Wilson fastest at Imola!

[FEUsmart]

Brit Justin Wilson has finished the first official F3000 test of the year at the top of the timesheets.

He set his time, a 1:37.85 this morning (Thursday) in his Coca Cola Nordic Racing run machine. Despite having his testing curtailed in the afternoon after an off on new tyres (his third set of four) Wilson's time remained out of the reach of his competitors.

F1 driver Fernando Alsono was also at the test yesterday, shaking down the European Minardi cars. He set third and sixth fastest times of the day. Regular drivers Saelens and Piccini ended the test in 16th and 19th places
respectively.

The top five positions are as follows:

1. JUSTIN WILSON - COCA COLA NORDIC RACING - 1:37.85
2. Jaime Melo Jnr. - Durango - 1:37.90
3. Mark Webber - Super Nova - 1:38.23
4. Patrick Friesacher - Red Bull Junior - 1:38.43
5. Mario Haberfeld - Super Nova - 1:38.45

Britain's other title contender, Darren Manning was eighth overall for Arden Team Russia.

There is one further official test at Silverstone on March 12/13 before the season gets underway in Brasil at the end of March.

[Marshal]

I'm confused now. According to Autosport.com the times were as follows, which are slower and in a completely different order :confused: Either way jamie Melo looks quick but I think I prefer your set of times as Wilson and Webber are both in the top 3!

Imola testing, day one (Unofficial times)
Pos Driver Team Time
1 Jaime Melo, Durango Formula, 1m38.764s
2 Patrick Freisacher, Red Bull Junior Team, 1m38.855s
3Fernando Alonso (David Saelens' car), European Minardi Junior, 1m38.901s
4 Mario Haberfeld, Super Nova, 1m38.928s
5 Tomas Enge, Nordic, 1m38.947s
6 Fernando Alonso (Andrea Piccini's car), European Minardi Junior, 1m38.971s
7 Justin Wilson, Nordic, 1m39.145s
8 Antonio Pizzonia, Petrobras, 1m39.158s
9 Mark Webber, Super Nova, 1m39.266s
10 Sebastien Bourdais, DAMS, 1m39.454s
11 Rodrigo Sperafico, Coloni, 1m39.616s
12 Ricardo Sperafico, Petrobras, 1m39.699s
13 Darren Manning, Arden, 1m39.775s
14 Antonio Garcia, Red Bull Junior Team, 1m39.843s
15 Fabrizio Gollin, Coloni, 1m39.938s
16 Joel Camathias, KTR, 1m40.394s
17 Ananda Mikola, Astromega, 1m40.560s
18 Bas Leinders, KTR, 1m40.752s
19 Nicolas Filliberti, Prost Junior Team, 1m40.781s
20 Giorgio Pantano, Astromega, 1m40.796s
21 Derek Hill, DAMS, 1m40.858s
22 Gabriele Lancieri, Durango Formula, 1m40.895s
23 Viktor Maslov, Arden, 1m40.995s
24 Gabriele Varano, Prost Junior Team, 1m41.082s
25 Christian Murchison, Fortec, 1m41.437s

[FEUsmart]

The times would be different because Autosport are slow, and only have the times from the first day. Don't let them trick you, JUSTIN WAS FASTEST!!!

[elephino]

And look at that, Mark Webber third fastest over the two days

[redback]

I noticed Christian Murchison, another Aussie, on the time sheet (25th). He was pretty quick in Formula Holden but there is pretty much zero competition in this category. Is Fortec a dud team, is he bulk slow or did he have mechanical trouble? Anyone know?

[FEUsmart]

Fortec have not had much success in F3000 as yet. They go a second place in on race last year, (on attrition and VERY exceptional circumstances!) but had it taken away on a technicalilty. Apart from that, there is not a lot to speak of, although they used to be one of the top teams in British F3, they have not managed to really carry that form through to F3000.

I'm not sure of the specifications of FHolden, but I would imagine that a change of car, and running on unfamiliar circuits like Murchinson would have done at Imola (I presume???) is enough to account for some of the time difference. He was also (I think) in the position of driving the car for the first time, at an official test, where the majority of the drivers have been signed for a while now.

In fact, on the second day of the test, Murchison moved into 23rd place, infront of the two drivers I would consider on about the same rookie-ness level as him, Joel Camathias and Gabriele Varano:

Pos Num Driver Time
1 10 Justin Wilson 1'37.851
2 30 Jamie Melo 1'37.900
3 1 Mark Webber 1'38.235
4 17 Patrik Friesacher 1'38.436
5 2 Mario Haberfeld 1'38.453
6 20 Rodrigo Sperafico 1'38.489
7 9 Tomas Enge 1'38.511
8 15 Darren Manning 1'38.560
9 3 Antonio Pizzonia 1'38.634
10 4 Ricardo Sperafico 1'38.677
11 21 Sebastien Bourdais 1'38.772
12 18 Antonio Garcia 1'38.890
13 25 Bas Leinders 1'39.139
14 19 Fabrizio Gollin 1'39.234
15 16 Viktor Maslov 1'39.327
16 7 David Saelens 1'39.345
17 22 Derek Hill 1'39.352
18 29 Soheil Ayari 1'39.402
19 8 Andrea Piccini 1'39.539
20 5 Ananda Mikola 1'39.737
21 6 Giorgio Pantano 1'39.849
22 11 Nicolas Filiberti 1'39.877
23 23 Christian Murchison 1'40.298
24 12 Gabriele Varano 1'40.410
25 26 Joel Camathias 1'40.468

I've also just remembered that Fortec also had a podium at Monaco last year, with Jamie Davies, so I'm sure with time in the car, Christian will soon be giving you something to cheer about!

[elephino]

FHolden is based on F3000 chassis, modified to fit a Holden (Buick) V6 engine.

[Marshal]

A few interesting things in that definitive list (thanks FEUsmart). Firstly Rodrigo Sperafico 6th and top rookie (I think) beating the fancied Pizzonia (9th) and Pantano (21st). Also that Wilson and Melo are quite well clear of the field relatively(0.5 sec), as it looks like another very close season with 4th to 18th being covered by under a second.

Roll on Interlagos.

[redback]

Thanks for the info FEUsmart. I'll keep an eye on the F3000 results and watch Murcho's progress. There seems to be an awful lot of talent further up the grid so I guess he'll have to learn quickly if he wants to mix it with them.