Internationale Formel 3000 Championship 2002,
Hockenheim - Qualifying.

A festival of waltzing at the new grand Prix course of Hockenheim, with
uncountable spins during today's training for the 9th race of the Formula 3000 Championship 2002! 

Red Bull Junior Team in the mid field, Patrick Friesacher and Ricardo
Mauricio finishing 13th and 14th. Poleposition: Giorgio Pantano (ITA)! 

One spin after the other - a festival of waltzing in Hockenheim! It wasn't only the Free Practice of the Formula 1 that was dominated by a huge number of spins today - the Formula 3000 drivers too had a rather difficult time during today's two training sessions, with all of them either spinning
or coming off the track - especially on the new and still quite slippery parts of the course. The cold weather was not really in favor of a strong "grip" either! 

Under these difficult and new conditions, the best drivers were successful again: Italian Giorgio Pantano will have pole position tomorrow in front of Czech Tomas Enge and Swedish Björn Wirdheim. The Red Bull Junior Team qualified for tomorrow's race as 13th (Friesacher) and 14th (Mauricio). Just like in the past few Qualifyings it just was not enough for a position in the front part of the starting grid. At no point in the almost 90 minutes long training sessions, neither Friesacher nor Mauricio was able to dominate the field, although the young Austrian was also handicapped by a technical problem. 

Team leader Dr. Marko: "In Patrick's case I think the technical defect was the reason for the disappointing result. We still have to take a closer look into it, but it either was the gearbox or the engine. It's a pity, cause he's only missing 3/10 to 6th position! And Ricardo unfortunately made a mistake in each lap and was more off the course than on it."

More: www.redbull-juniorteam.com, www.redbull-f3000.com Red Bull Junior Team F3000 –  Media, Thomas Blazek, beta Communications, Enzersdorferstrasse 6/2/2, A-2340 Mödling. Tel.: +43 2236 24744, +43 664 300 50 40,  Fax: +43 2236 893 628, E-Mail: blazek@betacom.at