EU3000: Silverstone race two notes, results

Minardi got the first win in 25 years.
Rocha the winner, Caceres the runner up

First win in the Euroseries 3000 for Tuka Rocha, the Brazilian driver of the Minardi Team. The Brazilian dominated the afternoon race, that took place on a dry track after the morning heavy rain. The team from Faenza, that has been missing the first spot on the podium since the F.2 times, in England got a full success, 25 years after his last hurrah. Just after Tuka Rocha, Juan Caceres took the second place, lighting the deserved joy of the team directed by Giovanni Minardi and Tancredi Pagiaro.

Rocha, 23 years old, from San Paolo, thanks to the support of the joint venture between Minardi and Gp Racing, finally found the right balance. After the win Tuka has been congratulated also by his fellows countrymen Di Grassi and Negrao, involved in the GP2 championship and both England based. Rocha had no rivals in the race. He took a perfect start, ahead of Nocera, then he kept increasing his advantage (till a max advantage of 16'').

The rest of the competitors fought bravely, and at the end, overtaking after overtaking, emerged from the pack the Uruguayan Caceres, who got the chequered flag 15" later than his team mate. On the lowest step of the podium we find Oliver Martini (Avelon), who remounted from the sixth row. Also Bonanomi (FSM), D'Ambrosio (Euronova) and Gattuso (Auto Sport Racing) earned championships points. Giacomo Ricci (FMS) is still the championship leader, with one single point of advantage on his teammate Bonanomi, thanks to the fast lap.

The driver from Milan crashed with Cressoni at the beginning of the race, and he was forced to visit the pits in order to change one tyre. He restarted and signed the best chrono of the race. The "Fisichella's boys" are now followed in the championships standings by Vitaly Petrov. The Russian did not see the chequered flag in race 2, due to a gear-box failure.

<pre> Race 2 ROUND 6 Silverstone circuit

1.    Tuka Rocha                Lola B02/50      Minardi        31'50''305
2.    Juan Caceres              Lola B02/50      Minardi        15''808
3.    Oliver Martini            Lola B02/50      Avelon         16'949
4.    Marco Bonanomi            Lola B02/50      FMS            19'259
5.    Jerome D'Ambrosio         Lola B02/50      Euronova       20'686
6.    Stefano Gattuso           Lola B02/50      Autosport      22'839
7.    Matteo Cressoni           Lola B02/50      Vanni/Traini   23'191
8.    Alessandro Ciompi         Lola B02/50      Vanni/Traini   26'568
9.    Ivan Bellarosa            Lola B02/50      Avelon         52'870
10.   Francesco Dracone         Lola B02/50      Euronova       1'25''589
11.   Giacomo Ricci             Lola B02/50      FMS            1 lap
12.   Gavin Cronje              Lola B02/50      Autosport      1 lap
13.   Paolo Nocera              Lola B02/50      FMS            6 laps
14.   Vitaly Petrov             Lola B02/50      Euronova       16 laps
15.   Roldan Rodriguez          Lola B02/50      Minardi        17 laps

Drivers' rankings Euroseries 3000 1. Ricci 73 points 2. Bonanomi 72 3. Petrov 37 4. Rocha 35 5. Caceres 28 6. Martini 23 7. Rodriguez 22 8. Cressoni 21 9. Gattuso 19 10. Nocera 13 11. Cronje 13 12. D'Ambrosio 14 13. Tahinci 4 14. Ippoliti 3 15. Solieri 1 16. Bellarosa 0 17. Puglisi 0 18. Dracone 0 19. Làszlò 0 20. Ciompi 0

-credit: coloni motorsport