Melo moves to Durango.

Jaime Melo Jr. has left the Petrobras Junior team to join the Durango Benetton Junior outfit for an assault on this year's International F3000 Championship.

Melo ended his debut F3000 season in eleventh place with a total of six points scored, making him the second highest placed Brazilian behind team mate, and 2000 Champion, Bruno Junqueira.

Speaking after his departure from the team Melo said, "It is hard to leave Petrobras Junior because I now know all the members of the team and in 2001 we would have been fighting for the title together."

Nevertheless, the move was made and Melo duly announced that he had signed a one-year contract, plus an option for a further year, with the Durango Benetton Junior team for the 2001 Championship.

Team Director Ivone Pinton made the trip to Brazil especially to sign Melo, who first drove for the team in the South American Formula 3 Championship in 1998. Pinton also gave Melo his first F3000 test.

Melo believes that the Durango Benetton Junior team was the best option available, and that he will be able to fight for his first F3000 victory, "We opted for the package offered by Ivone Pinton because there is already a clearly defined testing programme. Also, the fact that all the team members have been together for more than 10 years will be important. I will soon set up residence in Italy, in the area of Padova, to be close of the headquarters of the team", Melo revealed.

Pinton explained that his choice of driver had been based on his youth and experience, important in the development of the team. "Today we have to work with young drivers because it is the tendency adopted in the Formula 1. We already had winning drivers in our team, but they didn't get to enter Formula 1 because they were already of an advanced age," Pinton said.

Jaime Melo will travel to Italy on January 15 in preparation for his first test with the team on Jan. 25. February will see Melo, and rumoured teammate Pierre Kaffer, conduct an intensive testing programme in preparation for the season opener on March 31, at Interlagos.