Round 4 (of 12). A1-Ring, Austria. May 12^th. .

The A1-Ring in Austria hosts the fourth round of the FIA F3000 International Championship with the Coca-Cola Nordic Racing Team arriving as leaders in both the driver and team tables.

With three rounds gone the Coca-Cola Nordic Racing Team are in the enviable position of having recorded podium finishes in each round, two of which being race victories.

Drivers Justin Wilson and Tomas Enge now hold first and second in the Drivers Championship tables respectively, with the team leading the Team Table.

From the hot and sunny weather that was Spain in round three, the A1-Ring will prove to be a much cooler place to race at this time of year. However, what the circuit will lack in heat will surely be made up for with its exciting layout.  

The A1-Ring was built over the famous Osterreichring circuit, home for the Austrian Formula One race between 1970 and 1987, during the latter part of the ‘90s.  It uses the original pit area and much of the original track and the first thing that you notice on arrival at the circuit is just how steep it is. 

The approach to the first corner (Castrol Kurve) is very steep indeed, followed by another steep climb to the Remus Kurve, a first-gear right-hander. At both of these corners the track becomes pretty narrow as 24 cars all fight for the same space. Three potential overtaking points, the first, second and third corners, should make this race a lot harder to predict. 

Wilson and Enge secured first and second position on the grid for the Spanish race and will be looking to repeat this performance in Austria. Justin Wilson, pole-sitter for round three said: “Both Tomas and I have set ourselves the highest goals possible for this season. We need to make sure that our cars are at the front of the grid for every round as this is the only way that we shall be able to remain at the top of the table. We proved in Spain with our one-two qualifying performance that the cars are good enough to not only take pole, but to win the races as well. Now we must repeat that in Austria.” 

Team Manager Chris Mower added: “ Both Justin and Tomas have preformed well here in the past. In fact Justin finished 2^nd here last year and was all over Minassian (the winner) until the flag. We will be doing our best to repeat the teams qualifying performance in Barcelona but Webber and Manning will be tough here. The races are always interesting at the A-1 Ring to say the least, I wouldn’t predict the outcome until we are on the flight home”

The race shall be shown live on Eurosport on May 12^th at 14.00hrs CET