29 April 2001

FIA International Formula 3000 Championship - Barcelona (pictures here)

Giorgio Pantano scored his best finish so far in today's race at Barcelona. He qualified 10th fastest for the third round of the FIA International Formula 3000 championship and moved into 9th place on the opening lap. Giorgio was to maintain the position throughout the race to the chequered flag. The race was won by Thomas Enge who moves into second place in the table after beating team mate and championship leader Justin Wilson into the first turn. Belgian ace Bas Leinders took second with Wilson third at the flag. Giorgio finished some 29 seconds adrift of the winning Czech.

Porsche Pirelli Supercup - Barcelona

Jesper says: "I had a great race at Barcelona... but I did not finish. We struggled a lot in qualifying mainly down to a bit of bad luck in the second session. Just on the lap where my new tyres started to work the red flags came out because of a crash and that was it... there was nothing more left in the tyres and I qualified in 17th. The race went really well. On lap nine I was up to ninth but then Stéphane Ortelli spun across the circuit just in front of me and then BANG and it was all over. I am quite pleased with the race after all. We made a lot of progress and can now take a lot more knowledge with us to Austria in two weeks time. I am strugling in qualifying to get the best out of the tyres... but it is getting better but it will take a little bit of time."

Danish Touringcar Championship - Jyllands-Ringen

Casper Elgaard holds third place after the opening round of the 2001 Danish Touringcar Championship at Jyllands-Ringen. Casper grabbed pole position in true Schumacher style in the dying seconds of Saturday's qualifying session. Despite taking pole Casper spun away any hopes of a win at the first corner:

“If I was going to win this race, I had to gain a few meters against my competitors right at the start,” he said. “I made a brilliant start and had a good line into the first left-hander, but unfortunately I did overestimate the stickiness of my rear tyres and spin. It was my own stupid error.” Casper managed to work his way back from last to ninth place at the chequered flag of the qualification race setting a new lap record along the way. At the end of the opening lap of the final he was in fifth position. Then he passed the racing brothers Pierre and Mike Legarth – the latter due to engine failure – as well as Jason Watt, and suddenly he was putting pressure on the leading Michael Carlsen. “I got a few chances to pass Carlsen, but I could not really exploit them, and then suddenly the gap between us opened, when I came up to lap a slower car in a yellow flag zone,” stated Casper after the race. “That was it really for my chances, but to be honest second place was probably also the best that I could manage with my tyres, which were getting really warm.”

Gunnar Kristensen was the top Team Brask driver home in the qualifying race in sixth position with colleague Kent Bo Lauridsen in eighth just ahead of Elgaard. In the feature race Team Brask had a strong presence in the top ten as Lauridsen took fifth with Kristensen in sixth.

V-Sports Racing - Oulton Park

Miku Santavirta took second place after fighting his way from the back of the field in the second race. Miku had been forced off the circuit in the opening race when being challenged for the lead by Kevin Clarke.