F3000.com 2000 Reports by Samantha Moakes
F3000.com 1999 Reports by Samantha Moakes  

F3000.com 2000 Reports by Samantha Moakes

2000 Round 1 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

Nicolas Minassian kick started his season by taking his second F3000 victory of
his career. With superb manoeuvre at the start he dealt with Bruno Junqueira
quickly to take the win by a small margin. The title favourite was never far
behind the Frenchman but couldn't find a way around the D2 Playlife Supernova.

A reduced grid for the new millennium saw new faces and new teams. With Nick
Heidfeld taking his place in Formula One Stéphane Sarrazin took his place at the
newly name Mysap.com team, formerly West Competition with new team mate, Jordan
test driver, Thomas Enge. Amongst the debutants are Spaniard Fernando Alonso and
Australian Mark Webber, who are both in the Formula One test drivers club,
Alonso for Minardi and Webber for Arrows. Britain's Darren Manning also has his
career back on track with a seat at Arden and a test driving deal with no other
than BAR.

Bruno Junqueira put the disappointment of the Williams shoot out behind him as
he took pole for the first race ahead of Minassian and a remarkable performance
be Webber and Jamie Melo Jr for Petrobras. As Kevin McGarrity stalls on the
grid, Minassian gets the jump on Junqueira and heads off into the first corner
with a slender lead over the Brazilian.

The first few laps weren't without incident, Ricardo Maurício and one of the Kid
Jensen Racing cars touch, both rejoined at the back, Maurício later retires as a
result. Andre Couto also retires early after a spin with Enrique Bernoldi
retiring with gearbox trouble after. A brilliant move by Brazilian, Mario
Haberfeld to correct an error rescued his chances of making an impression in
this years Championship.

Minassian had the smallest of advantages over Junqueira as the top six pulled
away from the rest of the field. This was the case throughout the race with
Junqueira making some decent attempts to pass the Frenchman without much success
as he kept his cool. Bruno Junqueira and Mark Webber were having a fight of
their own for second place, currently occupied by the Brazilian. A four second
gap to Melo in fourth gave the Australian room top plan his move on the
Petrobras man.

Indonesian racer, Ananda Mikola had a creditable debut in the series; he started
near the back of grid and made his way up to 17th through several laps but a few
spins but paid to all the work and he eventually retired after missing his
breaking point and stalling in the gravel.

What of the Brits? Justin Wilson was the top finishing eighth in his first race
for Nordic while Darren manning finished four places further back with Kevin
McGarrity crossing the line in 15th. All had a fairly quiet race with no major
incident, but with the British Grand Prix support race next, all will be eager
to improve and make a good impression.

So, Minassian crossed the line for his second victory in the series with
Junqueira a close second. A pleasing performance by Webber to take the last step
of the podium, his first race since the frightful flips at Le Mans last year. A
surprising performance by Sarrazin saw him take seventh position after an awful
qualifying session put him well down. Lets see what happens at Silverstone, the
home track of many of the teams and the scene of endless test sessions for the
drivers. Junqueira will need a good performance to keep his title hopes alive.

2000 Round 2 Reports by Samantha Moakes   FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

After an impressive start to the season, Australian, Mark Webber claimed
his first F3000 victory in only his second race. In his second single
seater race since 1997, the Arrows F1 team test driver showed that even
the diabolical British weather can't spoil his race day. It was a good
day for the Brits as polesitter, Darren Manning and Justin Wilson both
finished on the podium behind Webber. Of course Webber is also close to
the hearts of many British fans as he raced for most his in the lower
British Formulae.

The conditions after Formula One qualifying worsened and subsequently
the race was delayed by 20 minutes as the track was given time to dry
out. Visibility was poor as a result of the huge amount of spray kicking
up, which prompted a race start under the safety car.

The race properly started on lap five out of forty with Manning getting
away cleanly with Webber close behind Wilson was already challenging
Webber as they headed for Copse but the Australian held second. Fabrice
Walfisch spun his Astromega out of eighth place at Becketts on the first
race lap, the site of many spins throughout the race, Stéphane Sarrazin,
Ricardo Maurício and Christijan Albers to name a few.

Manning had increased his lead to over two and a half seconds when it
was clear the track was drying and pitstops were an option. An
aggressive move by Webber at Club saw him take the lead of the race,
Manning had the inside line for the second part of the corner but Webber
came back at him to take the place, amazing car control from both
drivers as they managed to stay on the track. Within a few laps the
Australian had gained several seconds over Manning, clearly he had a
better set up for the conditions.

1998 British Formula Three Champion, Mario Haberfeld was the next victim
of Becketts as he spun on lap eleven, he recovered to rejoin well down
the field in 21st place. Meanwhile, Manning was becoming under
increasing pressure by fellow Brit Justin Wilson in third, as his car
began to respond better to the drying track, Manning closed the gap to
Webber and began to pull away from Wilson.

Aided by many spins and retirements Bas Leinders climbed up the field
from 25th to 15th, in the closing stages he battled with Jamie Melo Jr
who didn't look like he would halt the Belgian's charge. French Formula
Three Champion, Sebastian Bourdais caught Dane, Kristian Kolby in the
same place in which Webber made move on Manning, this time Kolby gave
the Frenchman room to pass not risking a finish so close to the end of
the race. Championship leader, Nicolas Minassian showed his car was
perfect for the conditions as he took Kolby and other Briton, Kevin
McGarrity in two corners.

Manning was catching Webber every lap, his tyres clearly working better
than those of Webber's were. The Englishman still had Wilson breathing
down his neck, but held on the claim second as he couldn't quite pass
Webber. Brazilians Enrique Bernoldi and Bruno Junqueira had steady races
both remaining in the top six throughout the race and not facing too
many dramas as they crossed the line in fifth and sixth. The day was all
about the top three though, Webber has well and truly got his career
back on track and Darren Manning and Justin Wilson have completed a very
satisfying days work in their home country. Manning's success at this
race meeting continues, he can now add a second place F3000 finish to
his two Formula Three victories. It has been a thrilling race but I
think no one will be sad to see the race moved back to its original July
slot.

2000 Round 3 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

Bruno Junqueira won what was a dramatic third round of the F3000 Championship
to take the lead of the Championship by two points from Nicolas Minassian. The
drama started before the race had even run a lap when Fortec driver, Mario
Haberfeld escaped serious injury in a three car shunt in qualifying.

The Brazilian lost control of his car on the last corner but was hit by
Piccini and then Minassian as he rolled back onto the circuit leaving a cloud
of dust behind. When Haberfeld was cut from the wreckage he was found to have
muscle damage on his left leg, a lucky escape to a nasty accident.

It was unfortunate that the accident to Haberfeld over shadowed the first pole
position of compatriot, Enrique Bernoldi. The Brazilian had romped to pole in
qualifying his nearest contender was Junqueira who didn't push his car in
qualifying and Tomas Enge in third, who consistently has beaten Sarrazin in
every race so far.

Bernoldi made the perfect getaway from pole sweeping across the track to block
any challenge from Junqueira who lost the second to a fast starting David
Saelens. The Red Bull Jr driver quickly built up a lead over the rest of the
field. He held the lead for around 20 laps until he developed a tyre problem
that sparked off his demise. Saelens was the first to capitalise on Bernoldi's
problem but not after a fight for the place in which Junqueira snatched the
lead as he took Saelens.

Bernoldi began to drop down the field but he wasn't about to give up without a
fight. Jeffrey van Hooydonk was the first to cop the Bernoldi treatment when
the Brazilian weaved and the KTR driver was forced into the pitlane exit. He
wasn't so nice when his team mate tried to pass him though. Ricardo Maurício
made a dive down the inside of Bernoldi onto the grass, Bernoldi shut the door
and they both spun, cue a double Red Bull retirement.  Maurício had every
right to be angry at his team mate's manoeuvre which cost a possible points
finish for the team.

Minassian was beginning to catch Saelens, both were not 100% fit, Minassian
sore after the shunt with Haberfeld and Saelens had an injured shoulder from
training. Minassian was able to take second ahead of his team mate as a result
of the incredibly physical conditions of the circuit. Minassian began to reel
in Junqueira but the challenge came to late.

Tomas Enge spun out of fourth place and handed it to Jeffrey van Hooydonk who
took his KTR car to its best finish so far this year. Briton's Justin Wilson
claimed another points finish to move to fourth in the Championship with
Franck Montagny coming home in sixth. Silverstone winner Mark Webber had a
race to forget an early incident left him with a puncture forcing him to
retire towards the end of the race.

A needed victory for Junqueira which he delivered in style to the Petrobras
team. Having scored in all three races so far you can't fault his consistency.
Webber can't afford to have another race like this if he wants to win the
Championship.

2000 Round 4 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

"Carnage" is the best word to describe the fourth round of the International
F3000 Championship at the Nurburgring, no less than eight cars fell foul of the
damp conditions and tight corners to retire instantly from the race. Amongst the
retirees was Fernando Alonso who parked his Astromega on top of Ricardo Maurício
at the first corner, both were lucky to escape injury in what was a nasty
accident. At the same corner McGarrity, Ayari, Saelens, van Hooydonk and Webber
were all lost from the race.

Poleman, David Saelens made a poor getaway to let a flying Enrique Bernoldi take
the lead from fourth on the grid as the first of four safety car periods took
hold. Amazingly at the first corner Briton, Darren Manning made up an incredible
16 places as he straight lined the corner to avoid the chaos. No sooner had the
safety car pulled back into the pits was it deployed again after Bas Leinders
spun and an unlucky Nicolas Minassian clipped the back of the KJR car, both
retired.

At the restart, Justin Wilson made a good move stick to take seventh from
Stéphane Sarrazin. Bernoldi increased his lead over Bruno Junqueira and Tomas
Enge only to retire on lap 14 with a broken left-rear suspension. Another
disappointment for the Red Bull Jr squad who several weeks before had to suffer
the same agony as Bernoldi took out team mate, Maurício while leading in
Barcelona.

To add to the drama, the unpredictable Eiffel Mountains through out another
torrential downpour which lead to pitstops, Fabrizio Gollin was the first of the
runners to take wet tyres. Before he had even got to the pitlane, Justin Wilson
went out of the race in the most dramatic fashion. A spinning Wilson was hit by
Montagny who had nowhere to go but into the side pod of Wilson's car. Both
drivers were lucky to escape serious injury while both cars were written off as
a result.

Junqueira shows just how bad the conditions were as he spun his Petrobras down
to eighth spot as he entered the pits. The safety car stayed out while the
conditions calmed down. At the restart the surprise leader was Andreas Scheld
who had risked the rain and stayed on slick tyres. The second huge accident of
the day came courtesy of Fabrice Walfisch. The spray impaired his vision as he
ran straight into the back of Enge, which had a knock on effect as Enge spun and
Junqueira avoided another colossal accident, as he spun in avoidance. Once again
the safety car appeared as the wreckage was cleared.

Scheld and Junqueira had a battle for the lead but it wasn't long before the
Brazilian took charge of the race and pulled away. The German was guaranteed
second place, as his nearest rival was 33 seconds behind. Jamie Melo Jr was in
no danger of making a move as he was dealt two stop/go penalties in the closing
stages of the race.

As the rain abated Junqueira took the flag ahead of Scheld and third place
Gollin. Unfortunately all the hard work done by Scheld was undone as he was
disqualified after the race for a technical fault on the car, this promoted
Couto onto the podium. Junqueira seems to have got his grip on the championship
four races into the season, will it be a hat-trick at Monaco for the Brazilian?

2000 Round 5 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

A flu-stricken Bruno Junqueira created history last weekend by securing a hat
trick of wins this season to take a commanding lead in the Championship. The
Williams Test driver benefited from a first corner incident which left Sebastian
Bourdais in the wall at Ste Devote. Having not expected this gift the Brazilian
took it easy until his tyres were up to temperature, "It's so difficult to go
quick on cold tyres at Monaco" explains Junqueira.

British Fortec substitute, Jamie Davies benefited from the first corner incident
as he moved up to third with Sarrazin in fourth as Saelens rejoined behind him.
Stéphane Sarrazin was having the best race of his season and his most
competitive until his fuel pressure dropped and he slowed. Attempting to clear
the racing line at Portiers, the unfortunate Ricardo Maurício slammed into him-
queue two more retirements. Saelens moved to third with Enrique Bernoldi
promoted to fourth with Webber, Minassian, McGarrity and Montagny following. At
Loews Justin Wilson made a brilliant manoeuvre on Montagny gaining a place as
well as a reputation for his demon overtaking.

On lap 32 the safety car was called out when Enrique Bernoldi hit the marbles at
Tabac and slid into the barrier. Junqueira's lead shrunk as a result giving
Davies a chance to take the lead at the re-start. Marc Hynes had a huge accident
that forced the safety car to stay out as his left rear tyre flew off causing
the Brit to fly across the track and slam the barrier.

Davies couldn't keep up with Junqueira at the re-start who pulled put a gap
instantly but Davies had no problems holding on to second place to collect his
first points of 2000. Minassian made a mistake at Ste Devote to let McGarrity
through at Beau Rivage. Then Webber came under increased pressure from McGarrity
and eventually succumbed to the pressure and hit the wall at Tabac. " Mark kept
looking in his mirrors at me and what happened was inevitable, I saw it early
and dropped back from him to keep out of the way", explained McGarrity.

David Saelens took third place at the flag with McGarrity, Minassian and
Montagny taking the final points with only 12 of the 26 starters finishing.
Junqueira has this Championship in both hands and looking for another win at
Magny-Cours in a month's time. And with a possible drive in the Canadian Grand
Prix up for grabs courtesy of an injured Ralf Schumacher, life couldn't be
better for the Brazilian.

2000 Round 6 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

Magny-Cours provided the venue for the round six of the F3000
Championship so it was only fitting that Frenchmen Nicolas Minassian and
Sebastien Bourdais completed a French one-two in their home race.
Minassian claimed a lights-to-flag victory after convincingly beating
pole man, Bourdais off the line.

Qualifying throw out some surprises as 21 year old Bourdais scored his
second front row start in succession while Spaniard, Fernando Alonso
took his best qualifying slot of the year in third. It was an all round
bad weekend for series leader Junqueira as he could only manage ninth on
the grid for the 49 lap race. Brazilian Mario Haberfeld returned after a
two month lay off after sustaining serious leg injuries in a crash at
Barcelona, he qualified fifth fastest.

 Minassian got ahead of his compatriot into the first corner a move that
decided the race winner. Having been punted off at the first corner in
Monaco, Bourdais wasn't going to make any rash move to keep his
advantage.  "I thought my fresh tyres would give me an advantage in the
early stages if I could get ahead, I almost managed to block Nicolas but
I wasn't going to take stupid risks on the first lap".

The first of only three victims of the track were Marc Hynes and the
unfortunate Ricardo Maurício who collided at the hairpin on the first
lap, both retired immediately. Maurício must be the unluckiest driver
this year retiring mostly through no fault of his own. In this instance,
Hynes couldn't avoid hitting the Brazilian as several cars tripped over
each other causing the inevitable clash, cue safety car.

At the restart, Alonso got a brilliant start and flew by Junqueira and
then Webber who had passed him at the start. Bruno Junqueira continued
his bad weekend when having made his way into the points; he spun at the
hairpin on lap six to drop down the field. This allowed David Saelens to
make up a place and latch onto the lead pair. Running with a brake
problem the Super Nova driver had a near disastrous moment when at the
hairpin his brakes locked. "I thought, 'Oh no!' I just couldn't slow
down enough and for a second I thought I was going to hit Sebastien. I
decided it was better to spin", explained the Belgian. He did so and
lost few seconds to the lead cars.

It all ended for 18 year old Alonso on the 16th when his engine cut out
allowing Montagny to gain a place until Sarrazin took him for the place.
The hard work was undone when he spun away the points and handed fifth
to Enge as Montagny re-took his fourth. This sixth place was to be
Sarrazin's third point of the year, not a good record for someone who
was the pre-season title favourite.

A faultless second victory for Minassian and a good weekend for the
French contingent as four of the six points scorers were of French
origin. The title battle became closer as Junqueira's lead is now only
ten points over Minassian, the non-score clearly hurting Junqueira's
lead.

2000 Round 7 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

Self inflicted misfortune denied Belgium a place on the podium handing
Nicolas Minassian his second consecutive race win this season and a
share of the Championship lead. Pole sitter Jeffrey van Hooydonk and
second placed David Saelens both jumped the start to allow Minassian a
clear run to the finish and claim ten more valuable points.

It was a case of last man out who claimed pole after a downpour made
conditions tricky. Van Hooydonk grabbed the pole from compatriot
Saelens. Luckless Junqueira could only manage a lowly 20th on the grid
while title challenger Minassian took fourth alongside Marc Webber.

As the Belgians leapt out the blocks Minassian and Webber battled for
the real lead behind. The Australian began to fall back and blamed the
lack of traction his European Racing machine had out of the slow
corners. "The start was horrible", explained Webber, "I couldn't get
through the corners at all. It was fine after 10 laps when the tyres had
warmed up, but the damage was done".

It was an encouraging weekend for the Brits as Darren Manning qualified
seventh, after provisionally holding pole, and found himself racing in
second half way through the race battling for position with Sebastien
Bourdais. The Frenchman sized up a move on the Yorkshireman only to find
himself on the grass as Manning moved over as he braked into the corner.
Bourdais lost third place to Justin Wilson in the process and was
furious. "I thought Darren was a man of principal, but it is not true,
it was stupid we could have ended up in the gravel," said Bourdais.

Wilson began to pressurise Manning and with in a few laps of reeling him
in, the Nordic driver past Manning with ease. The gap from the Brits to
Minassian increased to two seconds only for that lead to diminish as the
Safety car came out. Christijan Albers ran into the gravel and took
Andre Couto with him. Albers attempted to rejoin on to stall on the
track by the pit wall.

Minassian didn't get enough power at the re-start and had Wilson
breathing down his neck, it was almost certain that the Brit would take
the lead but Minassian managed to hold him off and pull away. A
determined Wilson tried several moves on the Frenchman but to no avail.
The Safety Car once more ruined Minassian's efforts as Soheil Ayari and
Andrea Piccini clashed. Ricardo Maurício, who didn't take the start as a
result of a fuel pump failure, made Minassian's life easier as his team
unintentionally put him on the track between him and Wilson spoiling
what could have been a spectacular scrap to the line.

Minassian took the opportunity and romped to another ten points to take
him level on points with Junqueira. The Brazilian had a respectable race
although he failed to gain a point by finishing seventh behind Fernando
Alonso.  With three races remaining, Junqueira must be feeling the
pressure as the title chase is far from over.

2000 Round 8 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

It was a tail of the two Tomas' at a rain affected seventh round of the
Championship in Germany. Czech driver, Tomas Enge was victorious over
South African Tomas Scheckter to become the first Czech driver in
history to win an F3000 race. A tactical battle between the two
Mysap.com team mates saw the Czech take Scheckter on the final lap of
the race securing the teams first one-two of the season.

On a wet track the race was started under the Safety Car to avoid the
almost certain first corner incident. Marc Webber was caught out by the
start losing position to Jeffry van Hooydonk, the Australian quickly
found his feet and swiftly re-passed the Belgian and also took Scheckter
for second. Enge continued to pull away from Webber and Scheckter as the
track began to dry.

Justin  Wilson was he first to try his luck on slicks, his timing
couldn't have been worse as it started to rain while he pitted. His
retirement came soon after, he collided with Fernando Alonso as the
Spaniard tried to lap the Briton. The Safety Car came out once again as
the downpour hit the Jim Clark chicane, incredibly the rest of the track
was virtually dry.

Title contender, Bruno Junqueira was having another race to forget as
his hopes of a podium disappeared when he slid into the back of David
Saelens at the Ostkurve, taking Dino Morelli off in the process. The
Brazilian pitted for a new nose and slicks but played no part in the
race soon after when he retired in the pits with gearbox problems.
Franck Montagny was making progress through the field until he collided
with van Hooydonk resulting in their retirement, handing Bernoldi
fourth, Piccini and Minassian rounding out the top six. Minassian soon
began to fall back as his wet weather tyres deteriorated fast on the
drying track.

As Scheckter passed Webber for second, Enge took to the pitlane to get
slick tyres, this handed the rookie the lead of the race. Enge rejoined
in ninth after a left rear problem during the pitstop. Scheckter in only
his second F3000 race found himself with a huge lead over Webber as the
South African elected to stay out on his wet tyres. This choice looked
like it would pay off as Enge was battling with Bernoldi as they tried
to pass Haberfeld for sixth place. Enge spun at the Jim Clark chicane,
which looked to end his chance of winning. But the Czech not only caught
Bernoldi but also passed him and Haberfeld to move into a points scoring
position.

Scheckter also had a moment at the Ostkurve that cut his lead over
Webber. As Scheckter retained the lead, his team mate rapidly cut
through the field taking Kolby and Piccini for third. He then took
Webber on the last corner of the lap reeling in his team mate in the
process. Scheckter was disposed of on the start/finish line of the last
lap, leaving Enge to drive of in the distance to take the race 6.3
seconds ahead of Scheckter.

Kolby took his first F3000 points while Bernoldi held off Minassian for
sixth. With two rounds remaining both Minassian and Junqueira are still
level on 38 points.

2000 Round 9 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship 

Bruno Junqueira edged closer to the F3000 crown by dominating the
largely processional race in Budapest. The Brazilian secured the win
after leading the race from start to finish at the notoriously tight
circuit, however this has to be the most processional formula 3000 race
ever held at the circuit. All the over taking came within the first
hundred yards, deciding the finishing order before they even finished
the first lap.

Junqueira made a good start from pole and was followed by a flying
Fernando Alonso who moved ahead of a slow starting Justin Wilson to take
second into the first corner. Ricardo Maurício enjoyed one of his better
races this season, having made a good start from fifth, the diminutive
Brazilian moved up to third, where he stayed to claim his first F3000
podium of his career.

The top six took the flag in the same order, while the rest of the field
endured a remarkably small number of collisions and retirements. An
optimistic move by Tomas Scheckter entertained the crowd into the first
chicane, Marc Goosens bounced up on two wheels into the gravel.
Scheckter dropped to the rear after a pitstop for repairs. To add to a
disastrous weekend for Mysap.com, Tomas Enge stalled on the grid and
forced to start at the back of the field, a far cry from the race before
in which they took a one-two.

Mario Haberfeld visited the gravel more than once during the race, while
Kevin McGarrity retired after contact with Soheil Ayari. The only drama
came when Kristian Kolby spun out, forcing the safety car out. This
closed things at the front allowing Alonso to get a run at Junqueira on
the restart. Junqueira had everything under control and began to pull
out once again.

Maurício was having a lonely race in third, with no trouble from
Minassian in fourth, the Red Bull Jr driver could concentrate on taking
his first F3000 podium. A lack of pace for Minassian meant he spent the
entire race fending off attention from Wilson who just couldn't find a
way by the Frenchman.

This vital win for Junqueira has put his title hopes back on track once
again. With a seven point lead going into the finale at Spa, Minassian
has all the work to do.

2000 Round 10 Reports by Samantha Moakes  FIA Formula 3000 International Championship