F3000 Italia Round 5: Vallelunga (I), 23rd July 2000

Once again a number of driver changes took place ahead of round 5. Tomas Scheckter, after his one-off outing for Da Vinci at Monza, subsequently graduated to the International series in place of Stephane Sarrazin. To replace him the reigning F3000 Italia champion Giorgio Vinella returned to his old team, last season known as Martello. The Minardi test driver was here on a one-off outing and qualified 12th. Gabriele Varano at last made his debut for Team Ghinzani, replacing Angel Burgueno. Varano planned to race for the team at the start of the season, but was refused a licence after failing a dope test. The Swiss ex-Italian F3 star qualified an impressive fourth. Sascha Bert returned to the series with Sighinolfi after the Astromega-run Orbit Motorsport team pulled out of the championship following round 3. The German replaced Michele Spoldi in the team and qualified ninth. Spoldi had moved from Sighinolfi to Durango Benetton Junior, replacing Dino Morelli who had been expected to stay with the team. Morelli instead returned to International F3000 with WRT after Marc Hynes could not find the funds to continue. Spoldi took his place at the team's test session at Lurcy-Levis before the race and qualified 10th, one place ahead of regular driver Andrej Pavicevic. Finally, former Formula Renault Eurocup driver Angelo Lancelotti replaced the Greek driver Nikolaus Stremmenos at First GP, qualifying 19th on his debut. The B&C Competition Team did not enter the race, lack of funds apparently taking their toll.

Ricardo Sperafico took a dominant victory in round 5 at Vallelunga, in turn putting himself in strong contention for the title. The Brazilian was never threatened after starting from pole, pulling out a gap in the first few corners. Sperafico is now just four points behind new points leader Gabriele Lancieri. The Italian finished a strong second, opting to drive with the title in mind rather than chase Sperafico whom he considered "uncatchable". He now has a three point lead in the standings over Warren Hughes who failed to finish after a team blunder. Hughes asked his Arden team to put in a longer fifth gear following the morning warm-up, but the team instead put in a shorter one on both his car and Viktor Maslov's car. Both team-mates could do nothing when they realised the extraordinary error, running for a few laps with the engines hitting the rev-limiter before retiring.

Behind the lead pair "Babalus" took his second third place of the year, finishing on the tail of Lancieri. Gabriele Varano's debut in the category was a success with fourth place, finishing just over a second behind "Babalus". His former Italian F3 rival Gianluca Calcagni (Monaco Motorsport) took fifth, his third consecutive points finish. Sixth went to the other Sperafico twin, Rodrigo (Draco), who has finished in the points at every race this year. Andrej Pavicevic took his first finish of the year with eighth, passing three cars into the first corner and Hughes during the race. After testing an unsuccessful new race set-up in the warm-up after struggling in qualifying, Pavicevic ended up using team-mate Spoldi's unfamiliar set-up. Spoldi finished 10th in his first drive for the team. Thomas Biagi, who joined the grid at the last minute after his relegation to last position, made a pit-stop during the race before setting the fastest lap to prove a point. Reigning champion Giorgio Vinella made an inauspicious return to the series, eventually being classified 17th, two laps down.

Battle will resume at the championship's annual overseas round at Donington in England on August 6th. Lancieri now leads the standings on 27 points, but the competition is close with Hughes on 24 and Ricardo Sperafico on 23. Rodrigo Sperafico is the trio's closest challenger with 16 points, and judging by the Brazilian's form his first win is due.

QUALIFYING:

(All cars Lola T96/50-Zytek)

RACE RESULT:

Key: R=Retired. (All cars Lola T96/50-Zytek)

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

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: