For immediate release                                                                                     June 4, 2000 

A hard-charging race by Mark Webber around the twisty and demanding Monaco street track ended prematurely yesterday, when the young Australian suffered a moment's lapse of concentration and crashed out of fourth place just three laps from the finish. But, despite the crash, Webber's performance during the race and in Saturday's qualifying on what was his first ever visit to the notoriously difficult track, attracted considerable interest from various parties and although bitterly disappointed, Webber - who was uninjured in the crash - went home far from disgraced. 

The race was won by Brazilian Bruno Junqueira who now enjoys a runaway lead in the championship, while Webber still maintains a comfortable third place behind Nicolas Minassian at the half way stage of the series. 

After qualifying poorly in the previous two rounds, Webber was back at the pointy end of things at Monaco and was easily the fastest F3000 rookie in the opening session, ending up sixth fastest overall. In the second session, Webber improved his time to 1min 29.531s, 3/10ths of a second off the provisional pole position time set by David Saelens. The last remaining minutes of the session really came alive when Webber appeared to be in with a chance claiming pole; his time through the first and second sectors showing him to be up on everyone else. However, the Eurobet Arrows driver caught traffic on the final sector and lost the time he had gained. A second attempt again saw him up on the first two sectors but Webber pushed too hard and outbraked himself at the second chicane at the swimming pool complex and hit the barriers. "Monaco's that sort of place. You have to push if you want to make an impression but it's very unforgiving if you make a mistake. It's a fine line and the barriers are waiting there to suck you in! I just left my braking a little bit too late, got on the grey surface and couldn't get it back. It was a shame because everyone saw my first and second sector times and was expecting a big final lap." 

Webber ultimately started the 50-lap race from seventh position and after the first two races, was highly relieved to have made it through the first lap! Front row men Saelens and young Frenchman, Sebastien Bourdais, made contact at the first corner and Bourdais was out on the spot while Saelens managed to rejoin just ahead of Enrique Bernoldi and Webber already fighting for fifth position. The two former F3 sparring partners took the challenge to Saelens for a while before Bernoldi seemed to drop the pace and came under ever-increasing attack from Webber. On a track where overtaking is kept to a minimum though, Webber's only chance of passing was to keep the pressure on and hope the Brazilian would make a mistake.  Bernoldi duly obliged and crashed out on lap 32, promoting Webber to fourth.

A short period under the Safety Car followed which allowed the field to bunched up again. However, Webber was unable to capitalise on the situation and his car seemed to deteriorate in the closing part of the race. With five laps to go, Webber had his mirrors full of a five car train which had caught him and had to call upon all his reserve to defend his position. With three laps to go, Webber had just started to pull away from the chasing pack when he made a mistake at the left-hander after the chicane and crashed heavily into the barriers.  "The level of concentration needed around here is just unbelievable. Until you drive here, you really can't appreciate it but I have a lot of respect for the place now. I never gave up trying but I just made a mistake and that was it. I'm bitterly disappointed, not just for myself but the team also. It would have been so nice to have finished in the points on my first visit here - that would have been the icing on the cake. I came close but not quite close enough."

With the championship at its half-way point, the drivers now have a four week break before round six at Magny Cours, France on July 1. However, Webber's schedule will keep him in Europe, as he will be driving the Arrows 2-seater F1 car at Zandvoort next weekend and has a major two day F3000 test at Austria's A1-Ring on June 21/22.

For further information, please contact:

PO Box 478, Aylesbury, Bucks, England HP19 0DA
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1296 429233 Mobile +44 (0) 7990 592404
e-mail: webber@globalnet.co.uk
website: www.yellowpages.com.au