EU3000: Catalunya race one notes

First win for Rodriguez. Ricci gets important points on Bonanomi

The local driver, Roldan Rodriguez, is having an extraordinary week-end, obtaining his first Euroseries 3000 pole in the morning and then ruling and winning the race, valid also for the Italian Championship. A success that also remarks the good shape of the Minardi Team which started this positive trend in the last round in Silverstone when Tuka Rocha got the win.

Due to the wet and slippery asphalt, the race began with the Safety Car which had to intervene again after a while because of Dracone's crash. Not a problem for the driver from Valladolid, born in 1984, who was able to easily keep behind him Giacomo Ricci, who finished the race in second position. This is anyway an important result for the Italian as he remains first in the rankings, gaining 8 points on his direct opponent, Marco Bonanomi.

The Spanish week-end has been very unlucky for Bonanomi till now as, starting from the 10th spot on the grid, he was involved in a close fight with Gattuso (Auto Sport Racing), ended with the Fisichella Motor Sport driver out of the track, also hit by Bellarosa when already in the gravel. The third place on the podium was gained by a brillant Vitaly Petrov, after an exciting challenge with his teammate in Euronova, Jerome D'Ambrosio that was overtaken just at the last stages of the race. Fifth place for the Brazilian Tuka Rocha who ended in front of his Minardi teammate Davide Rigon, who really surprised in his debut in Euroseries 3000.

The other new entry, Johnny Cecotto jr. (Coloni Rookies' Team), in spite of the difficult track conditions, was able to finish the race at full laps.

In the Euroseries 3000 rankings Ricci has now 81 points, while Bonanomi follows at 72, one point of gap more than in the Italian rankings (48 Vs 40)

<pre> RACE 1 Barcelona

1.  Roldan Rodriguez    Lola B02/50     Minardi                 in 30'30''945
2.  Giacomo Ricci       Lola B02/50     FMS                     at 7''558
3.  Vitaly Petrov       Lola B02/50     Euronova                at 9''269
4.  Jerome D'Ambrosio   Lola B02/50     Euronova                at 11''534
5.  Tuka Rocha          Lola B02/50     Minardi                 at 18''0007
6.  Davide Rigon        Lola B02/50     Minardi                 at 29''258
7.  Alessandro Ciompi   Lola B02/50     Avelon                  at 32''301
8.  Gavin Cronje        Lola B02/50     Autosport               at 33''011
9.  Stefano Gattuso     Lola B02/50     Autosport               at 33''940
10.  Matteo Cressoni    Lola B02/50     Vanni/Traini            at 49''027
11.  Johnny Cecotto Jr  Lola B02/50     F.3000 Rookies' Team    at 49''652
12.  Ivan Bellarosa     Lola B02/50     Avelon                  at 17 laps
13.  Marco Bonanomi     Lola B02/50     FMS                     at 17 laps
14.  Francesco Dracone  Lola B02/50     Euronova                at 22 laps

-credit: cm