FIA
F3000 International Championship.
Round 4 (of 12). A1-Ring, Austria.
12th May 2001.
The
Coca-Cola Nordic Racing Team took its third race victory of the season at
the A1-Ring in Austria, with Justin Wilson leading home teammate Tomas
Enge, who finished the race in third position.
For
Wilson this was his second race win of the season, his first being the
opening round in Brazil, and it keeps him at the top of the Drivers
Championship table with 25 points. Enge retains second in the table with
18 points and the team move even further ahead in the Team Championship
table with a total of 43 points – 29 points clear of their nearest
rival.
The
opening lap saw nine cars eliminated at the first corner when front-row
qualifiers Sebastien Bourdais (DAMS) and Patrick Friesacher (Red Bull
Junior) ran wide. This prompted a chain reaction accident that led to the
elimination of nine drivers and the appearance of the Safety Car. At this
time Wilson held second place behind Bas Leinders (KTR), with team mate
Enge fourth behind Antonio Pizzonia (Petrobras Junior).
At the
restart Wilson managed to pass Leinders for the race lead at the second
turn with Enge quickly moving ahead of Pizzonia for third.
Wilson
controlled the race with ease until lap 24 (of 35) when he was passed
under heavy braking by Leinders going into Turn Two of the Austrian
circuit. However, by the time the pair exited the turn, Wilson was back in
front, going on to bring his Coca-Cola Nordic Racing Lola home in first
place.
Enge
made a strong attempt to pass Leinders in the final laps of the race, but
to no avail, despite drawing alongside at one stage only to find his path
blocked by a defensive move.
In the
end Wilson crossed the line 0.4 seconds ahead of Leinders with Enge
finishing in third, the final spot on the podium, less than a second
behind the race winner.
“What
an exciting race,” said Wilson afterwards. “It was an exciting to race
to be in so it must have been a great race to watch,” he joked. “We
are now a third of the way into the championship and I have already won
two races, finishing on the podium in three of the four races so far and
in the points for all of them. After every race it is getting harder and
harder to find something new to say, but the truth of the matter is that
the Coca-Cola Nordic Racing Team give both Tomas and I a car that gets the
job done and we seem to be going from strength to strength.”
Team
Manager Chris Mower toasted both his drivers, saying: “This was another
great performance from Justin and Tomas and yet again they have both
managed to score more points. For Justin I am especially pleased as this
win really was down to him. He made the most of the situation and once in
front he made sure that he did everything possible to win this race. Tomas
also drove very hard and made every effort to pass Leinders, yet was
unable to do so despite several attempts. All in all this was a very
satisfying end to our race weekend.”