FIA INTERNATIONAL FORMULA 3000 ROUND 2 - IMOLA, ITALY

13th April 2002

Sebastien Bourdais drove a fantastic race today to take a well-deserved win and ten points for his championship campaign.  He made a great start from pole position and held on to first place until the end of the 31-lap race.  Tiago Monteiro did not have such a good day as yesterday, the weather was dry today and not only did Tiago have to get used to the car and the track in dry conditions but he was also following some experienced drivers ahead of him.  He made a great start and overtook Pantano into fourth but during the race he went off the track a few times and dropped some places.  Despite this he learnt a lot from the race and finished in tenth position.  Sebastien was followed over the chequered flag by the Brazil race winner Rodrigo Sperafico and Italian Giorgio Pantano.

Sebastien Bourdais P1

"It has been a very good day and week for us.  It would be difficult to do anything better.  It was a tough race as it was difficult to start with the car in conditions that we had not tested in but we succeeded and that's the most important thing.  Since we have started to work together the pace has been there each time so I am pretty confident and can't see why it can't work again in Barcelona and everywhere else."

Tiago Monteiro P10

"I had a good start, overtaking Giorgio Pantano at the first corner but everything was new to me.  We run in the wet yesterday and today it was dry and with a full tank I had a lot of understeer, plus it was fifteen seconds faster than yesterday.  The mistake I made was trying to follow the guys who had a lot more experience when I should have been learning the track myself but I didn't want to get left behind and I was pushing too hard for my experience.  I guess its part of my learning progress.  I am not surprised that I was overtaken but I shouldn't have made the mistakes and should have kept to my own rhythm.  The car was very constant all the way apart from the first lap when it was very heavy.  I am very happy for Sebastien and the whole team."

Team Manager - David Sears

"Sebastien Bourdais stormed away from pole position to lead the race from start to finish to gain his first win of the season.  This result makes up for the last race in Brazil where Sebastien got a puncture, again while leading the race.  The team has actually won this race for the last three years running.

Tiago Monteiro started from fifth position on the grid because of the wet qualifying but unfortunately made several mistakes during the race which cost him a lot of time with some off-track excursions.  However Tiago managed to finish in tenth place at the end to continue his steep learning curve in Formula 3000.

The next race takes place in two weeks time in Barcelona where both drivers tested earlier this year."

FIA International Formula 3000 2002
Race 2: Imola - 13th April 2002
Race Classification after 31 laps

Pos.
Driver
Nat.
Team
Time
Best Lap
Lap
1

S. Bourdais
FRA
Super Nova Racing
51:39.076
1:39.334
24
2

Rodrigo Sperafico
BRA
Durango Formula
51:40.161
1:39.188
22
3

G. Pantano
ITA
Coloni F3000
51:51.717
1:38.936
30
4

A. Pizzonia
BRA
Petrobras Junior Team
51:56.283
1:39.922
22
5

P. Friesacher
AUT
Red Bull Junior Team
51:57.014
1:39.637
31
6

T. Enge
CZE
Arden International
52:03.188
1:39.835
28
7

B. Wirdheim
SWE
Arden International
52:09.719
1:39.645
30
8

N. Kiesa
DEN
PSM Racing Line
52:30.138
1:40.225
26
9

Z. Baumgartner
HUN
Coca-Cola Nordic Racing
52:48.127
1:40.901
29
10

T. Monteiro
POR
Super Nova Racing
52:52.524
1:40.992
25
11

R. Nguyen
AUS
Team Astromega
52:53.548
1:40.712
28
12

E. Toccacelo
ITA
Coloni F3000
52:54.374
1:40.555
4
13

R. Briscoe
AUS
Coca-Cola Nordic Racing
52:54.636
1:40.428
25
14

Ricardo Sperafico
BRA
Petrobras Junior Team
51:51.169+ 1 lap
1:40.282
29
15

A. Sperafico
BRA
European Minardi F3000
52:11.910
1:42.858
20

Not Classified


Driver
Nat.
Team
Time
Best Lap
Lap

A. Muller
GER
Durango Formula
37:18.104
1:39.757
19


R. Mauricio
BRA
Red Bull Junior Team
45:02.609
1:40.107
12


D. Saelens
BEL
European Minardi F3000
20:33.047
1:41.037
9


M. Haberfeld
BRA
Team Astromega
20:33.648
1:40.322
10


T. Schmidt
GER
PSM Racing Line
19:05.113
1:41.285
6


Fastest Lap


G. Pantano
ITA
Coloni F3000
1:38.936
Lap 30