Astromega confirms Pantano, Mikola.

Team Astromega has signed German Formula Three champion Giorgio Pantano to lead its attack on next year's FIA F3000 series, it was revealed today.

The Belgian-based team won the final round of the 2000 campaign with F1-bound Fernando Alonso, and believes that former kart champion Pantano can make the same sort of impact on the series. The Italian has made a similarly rapid ascent of the motorsport ladder, using various winter series to good use to hasten his route towards Formula One. Unlike Finnish peer Kimi Raikkonen, however, he has managed to take in F3 along the way, and will have no problem in graduating to F1 should the question arise.

Indeed, the question may be asked sooner than expected and, following both his test with Benetton last summer, and Alain Prost's request that he do the same for the French outfit at Barcelona next week, Pantano has been careful to include an escape clause in his Astromega contract.

His team-mate for 2001 will be Indonesia's Ananda Mikola, who made an accomplished debut with the struggling World Racing Team last year.

Although yet to open his account in the series, Mikola only failed to qualify on a handful of occasions in 2000, and should acquit himself well with the more experienced Astromega squad.