Junqueira wins as Heidfeld slips up

The Hockenheim race was one of the best F3000 contests of recent times. The start was delayed when third row qualifier Enrique Bernoldi stalled on the grid and the subsequent restart appeared to catch Junqueira unawares. Second on the grid, the young Brazilian was 6th into the first corner and lucky not to have lost even more ground.

His polesitting Petrobras partner Max Wilson got away perfectly to lead from Franck Montagny and Heidfeld, with Stephane Sarrazin 4th. Delayed by the tardy Junqueira immediately in front of him on the grid, Gonzalo Rodriguez ran 7th.

The opening laps of a Formula 3000 race tend to be full of carnage and Hockenheim was probably even more destructive than usual. Anyone below 6th place who avoided contact in the first three corners was an extremely lucky man. Kevin McGarrity, Mario Haberfeld, Soheil Ayari and Marc Goossens were among the casualties, soon to be joined by Fabrizio Gollin and Nicolas Minassian to name but a few.

Up front, Heidfeld clearly wanted to claim his crown early and passed Montagny for 2nd on lap two. He immediately closed up on Wilson and looked quicker, but on lap 4 he ran wide exiting the Ostkurve chicane and span through the gravel into retirement. His title dream would have to wait.

That left Wilson leading Sarrazin, the rapidly recovering Junqueira and Montagny, the latter losing two places when simultaneously delayed by both Heidfeld's spinning car and Kevin McGarrity's lapped Lola which had just rejoined after pitting for repairs.

Montagny ran 4th until half-distance, staying in touch with the tightly bunched leaders until a spin at the third chicane dropped him to 11th. Junqueira passed Sarrazin for 2nd but it looked like team tactics would keep him behind Wilson.

In the background, Rodriguez was closing in fast after his early delays and latched onto the rear of the lead battle. With Heidfeld out, this was a great chance for the Uruguayan to get back into title contention, but he faded away after a few looks at 3rd place. Bernoldi was in stunning form, flying through the field after his stall had left him at the back of the grid. Into the points by lap 11, he would finish 5th in the end.

The battle for 6th was pretty fraught. It initially involved Tomas Enge, Bas Leinders and Andre Couto, until the trio were wiped out in a single incident at the Ostkurve. Once Bernoldi had fought his way through, it became a battle between the Super Nova cars of Jason Watt and David Saelens, (both of whom were off the road more than once,) Oliver Martini, Jamie Davies and Cyrille Sauvage. In the end, they were all outshone by the recovering Montagny, who picked his way through the wild pack to salvage a points finish.

With just ten laps to go, Wilson seemed assured of his first win, but then a mistake out of the Senna chicane allowed Junqueira to get a run on his team mate. Wilson moved across to defend his line but Junqueira wasn't going to back off and simply passed him on the grass instead. It was a spectacular move and secured his first F3000 win. Wilson was unable to respond and had to concentrate on successfully holding off Sarrazin instead.

The Petrobras team's 1-2 finish moves both their drivers up the points standings, with Junqueira now 3rd and only 1 point behind Rodriguez. Despite his unfortunate early exit, Nick Heidfeld is still 23 points clear at the top of the table and looking secure.

Leading finishers at Hockenheim: