Race 2 - Success at Last!
Minardi gets first win in 25 years
Rocha is the winner, Caceres the runner up!
First win in the Euroseries 3000 for Tuka Rocha, the
Brasilian driver of the Minardi Team. The Brasilian dominated the
afternoon race, that took place on a dry track after the morning heavy rain.
The team from Faenza, that has been missing the podium since the F.2
times, in England got a full success, 25 years after his last hurrah. Just
after Tuka Rocha, Juan Caceres took the second place, lighting the
deserved joy of the team directed by Giovanni Minardi and Tancredi
Pagiaro. Rocha, 23 years old, from San Paolo, thanks to the support of
the joint venture between Minardi and Gp Racing, finally found the right
balance. After the win Tuka has been congratulated also by his fellows
countrymen Di Grassi and Negrao, involved in the GP2 championship and both
England based. Rocha had no rivals in the race. He took a perfect start,
ahead of Nocera, then he kept increasing his advantage (till a max advantage
of “16).
The rest of the competitors fought bravely, and at the end, overtaking after
overtaking, emerged from the pack the Uruguayan Caceres, who got the
chequered flag 15” later than his team mate. On the lowest step of the
podium we find Oliver Martini (Avelon), who remounted from the sixth row.
Also Bonanomi (FSM), D’Ambrosio (Euronova) and Gattuso (Auto Sport Racing)
earned championships points. Giacomo Ricci (FMS) is still the championship
leader, with one single point of advantage on his teammate Bonanomi, thanks
to the fast lap. The driver from Milan crashed with Cressoni at the
beginning of the race, and he was forced to visit the pits in order to
change one tyre. He restarted and signed the best chrono of the race. The
“Fisichella’s boys” are now followed in the championships standing by Vitaly
Petrov. The russian did not see the chequered flag in race 2, due to a new
gear-box failure.
Race 1
Euronova double show under the Silverstone rain.
Minardi's 4th, 7th and 9th
Euronova made it double in race 1 of the Euroseries
3000 event on the wet track at Silverstone today. Vitaly Petrov got his
third win in the championships. The Russian climbed the podium in all the
last three racing weekend, and today he also had the fastest lap, just two
laps before the end of the race. After him we find another driver from the
Vincenzo Sospiri’s team, Jerome D’Ambrosio. The Belgian, only at his second
experience in the series, ended as close as 3”3 to Petrov, and he attacked
the Russian several times in the final rush, telling clearly that Euronova
found the best set-up for the wet condition.
The race started under really bad weather conditions, so bad that the
officials decided to go for a safety car leaded race for the first two laps.
Pole man Marco Bonanomi was the leader for the 5 initial laps, then the
Fisichella Motor Sport’s driver experienced serious grip problems that
dramatically annoyed his pace as the track became more and more dry. He was
overtaken first by Petrov, then by D’Ambrosio. Three laps short from the
end, he also lost the duels with his teammate Giacomo Ricci and then to
Roldan Rodriguez, and he finished fifth, with some valuable championships
points.
In the very first English race for the Euseries 3000, dominated by the
Euronova team, Giacomo Ricci made the day for the Fisichella Motor Sport.
The driver from Milan, with a good overtaking performance but annoyed by the
bad grip of his car, had to accept at the end the lowest step of the podium.
Roldan Rodriguez finished fourth, just before Bonanomi and Cressoni (Vanni-Traini)
who at the beginning of the race kept for a while the third position, before
a couple of spins. Tuka Rocha (Minardi) and Paolo Nocera (FMS) are
the other drivers who got points, so they will start from the first row this
afternoon in race 2. Ricci now is one point closer to Bonanomi in the
championship standings, while Petrov climbed from the fourth to the third
place overall.
Bonanomi, 6 out of 6 poles
Rodriguez 2nd. Rocha 4th and Caceres 7th
Six out of Six. Marco Bonanomi is the undoubted king of
the poles of the 2006 Euroseries F3000. Apparently, nobody can beat him on
the one-lap distance. In Silverstone the Fisichella Motor Sport driver got
the pole position in the series , thanks to a 1’32”272 time. In the session
that fixed the starting grid for race 1, when finally a little sun shined on
the circuit for a while, Roldan Rodriguez (Minardi) grabbed the
second place. The Spaniard, in his seasonal best qualifying performance, run
in 1’37632, less than 4 tenth slower than the “fast and furious” Bonanomi.
After the spin in the free practise, Vitaly Petrov regained his pace and he
ended third. The Russian from Euronova, coming from his debut in the
GP2 Championships, at 1’37”831. Second row also for Tuka Rocha (Minardi,
1’37”986), who will start side by side to the Russian. Just behind him
Vincenzo Sospiri. All Italian the third row, formed by Matteo Cressoni (Vanni
Racing) and Giacomo Ricci (Fisichella Motorsport). An accident at the
Becketts turn during the fourth lap shifted Olivier Martini to the eight
place, but 9 minutes before the end of the session he was the leader.
Dracone and Gattuso experienced a minor collision, with no damages, and they
re-started. The interest for the Euro 3000 Series showed by the local
motor racing people and fans resulted to be so high that Enzo Coloni will
evaluate the chance to schedule more events in UK next year.
Bonanomi fastest in free practice
followed by Martini and Tuka Rocha. Rodriguez 4th
Marco Bonanomi (Fisichella Motor Sport) showed once
more that he is the man to beat for the qualifying. The driver from Lecco,
with a time of 1’37”336, was clearly the best, no one of his rivals got even
close to him. Oliver Martini (Avelon) and Tuka Rocha (Minardi) desperately
tried to steal him the leadership, but they both failed at the end. The
driver from Emilia-Romagna, for a while the leader in the first laps, did
better than the Brasilian (1’37”516), third with a time of 1’37”573. Just
behind Rocha we find his team mate Roldan Rodriguez (1’37”905). The top-6
are completed by the two Vanni Racing’s guys, Matteo Cressoni (1’37”914) and
the reentering Alex Ciompi (1’38”215). An excellent comeback for Ciompi in
the championships he joined in 2005 with the Fisichella Motor Sport. All the
top-6 stay within one second. Vitaly Petrov (Euronova), is only 14th after a
spin at the Becketts turn. It’s important to underline that the best three
drivers of the session run with better times than the ones signed by the
much more powerfull GP Master Championship cars, scheduled in Silverstone in
this same weekend.
www.euroseries3000.com
Silverstone Timetable
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Saturday 12th August 2006 –
Qualifying
09.00 – 09.30 British Formula
Three Qualifying 1
09.45 – 10.45 GPM 3rd
Official Practice Session
11.00 – 11.45 F3000 Practice
12.00 – 12.30 TGP Qualifying 1
13.00 – 13.45 GPM Qualifying
14.00 – 14.30 British Formula
Three Qualifying 2
14.45 – 15.15 F3000 Qualifying
15.30 – 16.00 TGP Qualifying 2
16.15 – 18.00 Two Seater Running
Sunday 13th August 2006 – Race Day
09.00 – 09.10 TGP Warm Up
09.20 – 09.35 GPM Warm Up
10.00 – 10.35 F3000 - Race 1
10.55 - 11.05 Church Break
11.15 – 11.45 British Formula
Three – Race 1
12.00 – 12.20 GPM Driver Parade
13.00 – 13.55 GPM Race
14.40 – 15.15 TGP Race
15.45 – 16.25 F3000 - Race 2
16.45 – 17.15 British Formula
Three – Race 2 |
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