Schumacher Victorious in Spain Rain

With an engine running at less-than-peak capacity and miserable conditions that allowed only six cars to finish, Michael Schumacher won his first race for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona on Sunday with such ease even he was surprised.

“It’s amazing. If anyone had said I would have won this race, I would not have put a penny on it,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher was able to adjust to a continuous rain.

Jean Alesi, the last Ferrari winner, was second this time in a Benetton-Renault 45.302 seconds behind. Jacques Villeneuve, the Canadian rookie in a Williams-Renault, was third, 48 seconds back.

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While speed put Jeff Gordon in front at the start of the Miller 500, the patience that carried him through the middle stages of the race paved the way to victory at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del.

After the fifth caution period of the day--brought out by Dale Jarrett’s spin on the backstretch with 138 of 500 laps remaining, the field began to sort itself out. Gordon, who had battled throughout the race with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte, Jarrett, Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, soon established control.

He made it a rout in the last 100 laps, running lower on the high-banked concrete track than the rest of the contenders.

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Michael Andretti, taking advantage of a late caution flag in the Miller 200, passed Al Unser Jr. on the restart and went on to his fifth victory at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.

Andretti took advantage of a rule implemented the previous week at the U.S. 500, lining the cars up double file for restarts, with the cars in the lead lap in one line.

Unser was in the lead when the five cars on the lead lap lined up for the restart. When the green flag waved for the start of lap 195, Andretti’s Lola-Ford shot to the outside of the wide, flat oval and zoomed past Unser’s Penske-Mercedes in the second turn.