FIA INTERNATIONAL FORMULA 3000
ROUND 5 - MONACO

25th May 2002


Having qualified on pole yesterday Sebastien Bourdais was hoping to take the lead in the Drivers Championship by winning today's 45-lap race.  The race was held in warm sunny conditions and Sebastien drove a fantastic race to lead from start to finish.  He got away cleanly and stretched away every lap until he finally passed the chequered flag eighteen seconds ahead of Patrick Friesacher.  Sebastien now lies three points ahead of Tomas Enge who finished third.  Tiago Monteiro unfortunately had only completed six laps when he spun and hit the barrier.  He pitted but the car was too damaged for him to continue in the race.

Sebastien Bourdais P1

"This is the best race and the one that everyone wants to win and we did it superbly today.  Once again I have to thank the team as without their help it would not be possible.  After the first qualifying session the car was not brilliant but soon after the restart the weekend changed for us and I really started to believe we could win it.  I just hope the confidence that people believe in me will continue."

Tiago Monteiro DNF

"It is a shame I didn't do a lot of laps, I tried to stay on and get some experience but on of the most difficult things here in Monaco is trying to stay on the track.  I ran very close to Briscoe and lost a lot of downforce in the medium high-speed corner and unfortunately I spun and hit the barrier.  It really annoyed me as I the mechanics did a superb job building a new car for me after the tub was damaged going over a kerb in qualifying yesterday. They worked really hard and it's not nice for them to finish like this.  I will try to do a lot better in Nurburgring to thank them as I really appreciate what they did."

Team Manager - David Sears

"Sebastien Bourdais backed up his fourth pole position out of five races with a superb win today in Monaco to finish 18.7 seconds in front of Patrick Friesacher in a race full of accidents where only eight out of 20 cars finished.  Sebastien now leads the championship with 24 points, 3 ahead of Tomas Enge who finished third and seven ahead of Giorgio Pantano who were joint leaders before this race.

Tiago Monteiro brushed the wall on lap seven and damaged his Lola B2/50 and was unable to continue due to suspension damage.  Tiago's learning curve is still steep in Formula 3000 but now we are coming to some circuits he already knows and he should have a chance of an improvement."

FIA International Formula 3000 2002
Race 5: Monaco
Race Classification after 45 laps

Pos.
Driver
Nat.
Team
Time
Best Lap
Lap
1

S. Bourdais
FRA
Super Nova Racing
1:07.40.545
1:28.998
39
2

P. Friesacher
AUT
Red Bull Junior Team
1:07.58.971
1:29.280
36
3

T. Enge
CZE
Arden International
1:08.08.174
1:28.964
17
4

A. Pizzonia
BRA
Petrobras Junior Team
1:08.08.985
1:29.295
18
5

R. Sperafico
BRA
Petrobras Junior Team
1:08.15.345
1:29.241
39
6

A. Muller
ITA
Durango Formula
1:09.00.900
1:30.843
12
7

M. Haberfeld
BRA
Team Astromega
1:09.09.245
1:30.663
22
8

R. Mauricio
BRA
Red Bull Junior Team
1:07.28.052
1:30.841
36

Not Classified


Driver
Nat.
Team
Time
Best Lap
Lap

E. Toccacelo
ITA
Coloni F3000
46:58.284
1:29.223
31


N. Kiesa
DEN
PSM Racing Line
41:42.833
1:30.119
23


R. Briscoe
AUS
Coca-Cola Nordic Racing
40:42.499
1:30.589
20


A. Sperafico
BRA
European Minardi F3000
34:44.856
1:32.499
12


R. Nguyen
AUS
Team Astromega
24:45.672
1:30.310
12


Z. Baumgartner
HUN
Coca-Cola Nordic Racing
14:34.538
1:32.798
5


Rodrigo Sperafico
BRA
Durango Formula
15:12.761
1:30.099
8


B. Wirdheim
SWE
Arden International
12:29.730
1:31.850
6


T. Monteiro
POR
Super Nova Racing
11:02.494
1:31.422
7


D. Saelens
BEL
European Minardi F3000
4:55.437
1:33.415
2


G. Pantano
ITA
Coloni F3000
3:23.260
1:33.610
2


T. Schmidt
GER
PSM Racing Line
DNS



Fastest Lap


T. Enge
CZE
Arden International
1:28.964
Lap 17