FIA International F3000 Round 3: Barcelona (E), 6th May 2000

At the start Bernoldi moved across the track to defend first place, allowing Saelens to pass Junqueira into 2nd. Enge dropped to 4th ahead of Minassian. In the midfield McGarrity made contact with another car halfway round the lap, forcing him to pit for a new nose. The Nordic driver later retired. Championship leader Webber also came into the pits with a cut tyre, and thereafter treated the race as an extended test session.

On lap 2 local hero Fernando Alonso (Astromega) spun attempting to pass Sebastien Bourdais (Gauloises Formula) but recovered. Soheil Ayari then spun out of fourth and retired. Meanwhile Junqueira was chasing Saelens in a close battle for 2nd, a few seconds behind Bernoldi who began to pull away. Alonso closed up to Fabrizio Gollin (Coloni), passing on the straight by almost using the pit lane exit. He soon closed up to Yves Olivier (Witmeur KTR), passing for 20th. At this stage of the race the battle at the back was the most exciting action on track. On lap 9 the Spaniard then closed on Kristian Kolby, attempting to pass into the turn 10 left-hander. The cars collided and went off the track. Although both recovered Kolby was forced to retire in the pits the following lap. Darren Manning (Arden) was running well, moving up into 10th from 19th on the grid. His teammate Viktor Maslov then four-wheel-drifted off the track on the final corner before rejoining.

After 19 laps Bernoldi still led from Saelens, Junqueira, Enge, Minassian and Jeffrey van Hooydonk. Meanwhile Alonso had recovered again to close up to Gollin, passing him into the first corner at the start of the 21st lap. More significantly Tomas Enge threw away 4th place by spinning out of the race. The Czech once again was racing in his distinctive 'tail-out' style. It was another poor showing from the junior McLaren team. Alonso then passed Yves Olivier in his spectacular charge, before passing Ananda Mikola (WRT) for 17th when the Indonesian ran wide on the final corner, snaking along the grass verge of the straight and almost rubbing the wall before rejoining.

Now a battle was emerging for the lead, Saelens and Junqueira closing up on a troubled Bernoldi. With 15 laps to go Saelens tried to pass Bernoldi on the straight, ultimately losing out to Junqueira who sneaked past the Belgian on the outside as Bernoldi defended. Minassian was then able to close up on the battle for the lead. On lap 30, Junqueira took the lead from a visibly struggling Bernoldi into the first corner, Saelens following into 2nd. Minassian went by Bernoldi on the straight for 3rd, the Brazilian then coming under pressure from van Hooydonk. After Mikola had another off track excursion at the back, van Hooydonk scraped past Bernoldi in a spectacular scrap which allowed Justin Wilson (Nordic) through and ended in Bernoldi colliding with teammate Ricardo Mauricio who attempted to pass. Both Red Bull cars spun and came in to retire. Bernoldi was suffering from a problem with his left rear tyre, later diagnosed as a slow puncture.

With four laps to go Junqueira led from Saelens and Minassian, but Frenchman Minassian passed the Belgian around the outside of the first corner, the two teammates almost colliding. The pair in second were unable to challenge leader Junqueira who pulled out a gap of over 6 seconds.

At the chequered flag Bruno Junqueira took his second F3000 victory, his first of the year, to put himself in the lead in the championship standings. Imola winner Minassian took 2nd, moving up into 2nd in the standings, with Saelens matching his previous best with 3rd. Fourth place went to van Hooydonk who finished ahead of Wilson and Franck Montagny (DAMS). Montagny and DAMS had suffered a lacklustre season so far. Darren Manning drove well to take 7th, showing his potential had qualifying gone better, with fellow rookie Sebastien Bourdais (Gauloises Formula/Prost junior) in 8th ahead of Sarrazin. On the podium Junqueira and Minassian perhaps learnt from Imola, where they had dropped and smashed their trophies. This time it was Saelens' turn, though thankfully his was not made of glass!

The next round supports the Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in two weeks time.

QUALIFYING:

*Note: Haberfeld will not start due to injury in qualifying accident. Drivers behind move up one place on the grid accordingly.

(All cars Lola B99/50-Zytek).

RACE RESULT:

(All cars Lola B99/50-Zytek)

Scoring: 10-6-4-3-2-1.

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: