2001 Round 10 Race report FIA Formula 3000 International Championship

August  18 HUNGARORING more info Hungary Hungaroring Sport Rt. Pf.10., Mogyoród 2146, H Tel : +3628 444 444 Fax : +3628 441 860

FIA F3000 International Championship.
Round 10 (of 12).
Hungaroring, Hungary.
August 17 – 18^th.

RACE.

Coca-Cola Nordic Racing driver Justin Wilson took his third race win of the season in round ten of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile Formula 3000 International Championship, held at the Hungaroring, Hungary. So far this season Wilson has scored eight podium finishes (three of which were wins) from ten races, leaving the British driver within one point of securing the championship title – becoming the first ever-British driver to do so. 

Just two hours before the start of the tenth round race it was revealed that the European Minardi team would only be fielding one car. Having managed to qualify in ninth place, David Saelens was advised by the FIA Medical Delegate, Professor Sidney Watkins, not to race. It became clear during the evening following qualifying that Saelens had aggravated injuries suffered in his accident at Silverstone five weeks earlier and it was felt that the best course of action would be for him not to race. This now gives Saelens two further weeks to return to fitness before his home grand prix race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the next event on the F3000 calendar. This meant that there would only be 23 cars on the grid with Andre Piccini the sole European Minardi representative.

 What should have been 23 cars quickly turned into 22 when the Coloni of Fabrizio Gollin pitted before the race start to retire. 

Wilson made the best of his pole position on the cleaner and less dusty side of the circuit to pull out a lead of two seconds on the opening lap, with the cars in third and fifth place on the grid, the cleaner left-hand side, securing the second and third position before the first corner. This saw Wilson leading the Red Bull Junior car of Ricardo Mauricio and his teammate Tomas Enge, with championship rival Mark Webber (Super Nova Racing) fourth, Sebastien Bourdais (DAMS) fifth and Darren Manning (Arden Team Russia) sixth. 

“I knew that if I made a good start then the race would be mine,” said Wilson. “This is a very hard circuit to pass at and as long as you can keep it off the dusty parts, then the race is in the bag.”

 Surprisingly, the anticipated first corner carnage never materialized, with the entire grid getting around safely. The only retirement on lap one being the Petrobras Jnr Lola of Antonio Pizzonia, winner of the previous round at Hockenheim in Germany, who span off early into the lap. 

Wilson, once out in front, was able to pull out a clear lead lap after lap, and was never troubled throughout the 38-lap race. “The race was easy for me,” said Wilson, “although the heat was starting to get to me a little. I had already emptied my drinks bottle by the time I still had five laps to go.”

Second placed Mauricio quickly found himself under pressure from Czech driver Enge, who in turn found himself being pushed hard by Webber. With Wilson running away at the front, this three-car battle was the highlight of an otherwise processional race, with Enge holding off Webber until the 25^th lap, whereupon he ran wide at the final corner. This mistake handed third place to Webber, whose championship hopes suddenly took a turn for the better. As Webber passes Enge, he finds the red Coca-Cola car banging wheels as Enge tries to stave off the inevitable. This small collision allowed Silverstone winner Sebastien Bourdais to sneak through for fourth, Enge now down to fifth. 

The next lap saw Enge called in for a 10 second stop-go penalty, the race officials feeling that he had driven dangerously when trying to keep Webber behind. “It’s not the sort of tactics that I would expect from Tomas,” said Webber afterwards. “We are both fighting for championship positions. Maybe some more than others.” 

When Enge pulled into the pits for his penalty on lap 30, Austrian Patrick Friesacher (Red Bull Junior) was able to move into fifth place, with Enge rejoining down in 12^th. “This has not been a good day for me,” offered Enge. “I was running in third place and a podium finish looked certain. I do not think that my move was dangerous at all. We are fighting for points and I felt that I could regain my third place. Then the penalty left me out of the points altogether, so this is a weekend I would rather forget.” Enge finished the race 11^th overall. 

Wilson now led Mauricio, Webber, Bourdais and Friesacher, only for Webber to spin out of the race on the final lap, handing the remaining podium position to Bourdais. “This started out as a good weekend but things have gone from bad to worse,” said Webber. “Now I have to win at Spa and Monza with Justin not in the points if I am to take the drivers championship.”

 With Webber gone, Giorgio Pantano (Team Astromega) finished fifth (claiming his maiden F3000 points) and Bas Leinders (KTR) was sixth. 

Of the 23 starters only 14 finished the race. Marc Goossens (Coloni) retired from tenth place on lap three with an engine problem, whilst Viktor Maslov (Arden Team Russia), Zsolt Baumgartner (Prost Junior), Enrico Toccacelo (Team Astromega) and Mario Haberfeld (Super Nova Racing), all span and retired out on the circuit. 

With Wilson needing just one point from the final two races, his team, Coca-Cola Nordic Racing, managed to secure the Team Championship in Hungary. Such has been their dominance this year; they secured the title after just ten rounds with a total of 95 points. “This has been an amazing season for all of us,” said Team Principal Derek Mower. “And just because we have already won the title, it doesn’t mean that we shall not be fighting for all the points we can in the final two races. There is a maximum of 36 left to win and I would love to break the 100 point barrier.”

 Wilson, who took the chequered flag by 5.5 seconds was quick to point out that it was not so much he that needed to score one point. “Everybody has said to me that I only need to gain one more point for the title,” he explained. “But the way I look at it is like this. Webber needs to score 20 points from the final two races and that is a lot harder than winning just one point.”

 Spa-Francorchamps, the venue for the next round in two weeks time, saw Wilson setting the fastest time in a recent two-day official FIA F3000 test and this could prove to be to his advantage come qualifying. “Bring on Spa – that’s all I can say,” said Wilson.