Wilson takes first F3000 win in season-opener

Wilson capitalised on a safety car mix-up which led to 10-second stop-go penalties for Antonio Pizzonia, Tomas Enge and Rodrigo Sperafico. Having already passed pole man Jaime Melo at the restart, he inherited the lead when the threesome pitted and held off Mark Webber to the end. His only mistake of the race was to spin after the chequered flag!

"I knew I had to be optimistic for this season, but we were on foreign territory here, with F3000 not having raced in Brazil before," Wilson said. "It's fairly exciting! I was so excited at the flag that I braked too hard at the first corner and had to fight like mad to keep it out of the wall. At least I made my one mistake after the race!"

The safety car was brought out on the first lap after Giorgio Pantano had nudged Ricardo Sperafico into the wall. Then Melo caused controversy by backing off sharply and leaving Pizzonia, Enge and Rodrigo Sperafico to think he had a problem. They swept past him, but then he picked up speed again to run fourth on the road. Pizzonia led the field convincingly for a full 15 laps before the stewards decided to penalise him, along with Enge and Sperafico.

All three were angered by Melo's driving, but the Brazilian did not believe that he had been in the wrong. "I saw the yellow flags and just eased off," he said.

Once the threesome had gone, Webber pressured Melo until the Brazilian outbraked himself, allowing the Aussie to get by. He chased Wilson all the way, but could not eat into the Nordic Lola's lead.

Darren Manning looked like taking fourth after getting the better of Sebastien Bourdais, but spun down to eighth just as he was catching Melo. The third Brit, Justin Keen, finished 16th on his F3000 debut.

The next round of the series takes place at Imola in two weeks time.

For full results click here.