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Open Telefonica Valencia finale report
FRANCK MONTAGNY WINS THE OPEN TELEFONICA BY NISSAN 2001 65.000 ATTENDED THE LAST MEETING OF THIS SUCCESSFUL FORMULA SCHECKTER : ONE VICTORY WAS NOT ENOUGH Valencia, 28 de October 2001 - The 23 year old Franck Montagny and his team are the 2001 ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
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FRANCK MONTAGNY WINS THE OPEN TELEFONICA BY NISSAN 2001
65.000 ATTENDED THE LAST MEETING OF THIS SUCCESSFUL FORMULA
SCHECKTER : ONE VICTORY WAS NOT ENOUGH
Valencia, 28 de October 2001 - The 23 year old Franck Montagny and his team are the 2001 winners of the Open Telefonica by Nissan. 65,000 spectators attended the last meeting of this successful FIA International Series, held at the Circuit of Valencia.
After Marc Gene, Fernando Alonso and Antonio Garcia, the Frenchman is the first international driver to win the Series, with a total of 8 victories, a record to remember. Tomas Scheckter, with two pole positions yesterday, has missed the final victory. He won the last race, but he made a mistake in the first one. Andrea Belicchi finishes the Series in a fantastic third position.
Team Repsol YPF Meycom achieved a fantastic victory in the first race with Angel Burgueño. Santiago Porteiro second podium of the Season, finished third, behind Franck Montagny. Scheckter surprisingly, forgot to activate the fuel pump when he was about to initiate the formation lap, and started from the last position of the grid. Although he putted an impressive drive, he touched Dellus and the steering of his car was seriously affected.
Milka Duno, the single lady participating in the Series, has finished the Season by achieving one point (10th): "A point here is very much appreciated, can you imagine what is to drive between Montagnys and Scheckters?" said the glamorous Venezuelan young driver.
Scheckter won the second race, but again was Burgueño the initial leader. A problem in the gearbox stopped him from a firm victory. Mateo Bobbi, second classified, achieved his first podium ever, and teammate Sarandeses finished third, showing the good performance of the three year Champion Team commanded by Campos. The virtually Champion, Montagny, had a race incident with Priaulx, and both ended out of the race. Nevertheless, Priaulx finished 5th in the prior race, giving team GD Racing 8 wonderful points.
RPM RACING, TELEFONICA and NISSAN MOTOR ESPAÑA closed today a wonderful chapter of the car racing competition in the best way!!!! 65.000 spectators at the venue and almost 1.000.000 TV viewers from TELEVISION ESPAÑOLA.
A new era will follow this same night, where the Prize Giving Ceremony will honour teams, drivers, sponsors, federations, as well as the engine technical team. RPM has started already a new single seater competition program that will unify the necessary steps to reach all SS drivers goal: Formula One. By organising three different categories of 125, 210 and 410 HP.
MARTIN SALAVERRI, General Manager Autodromo de Buenos Aires: "After four years of success, the new Super Nissan V6 designed by Dallara will be the perfect step to reach Formula One. The Open Series are very successful in Southamerica, we have started contact with some of our drivers are we are just willing the new category to visit Argentina."
FRANCK MONTAGNY, winner: "To win the Series has been a great success for me and for the team. This competition has given me great satisfaction: public, TV, media effectiveness. My future depends on the budget."
TOMAS SCHECKTER, runner up: "We want to thank RPM, Telefonica and Nissan for giving me the chance to take part in this unique Series. They treat the drivers in the best way Thank you. The Open is gone for me, and I'm the only one responsible."
ANDREA BELICCHI, 3rd: "In the last two meetings Y almost loose my position, but I'm glad to stay in an honourable third place. It's been very hard to stay with so little resources.I feel proud for my country and my team. Thank you."
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