Liuzzi: It's great to be last champion.

Although he clinched the title at the penultimate round of the season in Belgium, FIA F3000 success is only just beginning to sink in for Arden International's Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Second place at Spa-Francorchamps was enough for the Italian to secure the crown, but he still had unfinished business to attend to at Monza this past weekend. Racing on home soil for the second time since opening his campaign with a win at Imola, Liuzzi knew that another win - his seventh of the season - would be sufficient to elevate him among the greats of the category in its last ever event.

A record ninth pole was duly accomplished on Friday afternoon, and put Liuzzi in prime position to avoid the inevitable first lap melee and escape into the distance. Once main rival Jose-Maria Lopez had succumbed to a broken front wing, the Italian's lead became unassailable, and he was able to soak up the atmosphere as he cruised to the win that allowed him to equal the career record of Nick Heidfeld and Juan Montoya. A rookie in the series in 2003, the Italian also added the honour of winning more races in a single season to his record number of poles.

"We were sure that we were going to be competitive for the race, so I was just thinking about the first lap," the champion recalled, "I got a bigger gap [than I was expecting] on the first lap, and that helped me a lot. After that, we had really good lap times during the whole race."

With the new GP2 series being ushered in for 2005, and his own sights set on a role in Formula One, Liuzzi was able to look back on his season with pride.

"It's great to be the last F3000 champion, and also to win the last race to catch Juan Pablo's record," he admitted, "I would have liked to have passed him with one more [win], but it's been a great season so far. We won more races than anyone else in one year, and had more pole positions in one year than anyone has achieved before. I'm very happy about everything."

For fellow F1 aspirant, team boss Christian Horner, the result was merely the icing on a season that has seen both his drivers secure top three championship finishes.

"This was a race we were determined to win, especially as it was the final F3000 race after 19 years," Horner, who has been linked to a possible buy-out of the Jordan team, explained, "Tonio completed a fantastic season with a totally dominant performance, and will undoubtedly be a big star of the future."

Liuzzi's immediate future includes an F1 test with Sauber this Thursday [16 September], and the Italian is tipped as the favourite to land the team's second race seat for 2005. If that does not come to pass, he is likely to wind up testing, either for the Swiss squad or, more importantly perhaps, for the all-conquering Ferrari team.