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18.02.04/ F3000 (insight F1)

FIRST TEST IN FIA INTERNATIONAL F3000 AT JEREZ POSITIVE FOR OLIVIER TIELEMANS!

Picture: insight F1

Spain - Jerez de la Frontera, 18th February 2004 - Last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the first official FIA International F3000 test took place at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Southern Spain. For rookie Olivier Tielemans it was his first acquaintance with the FIA F3000 championship. Last week the 19-year old driver fitted his seat at the MA-CON Motorsport factory and Tuesday morning he can finally drive. Olivier debuted under ideal weather conditions and does his first laps for the German/British team MA-CON Motorsport. With 26 laps under his belt, he realizes a best time of 1:38. Today Olivier tested again in the afternoon session. With new tyres he improved his time with more than two seconds! For Olivier Tielemans and his team this test has been very successful.

When Olivier Tielemans turns up in the MA-CON Motorsport pit box on Tuesday morning he gets the attention of the mechanics, colleagues, and the media. "The intention of this two-day test session is to let Olivier get used to the car, the power, and the circuit" said team manager Sam Boyle. The tests went great and the inhabitant of Maaseik (Belgium) is happy with his performance: "I enjoyed this test very much. The car does exactly what I want it to do. The combination of braking, accelerating, and steering make this car much faster and more reliable than the cars I have driven previously."

"Everything was new to me on Tuesday morning. Tomas Enge (ex-FIA International F3000 champion) and I had the same car and despite my lack of experience I made good progression by going faster and faster. The Jerez circuit is a great track to work this way. The corners, straights, chicanes, and the hairpin made sure I got a complete picture of the capabilities of the Lola B02/50 F3000. Today it went even better. The mechanics improved my seat position and I went out with new tyres. I immediately realized my fastest lap within the first two laps! I learnt that during qualifying you drive your best lap within the first two laps. The wear on the tyres is enormous and it is necessary to peak immediately when you get out there."

Olivier is looking forward to the coming FIA International F3000 season. Olivier: "I am very enthousiastic about this class. Today there were around 18 drivers with lots of experience here and I could keep up with my team mates." The team was very satisfied with the young Dutchman. Team boss Marian Hamprecht: "Olivier has adapted to the level of this class very fast and has shown he is ready for it in the 50 laps he drove. We are very pleased to work with him." For the Dortmund-based MA-CON Motorsport team, a total of four drivers tested. Apart from Olivier Tielemans these included the Germans Tony Schmidt, Christopher Bruck and the Czech Tomas Enge. Olivier showed his potential by being 1.1 seconds faster than Bruck!

The young MA-CON Motorsport driver made a good first impression. "I trained the last couple of months at the 'Esporta' sport centre and this has helped me enormously. Despite the switch from Formula Renault to this prestigious class, I did not have any physical problems.", said an enthousiastic Olivier Tielemans, who will drive again during the F3000 test at Silverstone (England) on 27th and 28th March.

OVERALL RESULTS - FIA International F3000 Test (Jerez de la Frontera:)
01. José María Lopez - CMS Performance - 1:31.770
02. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Arden International - 1:31.822
03. Robert Doornbos - Arden International - 1:31.844
-.- Olivier Tielemans - Ma-Con Motorsport - 1:36.000

 

 

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