OCTOBER 5, 2002

Unravelling the Formula 3000 mess

The International Court of Appeal met in Paris to examine various appeals resulting from the recent Formula 3000 race at Monza and the conclusions of the court ended up having a fairly dramatic effect on the championship order with Antonio Pizzonia dropping down the order.

The appeals were made by the Coloni team after the FIA Stewards of the meeting rejected the team's protests. The court ruled that Pizzonia's car was not in conformity with the Technical Regulations and excluded the car from the event.

A separate appeal in which Coloni tried to have the race winner Bjorn Wirdheim excluded failed.

The final points standings have now been established with Sebastian Bourdais confirmed as champion. Giorgio Pantano is classified second with Tomas Enge third. Wirdheim is fourth while the Sperafico brothers, Ricardo and Rodrigo are fifth and sixth respectively. Pizzonia is dropped back to eighth.