Hungaroring: Friesacher takes first win
Patrick Friesacher took advantage of tyre problems for new champion Bjorn Wirdheim to claim his first Formula 3000 victory in three seasons of trying at the Hungaroring
Much of the attention on the race fell on the pit stops, introduced into the championship for the first time to help spice up the action. In the event they helped shuffle the order considerably, as some teams were significantly faster and more polisher than others.
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull Junior) led away from pole at the start, closely chased by team-mate Friesacher. Behind them, Wirdheim (Arden) compounded his worst qualifying performance of the year (fifth) by losing further ground with a poor start.
Thnakfully for the Swede, the addition of the pit stops allowed him to come in for new tyres early, and enabled him to get some clear track on which to lay down some fast lap times.
Italian Liuzzi will be less grateful for the new stops, dropping from first to fourth after his team made a particularly bad job of changing his tyres. When the whole stop sequence had been completed, Wirdheim had vaulted into the lead with Friesacher not far behind, followed by Townsend Bell (Arden), Giorgio Pantano (Durango) and Liuzzi.
However, Wirdheim's charge to the front took its toll on his tyres, and Friesacher took advantage to pass him, before disappearing into the distance to win by over 23s. Wirdheim survived to finish second ahead of Bell. Liuzzi finished fourth after an entertaining fight with Pantano. The Red Bull driver spun trying to pass his countryman during the race, but recovered to squeeze by him on the very last lap.
With Zsolt Baumgartner receiving his call-up to the Jordan F1 squad, only 13 cars started the race.
After the race, Liuzzi was penalised 25secs for causing the accident with Pantano at the penultimate corner. Meanwhile, Arden International clinched the teams' title.
1 P Friesacher, 58m02.294s
2 B Wirdheim, 58m26.040s
3 T Bell, 58m26.600s
4 G Pantano, 58m28.734s
5 J Janis, 58m29.375s
6 R Giammaria, 58m34.383s
7 E Toccacelo, 58m39.794s
8 T Schmidt, 58m42.257s
9 V Liuzzi, 58m53.593s
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