2004 Official Silverstone Race Programme.

Formula 3000 Prospecting for diamonds
Article: Simon Arron

The FIA Formula 3000 Championship is one of motor sport’s most efficient academies. The proof? More than 80 apprentices have passed through en route to becoming fully fledged Grand Prix drivers. The series continues its 20th season here at Magny-Cours this weekend.

Many years ago motor sport was the preserve of a privileged few within a select group of countries. Today, however, it has spread far beyond its original European heartland to establish a toehold all around the world. And its tentacles gain an ever broader grip with each passing season.

As a consequence, a growing number of bright young star from increasingly diverse backgrounds are striving to secure one of the coveted – but strictly limited – places on the Formula 1 grid.

The reward for those who taste success in karting and junior single-seater racing is the chance to climb a ladder of diminishing opportunity. The higher you rise the harder it becomes to sustain progress. Gradually, however, many of the sport’s finest prospects filter into the F3000 Championship. And a glittering CV is no guarantee of success, because at this level drivers are competing against kindred spirits. To most of them, winning on four wheels is second nature – and has been since they were eight or nice years old.

Rivalry in the series tends to be very close – and the competitive edge is heightened because teams are compelled to use identical Lola chassis, Avon tyres and 460bhp Zytek V8 engines. When it comes to performance differentials, the most influential component is the one sitting behind the wheel.

Half the drivers on this weekend’s Formula 1 grid are F3000 graduates – including Juan Pablo Montoya, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso, Olivier Panis, Cristiano da Matta, Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano. Other celebrated alumni include 1996 World Champion Damon Hill.

This year’s Championship field contains several highly rated drivers. Much is expected of Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, last season’s leading rookie, who has signed for defending Champion team Arden International. And Jose Maria Lopez is tipped as Argentina’s next great racing hope. He has attracted backing from Renault, whose V6 Eurocup title he won last season, and has already impressed while testing the French manufacturer’s Formula 1 chassis. He will race for the Coloni-run CMS Performance team alongside Mathias Lauda, son of triple Formula 1 World Champion Niki.

How valuable a role foes F3000 play in a young driver’s education? Arden International chief Christian Horner says: ‘This is a brilliant formula because it places a real emphasis on driver ability. It supports all the European Grand Prix and helps many of the sport’s young stars to learn the tracks they’ll race on if they reach the very top. They also get first-hand experience of the kind of discipline involved during a Grand prix race weekend and I believe that stands them in good stead.’

David Sears head the Super Nova team that has guided four drivers – including Montoya – to the title during the past nine seasons. He says: ‘The best thing about F3000 is that you can’t buy a technical advantage. Everybody has an equal chance. It’s tough, but that’s a positive thing. If a driver is going to make it to Formula 1, this is the kind of preparation they need. Motor sport is not meant to be easy.’


Separate feature
> Fairest of Arden <

One driver has won four of this year’s FIA Formula 3000 Championship races – but the title battle remains improbably tight.

For most drivers, the month-long break between the fourth round of the FIA F3000 series at the Nurburgring and last weekend’s reprise at Magny-Cours was a welcome breather. For Vitantonio Liuzzi, it was torture.

The Arden International driver started his campaign with three straight wins – the first driver in the 20-season history of the series to have achieved such a feat. His subsequent failure to score in Germany - the consequence of an early puncture following a brush of wheels – didn’t just end his run, it left him second in the points table behind the ultra-consistent Enrico Toccacelo (BCN).

‘That was incredibly frustrating for me,’ Liuzzi says. ‘The points system affects all of us in the same way, but I went away from the Nurburgring thinking “How can I not be leading the championship?”. I was determined to put things to rights at Magny-Cours.’

The result in France? Perhaps his finest drive of the season. He qualified on pole, made a flying start and drove a tactically perfect race to win at a canter. ‘That has put me in a very positive frame of mind for Silverstone.’ He says. ‘I like the track very much and it is also important for Arden, which would love to win its home event’.

The result also catapulted Liuzzi into a six-point championship lead, because Toccacelo – runner-up to his compatriot in the season’s first three races and winner at the Nurburgring – lost his 100 per cent scoring record. After starting eighth, the first time this year he has not joined Liuzzi on the front row of the grid, Toccacelo was running sixth before his mandatory tyre stop disintegrated into farce and he slipped from contention.

Veteran series runner Tomas Enge was an encouraging second at Magny-Cours for the fledgling Ma-Con Engineering team. Austrian Patrick Friesacher took third for Coloni in his first race since switching from Super Nova – one of a raft of recent driver changes that affected several teams at Magny-Cours.

All photos and article from Silverstone Official Race Programme. All credit goes to them.