Dull race for Nguyen as Haberfeld crashes out.

Team Astromega had a frustrating time in the latest round of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship at the Hungaroring, near Budapest, despite both its drivers showing a fair turn of speed.

Mario Haberfeld was once again running strongly and was on course to finish sixth until fellow Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia (Petrobras Jnr) hit him from behind and caused his car to somersault out of the race. Haberfeld was uninjured but race stewards fined Pizzonia $5,000 for causing the accident.

Rob Nguyen made a fantastic start from 11th on the grid and was ahead of eighth-fastest qualifier Pizzonia going into the first turn. The Brazilian ran wide, however, and clipped Rob's car, which caused him to spin to the back of the field. Thereafter he pushed as hard as he could and made no significant mistakes on his way to 11th place.

It was a bit of a dull race for Rob Nguyen. "I made a fantastic start - but that cost me dear because I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time... The problem here is that 90 per cent of the result is qualifying and the other 10 per cent is the first lap, because after that there are very few overtaking possibilities," he explained. "I had a string of technical problems beyond the team's control yesterday and then found myself being knocked to the back of the field right at the start.

"Once I rejoined I was a bit bored, to be honest, because the rest of the cars were about 30 seconds up the road. I gradually caught them, however, but then I was frustrated because overtaking is so difficult and I was definitely quicker than the guys immediately ahead. On the positive side, I learned another track and my lap times compared favourably with a lot of guys running well inside the top 10."

Mario Haberfeld was far from happy when he got out of the car. "I don't know what Antonio thought he was doing when he tried to pass me at that part of the track. It really isn't a realistic overtaking spot," said the aggrived Haberfeld. "I knew he had been close behind me but I never expected him to attempt anything there. The first I knew was when I turned in and felt a bang: I thought I had run over his front wing or something, but then my car took off and I flipped over two or three times.
"I feel absolutely fine, although my neck will probably feel a bit sore in the morning. It's a shame because I was heading for another points finish, which is the best I could have hoped for after starting seventh, only to have it taken away by a completely unnecessary accident."

"Both our guys did a good job today, but the result doesn't reflect as much," said Sam Boyle, team manager, afterwards. "I am glad that Mario is OK because Pizzonia's manoeuvre could have had much more serious consequences. As for Rob, he made a brilliant start but that drew him into a typical first-corner incident. It has just been one of those days, but we have a good track record at Spa and Monza, where the final two races of the year take place, so we will be looking to score the kind of results of which we know we are capable."