porto’s Tristan Gommendy (who Rigon had been trying to pass) also rotated, as did Martin who then found himself driven into. Behind a host of cars took to the gravel trap to avoid the chaos.

“Some guy behind me thought he could brake 50 metres later than everyone else into the Adelaide Hairpin,” said Martin. “That caused everyone to stop in the middle of the corner because he was spinning and I was in the middle and had nowhere to go. I touched Porto then I was stopped and someone ran over my left front wheel and the front wing.”

Liverpool FC’s Adrian Valles steered clear of the melee to take victory in Race 1 and also picked up the €100,000 awarded to the winner in the six-car Super Final.

Martin is hoping for a change of luck when he makes his third and final outting in the World Series by Renault with Comtec Racing in Formula Renault 3.5 this coming weekend, July 4-5 at Silverstone.

The second round of Superleague Formula is at Zolder, Belgium on July 18-19.