Interlagos: Inagural season final race summary

Ricardo Zonta, Franck Montagny and Bas Leinders complete the three hounour positions in the Telefonica Wold Series by Nissan 2002.

Montagny reaches vice-championship; after two victories, Racing Engineering takes the team title,

Montagny finishes first and third in last round of the year; Leinders fails in a black Sunday and Zonta doesn't give any victory to the "torcida".

Justin Wilson pushes through to his second victory.

The heavy rain determines the two races at Interlagos.

Sao Paulo, 8 December 2002 ? Franck Montagny pushed through to the vice-championship of the Telefónica World Series by Nissan. The French driver won the opening 17-lap race and finished third in the second one in last meeting at the circuit of Interlagos (Brazil), meanwhile Bas Leinders failed in both races. Success for Racing Engineering team that reached a brilliant one-two: Montagny won in first race and Justin Wilson hit the front in the second outing of the day. The Adrián Campos team also finished in the podium: Polo Villaamil ended third in first race and Antonio García reached second final position in Race. Any Brazilian driver jumped in the podium at Sao Paulo. The final championship standing of this season has crowned Ricardo Zonta as the first Champ of the Series, followed by Franck Montagny, Bas Leinders, Justin Wilson and Antonio García.

Race 2
Wet race. Racing Engineering drivers wanted everything: Wilson y Montagny leaded the race in the first laps searching another one-two. Zonta and Sperafico drove in third and fourth position, while Leinders spoilt his chances of podium lap by lap in a wrong set-up. In the mandatory pit stop, all the drivers changed the four wet tyres for slicks. Montagny and Leinders entered first the pit lane and Wilson and Zonta did it one lap later. The French and the Brazilian were sanctioned with a stop&go for to surpass the limit speed in the pit lane. Zonta wasn't able to improve his position but Montagny moved into third place.

Wilson steadily pulled away to score his second win of the season, followed by Antonio García who took benefits of the situation and crowned an excellent weekend in third position. Bas Leinders stood out of the point area.

Quotes

Franck Montagny
"My car is not an Off-road, this seems the Le Mans race two years ago. Anyway, I'm very happy to win and reach the second place. I didn't drive under pressure because I knew that Bas had problems. Congratulations to Jaime (Alguersuari) and all his team because they have created this new category, that it has nothing to envy to F3000 or F-1. "

Justin Wilson
"I wished rain and there it was! In the first race it was almost impossible to drive, if you reach more than 8 km/h the car goes aquaplaning. I finished second following Franck in a crazy race. The victory in second race was due to some nice overtaking and an excellent pit stop."

Ricardo Zonta
"It has been a difficult day, it was impossible to follow the safety car in the first race. In the second, my limit speed didn't work and that's the reason why I've been sanctioned with the stop&go. My team has worked very hard this year, I'm happy with the Title"

Bas Leinders
"The weather has been horrible, the set-up of my car made it impossible to drive for me, that's why I couldn't reach nor Wilson neither Montagny. Apart from that, 2002 has been a very good Season for myself, congratulations to the organisers! I'm sure that the Championship will be more interesting next year!"

Polo Villaamil
"My car was faster in Curitiba than here, but I've enjoyed a lot in Sao Paulo. In second race I did a mistake when I was reaching Bas Leinders. I've enjoyed this new category, this is my place so I hope to drive here next year"

Antonio García
"They showed me the flag in lap 23 but I was no confident on this so I drove faster to secure the second place. It has been a crazy race, I didn't know my real position"

-rpm-

Race one summary