Walfisch back as Morelli departs.

Fabrice Walfisch was a surprise addition to the FIA F3000 entry at the Hungaroring this afternoon, replacing Soheil Ayari in the Italian Coloni team.

Walfisch had been on the sidelines for several weeks after parting company with previous employer Astromega in a dispute of the performance of his car. The Frenchman complained that the chassis he had been using was not up to the job but, when he could then not do any better in an older, replacement, car, the two parties agreed to split.

Having missed the A1-Ring and Hockenheim rounds in recent weeks, Walfisch duly arrived at the Hungaroring to drive the second Coloni entry alongside Fabrizio Gollin. The move had been on the cards in Germany a fortnight ago, only to have been blocked by race officials, who claimed that previous incumbent Ayari had been entered by the team.

In fact, Ayari had only just quit Coloni when the F3000 circus shipped up in Germany and, despite assurances from team boss Paolo Coloni that he would not allow his driver to race elsewhere, the Frenchman turned up at struggling WRT in Hungary.

Ayari's arrival at the point-less Rafanelli-run outfit makes him the fifth driver to attempt to open its account, following Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Marc Hynes and Dino Morelli in the second car alongside Ananda Mikola. Morelli had thought the seat was his for the remaining two races after Hockenheim but, despite the team insisting that he wanted to run him, the Irishman found himself back on the unemployed list.

Both Walfisch and Ayari qualified for the Hungarian round, in ninth and 21st places respectively. Walfisch, for one, will want to at least emulate his performance of 1999, where he led from pole before a pedal breakage saw him spin out at the first corner.