F3000 Italia Round 8: Misano (I), 22nd October 2000

Ricardo Sperafico clinched a crucial pole position in qualifying, ahead of Ayari. Brother Rodrigo (Draco Junior Team) once again showed up well in qualifying third, ahead of Hughes and Manning. Lancieri's title challenge looked to be over when he qualified 15th. Scheckter was down in 19th, so Ricardo Sperafico would have to do his own fighting for the drivers' crown. Euro Formula Palmer Audi driver Marco Cioci made his F3000 debut with First GP, qualifying 20th ahead of another newcomer, M.Comelli. 

The battle for the second F3000 Italia crown went down to the final lap in the final race of the season. Ricardo Sperafico clinched the title in style, winning his fourth race of the year by leading throughout, despite only needing to finish second to guarantee the crown. He was never allowed to relax, however. Warren Hughes and Darren Manning made excellent starts from fourth and fifth on the grid, passing Rodrigo Sperafico and Soheil Ayari. Ayari made a poor start on his series debut, excessive wheelspin wasting his qualifying efforts.

Hughes chased Sperafico throughout the race, but was unable to make a challenge as the Brazilian maintained a lead of about 2 seconds. The win confirmed his status as a worthy champion, the most consistent driver in a series with grids of increasing quality. Hughes came home in second, just two seconds ahead of team-mate Manning. With ADM's Tomas Scheckter retiring early after just three laps, Arden clinched the teams' title, a valuable achievement since it gives them an automatic entry into next year's International series. In fact they already qualify as a result of Manning's efforts in the latter series, but now they have the option of running two teams in the same championship, although the new team will have to be a separate operation under a different name. Alternatively they could sell their entry to another team for some valuable funding, the option ORECA, Draco and Martello chose at the end of 1999.

Behind the lead trio, Rodrigo Sperafico chased Manning hard, finishing less than half a second behind. Ricardo's twin brother may have lagged behind the champion in the points race this year, but nevertheless it has been an impressive debut season. He was classified 4th in the final points standings behind Gabriele Lancieri. The Italian had a dire weekend when he most needed to perform, finishing a distant 15th, his title aspirations over. Ayari finished fifth after his bad start, almost seven seconds back from the second Sperafico brother. Durango team-mate Michele Spoldi took the final point on a reasonable day at the end of a bad season for the Benetton-liveried team. He was closely pursued by Gianluca Calcagni (Monaco Motorsport) and "Babalus" (First GP).

Sperafico summed up his race afterwards, speaking to Autosport: "Stress? Very little. At the green light I made a good start, and then I calmed down, because I thought to myself 'I only need to be second.' Then I saw Hughes in the mirror and I said to myself 'I've got to win. I've got to demonstrate that I am the champion." Hughes conceded there was nothing he could do but try to pressure Sperafico into making a mistake: "It's the most I could do. During the weekend we worked very hard on the set-up, but Ricardo was uncatchable." With Sperafico looking comfortable in the lead, Hughes was hoping to take advantage of the efforts of others: "I didn’t have the pace to keep up with Ricardo. He was inching away all the time and I was flat out. I did get the fastest lap, but he just had to drive a sensible race. I was hoping Ayari would be a cat among the pigeons, but he dropped back. At least that’s shown the depth of talent at the front of this series. Manning and Ayari have come from the International series, but haven’t blown us away." Hughes described the title battle: "Over the course of the season Sperafico has been quick on every type of circuit. We haven't had the same consistency. But I have enjoyed this year enormously because I have always been able to go in and fight."

The season may be just over but already preparations for next year are taking place. New champion Sperafico went on to test with championship-winning International F3000 team Petrobras Junior at Estoril, while Hughes is due to test for Arden's International series outfit soon. The championship is to be renamed the "Euro F3000 Championship" for next season, highlighting its growing prominence as International F3000 grids are limited. Four Italian races will be joined on next year's calendar by races at Donington, Oschersleben and Valencia along with a venue as-yet-unannounced. The first collective tests take place at Valencia in Spain on the 9th and 10th of November. With just 24 cars permitted and more than 18 teams expressing an interest, it looks as though there will be a battle over the winter simply to earn the right to compete. In addition a two-race mini-series at Zhuhai in China looks to be on the cards.

QUALIFYING:

(All cars Lola T96/50-Zytek)

RACE RESULT:

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

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

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