 Monaco F3000 2002 review.
Story by Andrew Frampton.
Sebastien Bourdais became the first driver to score two wins in this season's International Formula 3000 championship, with an all-conquering performance in Monaco, which saw him finish over eighteen seconds ahead of the Austrian Patrick Friesacher.
Bourdais had taken pole position the previous day, with a second session lap of 1m28.258s, nearly three tenths of a second faster than his closest challenger, Rodrigo Sperafico. Friesacher had been fastest in the first session, but unable to improve his time he would start from third on the grid. Enrico Toccacelo put in a good performance to line up fourth, nine positions ahead of his championship leading team-mate Giorgio Pantano. David Saelens took fifth, ahead of the two Arden International cars of Bjorn Wirdheim and Toms Enge, and the Petrobras machine of Ricardo Sperafico. The top sixteen cars were covered by just 1.5 seconds.
If qualifying was close, then the race was anything but, as Bourdais stormed away from pole position into an unassailable lead. Rodrigo Sperafico held second position before a touch with the unforgiving Monaco barriers damaged his suspension, forcing him into the pits and out of the race on lap nine. Living up to its reputation as a notoriously difficult circuit to master, Sperafico was the seventh driver to retire, joining Pantano, who crashed at the Rascasse on lap three. Saelens and Wirdheim were also already on the retirement list. Rodrigo Sperafico's exit promoted Friesacher to second, but by this stage Bourdais was long gone, and the Austrian would be forced to settle for the second position.
Although Enge had started only seventh, he found himself third once Toccacelo had crashed out at just over half distance. The Czech held the final podium spot to the flag, while Antonio Pizzonia came through from tenth on the grid to take fourth from his Petrobras team-mate Ricardo Sperafico. Alex Muller (Durango) and Ricardo Mauricio (Red Bull Jr) put on an entertaining fight for the final championship point, although it was marred by several collisions, culminating in Mauricio's last corner exit into the tyre wall. Although this should have given Muller his first F3000 point, he was penalised for his part in Mauricio's downfall, and then disqualified altogether after his car was found to be underweight. This promoted Mario Haberfeld, the final runner in this race of attrition, to sixth.
While the Formula One teams travel to Canada, the F3000 championship has a month's break before continuing at the Nurburgring at the end of June.
Monaco Race Result:
1. Sebastien Bourdais (Super Nova) 45laps
2. Patrick Friesacher (Red Bull Jnr) +18.426s
3. Tomas Enge (Arden International) +27.629s
4. Antonio Pizzonia (Petrobras Jnr) +28.440s
5. Ricardo Sperafico (Petrobras Jnr) +34.800s
6. Mario Haberfeld (Astromega) +1m28.700s
Championship Standings:
1. Sebastien Bourdais 24pts
2. Tomas Enge 21pts
3. Giorgio Pantano 17pts
4. Rodrigo Sperafico 16pts
5. Mario Haberfeld 15pts
6. Patrick Friesacher 10pts
2002 F3000 season calendar
30/03/2002 - Sao Paulo
- Brazil grid by JR
- Brazil review by AF
- Brazil lap-by-lap by JR
13/04/2002 - Imola
- San Marino grid by JR
- San Marino review by AF
- San Marino lap-by-lap by JR
27/04/2002 - Barcelona
- Spain grid by JR
- Spain review by AF
- Spain lap-by-lap by JR
11/05/2002 - Spielberg
- Austria grid by JR
- Austria review by AF
- Austria lap-by-lap by JR
25/05/2002 - Monaco
- Monaco grid by JR
- Monaco review by AF
- Monaco lap-by-lap by JR
22/06/2002 - Nürburgring
- Europe grid by JR
- Europe review by AF
- Europe lap-by-lap by JR
06/07/2002 - Silverstone
- Britain grid by JR
- Britain review by AF
- Britain lap-by-lap by JR
20/07/2002 - Magny-Cours
- France grid by JR
- France review by AF
- France lap-by-lap by JR
27/07/2002 - Hockenheim
- Germany circuit by JR
- Germany grid by JR
- Germany review by AF
17/08/2002 - Hungaroring
- Hungary circuit by JR
- Hungary grid by JR
- Hungary lap-by-lap by JR
31/08/2002 - Spa Francorchamps
- Belgium grid by JR
- Belgium review by AF
- Belgium lap-by-lap by JR
14/09/2002 - Monza
- Italy grid by JR
- Italy review by AF
- Italy lap-by-lap by JR
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