Justin Wilson got his 2001 season off to a great start by topping the time sheets at Imola in the year’s first official F3000 test.

The 1998 Formula Palmer Audi champion spent the opening day of the two day test working with his Coca Cola Nordic Racing team on the set up of his car.  Even though he was concentrating on the cars handling, Justin was immediately on the pace, finishing the opening day just four-tenths off the best time. 

On day two the team made some further adjustments to the car and Wilson went for a quick lap.  They were rewarded early on when Justin set the fastest time of the two day test, recording a time of 1:37.851.  Wilson was all set to go even faster in the afternoon when an accident cut short his run.  He emerged unhurt, but it brought his test session to an abrupt end.  However, no one was able to beat Wilson’s blistering morning run despite the best efforts of the other 24 drivers, including Jaime Melo, Benetton test driver Mark Webber, reigning British F3 champion Antonio Pizzonia and Justin’s Nordic team mate Tomas Enge. 

“I very pleased with the time.  We were working hard on the set up on the first day and went for a fast time on the second.  The car is really working well and we are over a second faster here than we were last year.  I had two sets of tyres for the afternoon session, but I tried too hard early on and had the accident.  It wasn’t a big impact, just damaging the rear corner and rear wing.  This is a good start to 2001 and I’m really looking forward to the next test at Jerez, where we can hopefully carry forward what we’ve achieved here.

1          Justin WILSON                   GBR            Coca-Cola Nordic Racing            1:37.851

2          Jaime MELO Jr.                  BRZ            Durango                                     1:37.900

3          Mark WEBBER                   AUS           Super Nova                                 1:38.235

4          Patrick FRIESACHER         AUT            Red Bull Junior                            1:38.436

5          Mario HABERFELD              BRZ           Super Nova                                1:38.453

6         Rodrigo SPERAFICO            BRZ            Coloni                                       1:38.489

7         Tomas ENGE                      CZE            Coca-Cola Nordic Racing            1:38.511

8         Darren MANNING                  GBR          Arden Team Russia                    1:38.560

9         Antonio PIZZONIA                BRZ            Petrobras Junior                         1:38.634

10        Ricardo SPERAFICO            BRZ            Petrobras Junior                         1:38.677