 Italy F3000 2002 review.
Story by Andrew Frampton.
A third place finish in the final round of the International Formula 3000 Championship was enough to crown the former Prost F1 driver Tomas Enge as 2002 champion. The final round also saw Bjorn Wirdheim take his first victory in the formula, at the end of his debut season - doing so in dominant fashion, leading from lights-to-flag. However, Enge's achievements were overshadowed by the news that the Czech had failed an FIA drugs test following the previous round at Spa-Francorchamps, leaving his championship glory in doubt.
Wirdheim secured his first pole position of the season by a margin of nearly 0.2 seconds, with the Italian Giorgio Pantano, the championship outsider, joining the young Swede on the front row. Having kept in contention with victory at Spa, Pantano needed to take victory at Monza to have any chance of taking the championship title. However, his championship rivals weren't far behind, with Enge lining up third, and the Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the championship leader, in seventh. Although its drivers were not in contention for the title, the Astromega and Petrobras teams had a good final qualifying session of the season with Rob Nguyen and Mario Haberfeld lining up fourth and sixth for Astromega, with Antonio Pizzonia and Ricardo Sperafico taking fifth and eighth positions.
At the front of the field Wirdheim made an excellent start from his maiden pole position as Pantano pressured for a way past. The other championship challengers had mixed fortunes at the start, with Enge dropping down as low as sixth before fighting his way back to fourth spot by lap five, seemingly on target for championship success as Bourdais struggled. The Frenchman made a poor start, dropping to the nether regions of the top ten. Although he fought his way back to fifth position, an engine failure forced his retirement at two-thirds distance.
At this point Wirdheim led Pantano, Pizzonia and Enge, while the complexion of the race changed on lap 22 when Ricardo Mauricio, Enrico Toccacello, Nguyen and Derek Hill clashed while disputing fifth position, resulting in the appearance of the safety car. Due to the amount of debris on the track, the cars only got one further lap in race conditions, in which Wirdheim stood firm amid the constant pressure from Pantano, whose necessity to make a move for the lead forced him into a mistake, and he dropped to fourth behind Pizzonia and Enge. Although the Czech had not shown his form of earlier in the season, it had been a calculated performance that netted him the title. The earlier skirmishes promoted Ricardo Sperafico to fifth, and Nicolas Kiesa to sixth, to wrap up a good end of season performance from the PSM team.
Race Result:
1. Bjorn Wirdheim (Arden)
2. Antonio Pizzonia (Petrobras) +1.580s
3. Tomas Enge (Arden) +2.308s
4. Giorgio Pantano (Coloni) +2.341s
5. Ricardo Sperafico (Petrobras) +3.313s
6. Nicolas Kiesa (PSM) +4.116s
Final Championship Positions
1. Tomas Enge 58pts
2. Sebastien Bourdais 55pts
3. Giorgio Pantano 51pts
4. Bjorn Wirdheim 28pts
5. Antonio Pizzonia 24pts
6. Rodrigo Sperafico 20pts
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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