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FIA Formula 3000 Championship
Round 4/12, A1-Ring, Austria
Race, May 11 2002
Weather: hot and sunny 

Mario Haberfeld: 3rd, 35 laps in 48m 58.729s
Rob Nguyen: 9^th, 35 laps in 49m 23.939s 

Team Astromega had a successful day in the fourth round of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship at the A1-Ring in Spielberg, Austria. Brazilian Mario Haberfeld underlined his title challenge with a second podium finish of the campaign and rookie team-mate Rob Nguyen recorded the best result of his fledgling career by coming home ninth.

Haberfeld now lies fifth in the championship, just five points adrift of joint leaders Tomas Enge (Arden) and Giorgio Pantano (Coloni). Mario lined up fourth, seized third place on the opening lap and fought off a fierce late-race challenge from Pantano in the closing stages.

Nguyen qualified 12^th and made sure he kept out of trouble for the first few laps while the race settled down. He profited from others’ mistakes to pick up a couple of places and then sliced past Alex Müller (Durango) to secure a top-10 finish in only his fourth F3000 event – and only his second season of car racing. 

Mario Haberfeld

“That was quite a hard race – especially at the end when Pantano was pushing so hard. The car worked well in the opening stages when we had a heavy fuel load, but as it lightened I began to get more and more understeer. I was having to drive quite defensively to keep Pantano at bay but it was a clean fight and I’m delighted to come away with another podium finish, my second of the season. I would like to dedicate this result to my friend Mark Reagan, who sadly died recently. He was my mechanic in F3 and one of the best people I have ever worked with, so this one’s for him.” 

Rob Nguyen

“I’m quite happy with my first top-10 finish. I made a decent start but have seen video footage of previous first-corner accidents at this track so I was also being quite cautious. It is important for me to do full race distances and gain as much experience as possible. I was thinking about trying to pass Antonio Pizzonia (Petrobras Jnr) going into Turn Two, but another car flew up my inside and I had to jink out of the way to avoid a collision. That was a close call, but after that I was able to follow the Petrobras cars of Pizzonia and Ricardo Sperafico quite comfortably, but above all I wanted to consolidate my position. It was satisfying to pass Alex Müller fair and square and I have to say thanks to the team for giving me a car that was good all afternoon. This marks another important step forward in my learning year – but I’m not kidding myself that things are going to get any easier. I don’t know any of the remaining tracks we race on, but if I can keep making progress I’ll be happy.” 

Sam Boyle, team manager

“It is always good to score points and Mario did an excellent job to hang on to third in the face of fierce pressure late in the race. He is well placed in the championship and it looks as though we are going to be in for an exceptionally close season. As for Rob, it’s hard for us not keep repeating ourselves when we underline that his pace is remarkable given his drastic shortage of experience. I honestly believe we will have two drivers challenging for points by the end of the season.”