06.09.2003 (lil), Press release Team Coloni, Formula 3

Italian F3: Coloni Motorsport and Marco Bonanomi on pole at Varano!

September 6th ’03

Red colour of Coloni Motorsport rules again over Varano! After the supremacy in the collective test in late August and in the free practice yesterday, the Italian team took a historic pole position with Marco Bonanomi and the all-new Lola Dome F106 Mugen-Honda: in fact the last pole in Varano by a non-Dallara car dates back to 1985.

Marco Bonanomi led the field from the morning session and in the afternoon he improved again his time, the only driver having set a time under the 1.03 barrier: the young Italian of Coloni Motorsport scored in fact a time of 1.02.945, taking the pole.

Thanks to the job done the last week in the collective test, the F106 could show all his enormous potential. The result got by Coloni Motorsport is even more worth if we consider that the last Italian F3 race had taken place on a track (Mugello) with completely opposite features.

Coloni Motorsport’s ‘big Saturday’ was completed by the outcome got by Christian Montanari (22 years old driver from San Marino), third after the afternoon session. Christian proved to be by now an extremely mature and professional driver: in the morning his single-seater was stopped by a fuel-pump problem that forced him to skip the session. But in the afternoon Christian went back on track with cold blood and very determined and so he set immediately a good time, worth of the third place, on the “clean” side of track.

Marco Bonanomi, 1st - 1.02.945: “Things went quite well today, both in morning and afternoon. We worked a lot on car setup and, thanks to what we did the last week in the test, we took a fantastic pole. Sunday the start and the first lap will be very important and I will give the 110%: Varano is a race who could reopen the fight for the Championship”.

Christian Montanari, 3° - 1.03.162: “I’m happy, this morning we had a problem with the fuel-pump but in the afternoon we caught up very well. The time I set is good, only two tenths off Marco’s pole and I’m sure we will get a good result tomorrow”.

Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: "After the victory on a fast track like Mugello, also on a track with completely opposite features the Lola-Dome showed to be the most competitive car, thanks to the job carried out by the whole team and drivers the last week. This is a very important result for Coloni Motorsport and for the Lola-Dome’s winning program. Is a great satisfaction having Marco under the 1’03”, always the first from free practice, and is as much important as the third place taken by Montanari. Christian proved to be mature and professional, earning with determination a great result without having lapped this morning. Lola-Dome / Mugen-Honda package and our drivers can fight for the first positions and for the win, we hope to repeat this result tomorrow.