Bourdais wins processional Imola round.
Sebastien Bourdais won his second FIA F3000 race by leading from lights to flag at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari this afternoon [Saturday].
The difficulty in overtaking at the Italian venue was underlined by the fact that the top four ran in grid formation throughout, with Interlagos winner Rodrigo Sperafico, Giorgio Pantano and Antonio Pizzonia finishing where they started after yesterday's wet qualifying sessions.
Sebastien Bourdais won his second FIA F3000 race by leading from lights to flag at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari this afternoon [Saturday].
The difficulty in overtaking at the Italian venue was underlined by the fact that the top four ran in grid formation throughout, with Interlagos winner Rodrigo Sperafico, Giorgio Pantano and Antonio Pizzonia finishing where they started after yesterday's wet qualifying sessions.
Behind the second Brazilian, however, there was something of a shuffled order, with Austrian Patrick Friesacher reprising his 2001 result with fifth place, despite starting ninth on the grid. The Red Bull Junior driver benefited from the mistakes of those ahead of him to finish ahead of pre-season title favourite Tomas Enge, who opened his account after a disappointing Brazilian race in sixth place.
Fifth on the grid, Tiago Monteiro dropped to tenth at the flag, trailing the equally inexperienced trio of Bjorn Wirdheim, Nicolas Kiesa and Zsolt Baumgartner to the line. Another rookie, Rob Nguyen, took eleventh, ahead of Enrico Toccacelo. Baumgartner's Nordic Racing team-mate, Ryan Briscoe, was next up, with Sperafico cousins Ricardo and Alex completing the 15 finishers.
Podium finishers in round one, neither Ricardo Mauricio or Mario Haberfeld made the full distance this time, joining Tony Schmidt, David Saelens and Alex Muller on the sidelines before half distance.
After two rounds, Rodrigo Sperafico maintains his series lead, having taken a pair of podium finishes in the opening races.
