Mexico City report

MEXICAN F3 ENDS ITS SEASON Sunday November 12, Mexico City, MEXICO

The Montana Grand Prix International F3 series ended its 1995 season at the "Hermanos Rodriguez" circuit in Mexico City. This was the tenth race of the series, and the result was not surprising: the seventh victory for Irish driver Derek Higgins, from the Quaker State/GO Racing Team.

Sunday morning was sunny with temperatures above 20 centigrades throughout and polesitter scot Rod McLeod, Higgins teammate, led the 24 starters during the first five laps with Higgins following closely. Cesar T. Jimenez, started 8th and quickly became the first mexican driver by capturing 4th spot and pressuring brazilian Osvaldo Negri. Higgins made a successful pass at the end of the 1k straight of the GP circuit (4421 meters) in the sixth lap, to lead the 30 lap race. Meanwhile canadian Allen Berg, former Osella F1 driver now with Montana Racing Team and third place in the championship,pitted with electric problems in his Reynard 933 and lost his chance to be second in the championship.

McLeod mounted a counterattack and Negri and the rest of the pack started to fall back visibly. Cesar T. (1992 F3 champion) had problems with the electronic box and was passed by argentinian Valdemar Corona, his teammate in the Mexlub Racing Team, and Gilberto Jimenez (his brother and Allen Berg's teammate in Montana RT). McLeod tried to overtake Higgins in lap 12 and their cars touched; Rod retired with the front suspension bent, Derek recovered from the resulting spin to second place, and Negri inherited the lead, a short-lived one because his engine gave up the ghost 6 laps later and Derek cruised to the chequered flag. Coronas and G. Jimenez fought for the second place until the last lap, Valdemar getting it by less than 1/10 of a second.

In the F3A, run concurrently for Reynards 903, the winner was Eduardo Troconis followed by Carlos Perea, the latter obtaining the title in this category and expected to run in the main draw next year.

                Official Results
Pos.        Name                        Team                        Time
1        Derek Higgins                Quaker State/GO                39'24"199
2        Valdemar Coronas        Mexlub Racing                39'37"906
3        Gilberto Jimenez        Montana Racing                39'50"306
4        Francisco Perea                Axe Racing                30 laps
5        Luis fernando Perea        Axe Racing                30 laps
6        Eduardo Troconis        Troconis Racing                30 laps- F3A
7        Cesar T. Jimenez        Mexlub Racing                29 laps
8        Carlos Perea                Axe Racing              29 laps- F3A