John Nielsen of Denmark and his Japanese co-driver Hiroki Katoh in a Judd-powered Japanese-built Dome S101 beat BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari drivers Marco Zadra and Christian Pescatori of Italy in Saturday's FIA World Sportscar Championship feature race at Mondello Park .

The gruelling long distance race included pit stops for tyres and fuel and driver changes, running from 5.30pm until after eight o'clock. The winning car covered 90 laps in 2 hours 30 minutes 04.244 seconds at an average speed of 126.50kmh - 78.62mph. Irish drivers Damien Faulkner and Warren Carway finished third and fourth respectively, and were first and second in the SR2 class.

Faulkner shared a Team Sweden run Lola-Nissan with Swedish driver Thed Bjork and American Larry Oberto, and put his Mondello experience to good use. This was a fine performance by Faulkner who is in a challenging position to win the Indy Lights Championship in the US with three races to run.

Dutch veteran Jan Lammers was the early race leader in the Racing For Holland Dome S101, but after surviving a tangle with a back marker, his fellow Dutch co-driver Val Hillebrand lost time with an off-course excursion. The Dutch pair finished fifth overall and third in the SR1 class and Lammers afterwards commented that he didn't know what he had to do to finish higher than third in a championship race.

Another disappointment was the retirement of the Donington-winning Ascari of Britain's Ben Collins and South African Werner Lupberger, while the mighty 6.0 litre Kremer Lola of Sam Hancock (Britain) and Robbie Stirling (Canada) finished up in the gravel trap after 64 laps.

This was a very significant race for Mondello Park as it puts the revamped circuit firmly on the map for future FIA championship races. Even the weather was kind to the international drivers, with sun replacing the rain that fell steadily for most of the afternoon. Despite so many counter attractions, a good crowd turned out to see the spectacle of the big sports cars thundering around the track.