For immediate release                                                                                August 26, 2000

Mark Webber celebrated his 24th birthday a day early after clinching third place overall in his debut season in the highly competitive FIA International F3000 Championship at the Spa Francorchamps circuit, Belgium on Saturday (August 26). Webber also ended the series as the top placed rookie but failed to score any points in the 10th and final

round after damaging the nose and front wing on his car on lap four which necessitated a pit stop. Luckily for Webber though, neither David Saelens or Justin Wilson who both had a slim chance of pipping the Australian for third place in the series, delivered the necessary goods, allowing Webber to take the position with 21 points to his credit.

The championship which went right down to the wire was finally resolved in Brazilian Bruno Junqueira's favour with 48 points from Frenchman Nicolas Minassian on 45 points. Both drivers were competing in their third F3000 season.

Qualifying for Saturday's 30-lap race saw Webber struggling for rear grip in the opening session and back in 13th position. However, the team worked hard in between the two sessions to improve the car, enabling the Eurobet Arrows team driver to record a best time of 2min 07.885s which put him fourth fastest although he had ultimately slipped to seventh by the chequered flag.

"We lost a bit of time in the first session because we were running the wrong ratios and had no rear grip at all.  But, the guys on the team worked very hard and although there wasn't time to change ratios in between the sessions, we came up with a compromise which did improve the car. It was the same old thing in the second session...everyone was leapfrogging up and down the order and I could have been fourth had it not been for a bit of traffic on my last few laps. We certainly didn't have the pace of the Astromega team this weekend but it was the best I could do on the day,"

Webber maintained his seventh place grid position at the start of Saturday's race before passing Ricardo Mauricio at the Bus Stop to take up the running in sixth by the end of the first lap but then lost a position to Minassian. A Safety Car caution period on lap two closed the field back up and on the re-start, Webber was quickly ahead of Minassian ahead and pressing Justin Wilson for fifth, gently nudging the Englishman.

"I just ran very gently into the back of Justin down the hill at the slow right hander but it broke the front wing. I was hoping it was going to hold on but at the next corner it began to come away so I had to pit. It's a disappointing way to end the championship

as I really enjoy racing at Spa and was hoping to finish on a strong note. But, I'm very happy to have finished third in the championship in my first season. At the start of the year, I said I would be very happy with a top six finish, so to be in the top three is very satisfying. Both the team and I were always on a steep learning curve but we came through okay."

Webber returned to the race after pitting for a replacement wing and nose and finished 16th overall, setting the second fastest time in the race to that of race winner, Fernando Alonso.

Webber has now returned to Australia for a flying visit and heads back to Europe early next week in preparation for his forthcoming test with the Benetton Formula One team at

Estoril, Portugal on September 11, 12 and 13.

2000 FIA International F3000 Championship

Final Drivers' Championship points after 10 rounds

1.         Bruno Junqueira (Brazil)                          48 points
2.         Nicolas Minassian (France)                        45 points
3.         Mark Webber (Australia)                                 21 points
4.            Fernando Alonso (Spain)                                    17 points
5.         Justin Wilson (England)                                  16 points                          
6.         Tomas Enge (Czech Republic)                      15 points
=          David Saelens (Belgium)                                  15 points
 

Final Teams' Championships points

1.         D2 Playlife Super Nova 60 points
2.         Petrobras Junior Team 54 points
3.         Mysap.com/McLaren Team 24 points
4.         Team Astromega 23 points
5.         Eurobet Arrows Team 21 points
6.         Nordic Racing/Coca-Cola 16 points

                                                                          - Ends -

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