30 July 2001

FIA International Formula 3000 Championship - Hockenheim (images here)
Giorgio Pantano staged a stirring fightback from a costly practice crash to finish seventh in the ninth round of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship at Hockenheim, Germany. It was his best result of the season to date.

The Italian lined up only 19th for the race after crashing his Astromega Lola on his very first lap of the weekend. "I just made a mistake," he said, "but it was a big mistake. At first I wasn't sure what had happened, but I think I just missed my braking point coming into the track's stadium section. I braked and tried to turn, but the car just went flying across the gravel and into the barriers." Pantano was forced to sit out the rest of the first qualifying session while the team effected repairs. "We lost valuable track time," Giorgio said, "and the set-up in the second qualifying session was a bit of a compromise because we didn't have as much time as usual to work on the car. It was a frustrating situation, but we fought back well because our car was good in the race, as it always is."

Pantano made light of his lowly starting slot to pass nine cars on the first lap and he gained another place to lie ninth by the end of the second. "The start was fantastic," he said. "Hockenheim is a good track for racing because you can overtake more easily than at some other circuits. I really made the most of that." He lost a place to Bas Leinders on lap five - and then chased hard after the Belgian for the rest of the afternoon. They finished sixth and seventh, 1.2 seconds apart. "I think I was quicker than Bas in some parts of the track, but he was faster than me in others," Giorgio said. "I am happy with the way I drove today, although obviously I would be happier to have scored a point. But I know I drove my absolute maximum and I didn't make any mistakes, so while it was a frustrating weekend in some ways I can also take away a lot of positives."

Porsche Pirelli Supercup - Hockenheim
Jesper Carlsen reports: "I knew it was going to be a difficult one because of the German drivers' circuit knowledge but nevertheless we showed good speed. The problem was that the times this time were very close so I found myself in 16th place after the first qualifying. Jacky was 25th. I was quite satisfied because I did not get a good tow on my lap and I was sure with a good tow I could cut into the gap between me and the drivers ahead. During second qualifying I looked for a tow but nobody would let me get one and there was no improvement in time. I ended on a disappointing 18th. Jacky (van der Ende) got up the order to 22nd. The race started really well, I had good speed in the car and came up to 14th. In the battle to get past past Michel Neugarten I missed a gear which resulted in a destroyed clutch on lap six. Jacky drove a good race to finish 16th chasing a group of four cars."

T Cars – Oulton Park
Ryan Lewis earned two podium finishes in Saturday's races at Oulton Park. Ryan finished third in both events but has slipped to fourth in the championship table behind Tom Chilton, Ben Reeves and Phil Rose. Reeves won both races.

European Formula A Karting Championships - Salbris
Think of Karting and you tend to think of hundreds of machines buzzing around tight, tricky circuits every weekend throughout the season. There is certainly a great deal of competition involved but the European Championship consists of just four rounds this year with the second of them this weekend at Salbris in France. Brask Management backed ace Michael Spencer was dogged by all sorts of problems in the first round (Oschersleben, Germany) but there was promise as he qualified an impressive fifth (in a massive field) and bagged a fastest lap in one of the heats.