1990 International Formula 3000 Championship

The 1990 International Formula 3000 Championship was the sixth season of Formula 3000 in Europe. Érik Comas won the eleven-round championship.

Season summary

The season began on a damp Donington Park track. On the second lap, Allan McNish and Emanuele Naspetti collided on the straight before the Esses. McNish’s car went over the concrete wall, and its engine broke away and killed a spectator. Meanwhile, the race continued uninterrupted and several drivers, including polesitter Andrea Montermini, spun off in the damp conditions. McNish’s DAMS Lola teammate Érik Comas took the victory.

At the next round at Silverstone, Damon Hill overtook the two DAMS cars at the start, but suffered the same rear tire failure that had earlier claimed his teammate Gary Brabham. McNish took an emotional win just one week after his Donington crash.

The third round at Pau had to be restarted twice after accidents caused traffic jams on the narrow streets. Marco Apicella took a commanding lead, but slid off into a tire barrier, leaving Eric van de Poele to take the win. Érik Comas won the next round at Jerez, with Apicella coming second. Comas won at Monza as well, this time pursued by Eddie Irvine.

At Enna, a dusty track surface was exacerbated by the rubber “marbles” that resulted from the wearing tires. Many of the favorites spun out of the race, and Gianni Morbidelli won despite a spin of his own. Eddie Irvine managed to come in fourth with a broken front wing, having been off the track at least three times. Irvine won from Apicella at Hockenheim after polesitter Hill had spun off early.

Allan McNish won on a drying Brands Hatch track as the series returned to England. Van de Poele took his second win of the year at the Birmingham Superprix, a race in which Fabrizio Barbazza walked away from a spectacular accident. On the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans, championship leader Comas led away. He was challenged by Philippe Gache, who put in a surprising drive in a year-old Lola before retiring. Comas won the race and clinched the title. With the championship decided, the final round at Dijon-Prenois was cancelled. Van de Poele won in the wet at Nogaro to take second in the championship.

Teams and drivers

Team	Chassis	Engine	No.	Driver	Rounds
Eddie Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	1	Emanuele Naspetti	1-3, 5-10
				Vincenzo Sospiri	4, 11
			2	Eddie Irvine	All
			3	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	All
First Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	4	Fabrizio Giovanardi	All
			5	Marco Apicella	All
			6	Jean-Denis Délétraz	1-5
				Marco Greco	10-11
GA Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	8	Eric van de Poele	All
			9	Giovanni Aloi	1-4
				Otto Rensing	5
				Marco Greco	6-8
				Vittorio Zoboli	10-11
			44	Thierry Delubac	10-11
Paul Stewart Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	10	John Jones	All
			11	Andrea Chiesa	All
Leyton House Racing	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	12	Andrew Gilbert-Scott	1-7
				Paul Warwick	8-11
			13	Philippe Favre	8-11
Galaxy Racing	Lola	Ford Cosworth	14	Thierry Delubac	1-5
			15	Franck Fréon	1-5
				Philippe Gache	10-11
Madgwick International	Reynard	Mugen Honda	16	Andrea Montermini	All
			17	Jean-Marc Gounon	All
		Ford Cosworth	43	Pedro Chaves	8-11
CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda	18	Michael Bartels	All
			19	Richard Dean	1-5
				Giovanna Amati	6-10
				Alain Menu	11
Pacific Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	24	Stéphane Proulx	All
			25	Marco Greco	1-2
				Claude Bourbonnais	10-11
DAMS	Lola	Mugen Honda	26	Érik Comas	All
			33	Allan McNish	All
Middlebridge Racing	Lola	Ford Cosworth	27	Gary Brabham	2-11
			28	Damon Hill	All
Roni Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	31	Antonio Tamburini	All
			32	Giovanna Amati	1-5
Becsport	Lola	Mugen Honda	32	Paolo Delle Piane	6-11
			34	Giovanni Bonanno	1-4
				Domenico Gitto	6-11
Superpower	Reynard	Mugen Honda	35	Phil Andrews	All
			36	Paul Belmondo	All
Crypton Engineering	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	37	Fabrizio Barbazza	All
RSM Marko	Lola	Ford Cosworth	39	Karl Wendlinger	1-2, 4-9, 11
				Ellen Lohr	10
Apomatox	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	40	Philippe Gache	1-7
				Andrew Gilbert-Scott	8-11
			41	Didier Artzet	1-7, 9
				Franck Fréon	10-11
Forti Corse	Lola	Ford Cosworth	42	Gianni Morbidelli	All

Calendar

Round	Race [1]	Circuit	Date	Laps	Distance	Time	Speed	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winner
1	Donington 200 Gold Cup	Donington Park	22 April	50	4.023=201.150 km	1'12:15.34	167.03 km/h	Andrea Montermini	Stéphane Proulx	Érik Comas
2	International Trophy	Silverstone Circuit	19 May	41	4.778=196.308 km	0'54:23.20	214.59 km/h	Allan McNish	Allan McNish	Allan McNish
3	Grand Prix de Pau	Pau Grand Prix	4 June	69	2.76=190.44 km	1'24:18.72	135.532 km/h	Érik Comas	Marco Apicella	Eric van de Poele
4	Jerez F3000	Circuito de Jerez	17 June	48	4.2179=202.459 km	1'18:07.02	155.49 km/h	Érik Comas	Érik Comas	Érik Comas
5	Monza F3000	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	24 June	34	5.8=197.2 km	0'55:19.12	213.75 km/h	Damon Hill	Damon Hill	Érik Comas
6	Grand Premio del Mediterraneo	Autodromo di Pergusa	22 July	36	4.95=178.200 km	0'55:27.219	192.80 km/h	Damon Hill	Damon Hill	Gianni Morbidelli
7	Hockenheim F3000	Hockenheimring	28 July	29	6.797=197.113 km	0'58:14.604	202.95 km/h	Damon Hill	Marco Apicella	Eddie Irvine
8	Brands Hatch F3000	Brands Hatch	19 August	48	4.1846=200.861 km	1'09:09.68	174.23 km/h	Eddie Irvine	Michael Bartels	Allan McNish
9	Halfords Birmingham Superprix	Birmingham	27 August	51	3.975=202.725 km	1'11:47.02	169.45 km/h	Marco Apicella	Marco Apicella	Eric van de Poele
10	Le Mans F3000	Bugatti Circuit	23 September	45	4.426=199.170 km	1'11:41.65	166.85 km/h	Érik Comas	Philippe Gache	Érik Comas
11	Grand Prix de Nogaro	Circuit Paul Armagnac	7 October	55	3.625=199.375 km	1'20:27.81	148.670 km/h	Gianni Morbidelli	Érik Comas	Eric van de Poele
	Dijon F3000	Dijon-Prenois	21 October	cancelled, championship decided

Final points standings

Driver

In each championship round, 9 points were awarded to the winning driver, 6 to the runner up, 4 for third place, 3 for fourth place, 2 for fifth place and 1 for sixth place. No additional points were awarded.

Place [2]	Name [2]	Country	Team	Chassis	Engine												Total Points [2]
1	Érik Comas	France	DAMS	Lola	Mugen Honda	9	6	-	9	9	-	3	-	-	9	6	51
2	Eric van de Poele	Belgium	GA Motorsports	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	1	2	9	-	-	-	-	-	9	-	9	30
3	Eddie Irvine	United Kingdom	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	1	-	-	6	3	9	4	-	4	-	27
4	Allan McNish	United Kingdom	DAMS	Lola	Mugen Honda	-	9	1	-	1	6	-	9	-	-	-	26
5	Gianni Morbidelli	Italy	Forti Corse	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	4	-	3	9	-	-	-	-	4	20
6	Marco Apicella	Italy	First Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	4	-	6	2	-	6	-	-	-	2	20
7	Andrea Chiesa	Switzerland	Paul Stewart Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	6	-	-	2	-	-	-	2	6	2	-	18
8	Andrea Montermini	Italy	Madgwick International	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	3	-	4	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	13
9	Jean-Marc Gounon	France	Madgwick International	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	1	3	3	-	11
10	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Italy	First Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	6	1	-	1	-	-	2	-	-	10
11	Gary Brabham	Australia	Middlebridge	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	4	4	-	-	-	-	-	8
12	John Jones	Canada	Paul Stewart Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	4	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7
13	Damon Hill	United Kingdom	Middlebridge	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	-	-	-	6
14	Antonio Tamburini	Italy	Roni Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	6
15	Didier Artzet	France	Apomatox	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	4
16	Fabrizio Barbazza	Italy	Crypton Engineering	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
	Pedro Chaves	Portugal	Madgwick International	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	3
18	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	West Germany	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	3
19	Richard Dean	United Kingdom	CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Franck Fréon	France	Galaxy Racing	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
	Karl Wendlinger	Austria	RSM Marko	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	2
22	Emanuele Naspetti	Italy	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
	Paul Belmondo	France	Superpower	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1
	Michael Bartels	West Germany	CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1

Complete Overview

R6=retired, but classified R=retired NS=did not start NQ=did not qualify DIS(3)=disqualified after finishing in third position

Place	Name	Country	Team	Chassis	Engine
1	Érik Comas	France	DAMS	Lola	Mugen Honda	2	1	2	2	1	R	1	1	3	1	8	R	7	4	14	R	5	R	1	1	2	2
2	Eric van de Poele	Belgium	GA Motorsports	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	4	6	17	5	5	1	3	9	14	9	21	R	10	R	9	R	4	1	12	10	6	1
3	Eddie Irvine	United Kingdom	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	15	R	8	6	15	R	14	NS	6	2	4	4	3	1	1	3	7	R	4	3	14	R
4	Allan McNish	United Kingdom	DAMS	Lola	Mugen Honda	5	R	1	1	6	R6	5	16	10	6	10	2	4	R	3	1	22	R	2	R	7	8
5	Gianni Morbidelli	Italy	Forti Corse	Lola	Ford Cosworth	14	8	26	R	17	3	11	R	2	4	6	1	8	R	7	R	24	R	7	7	1	3
6	Marco Apicella	Italy	First Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	3	13	6	3	3	R	2	2	7	5	2	R	2	2	5	DIS(3)	1	R	5	R	11	5
7	Andrea Chiesa	Switzerland	Paul Stewart Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	6	2	5	R	16	R	8	5	8	7	14	R	12	R	10	5	3	2	11	5	4	R
8	Andrea Montermini	Italy	Madgwick International	Reynard	Mugen Honda	1	R	9	4	19	R	4	3	4	R	13	R	11	R	13	R	20	9	8	2	25	R
9	Jean-Marc Gounon	France	Madgwick International	Reynard	Mugen Honda	9	R	23	13	24	NQ	23	R	26	R	3	DIS(7)	6	3	17	6	11	4	14	4	24	R
10	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Italy	First Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	16	R	10	R	2	2	13	6	21	10	15	6	13	7	19	R	18	5	18	R	10	R
11	Gary Brabham	Australia	Middlebridge	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	12	R	28	NQ	24	12	9	3	20	3	25	R14	8	8	27	NQ	13	8	23	11
12	John Jones	Canada	Paul Stewart Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	7	3	20	11	9	4	20	R	11	R	19	R	28	NQ	29	NQ	25	11	22	9	29	NQ
13	Damon Hill	United Kingdom	Middlebridge	Lola	Ford Cosworth	28	NQ	3	R	13	R	9	7	1	11	1	R	1	R	2	2	17	R	10	R	3	10
14	Antonio Tamburini	Italy	Roni Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	11	4	7	9	4	R	15	13	5	8	5	8	29	NQ	16	R	13	R	20	16	8	4
15	Didier Artzet	France	Apomatox	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	29	NQ	21	R	8	R	18	11	12	R	16	R	14	8	-	-	8	3	-	-	-	-
16	Fabrizio Barbazza	Italy	Crypton Engineering	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	13	R	14	R	14	R	16	4	22	R	9	R	19	9	25	R	14	R	17	R	18	18
	Pedro Chaves	Portugal	Madgwick International	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	4	12	R	34	NQ	21	14
18	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	West Germany	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	8	R	16	R	10	R	17	17	19	R	12	5	15	6	24	7	6	R	15	R	27	NQ
19	Richard Dean	United Kingdom	CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda	18	5	11	7	20	R	10	R	23	R	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Franck Fréon	France	Galaxy Racing	Lola	Ford Cosworth	30	NQ	29	NQ	12	R5	28	NQ	31	NQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
			Apomatox	Reynard	Ford Cosworth																			25	14	19	16
	Karl Wendlinger	Austria	RSM Marko	Lola	Ford Cosworth	32	NQ	19	14	-	-	30	NQ	15	R	17	R	20	5	27	NQ	21	10	-	-	16	9
22	Emanuele Naspetti	Italy	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	17	R	13	10	22	R	-	-	13	R	7	R	5	R	18	R	16	6	30	NQ	-	-
	Paul Belmondo	France	Superpower	Reynard	Mugen Honda	23	R	32	NQ	31	NQ	25	R	24	R	28	NQ	17	11	23	R	9	R	9	6	12	R
	Michael Bartels	West Germany	CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda	12	11	22	R	7	R	26	R	16	R	18	7	9	R	20	11	10	R	24	13	13	6
-	Andrew Gilbert-Scott	United Kingdom	Leyton House Racing	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	19	R	25	12	25	NQ	12	10	17	R	25	R	23	13
			Apomatox	Reynard	Ford Cosworth															15	10	2	7	16	11	17	13
-	Stéphane Proulx	Canada	Pacific Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	10	12	4	R	11	R	19	R	20	R	11	R	21	10	6	R	15	R	6	R	5	7
-	Jean-Denis Délétraz	Switzerland	First Racing	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	21	7	31	NQ	18	R	27	NQ	25	R	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Giovanni Bonanno	Italy	Becsport	Lola	Mugen Honda	22	10	15	8	29	NQ	7	R	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	9	28	NQ	-	-	-	-
-	Paul Warwick	United Kingdom	Leyton House Racing	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	22	R	19	8	21	NS	22	15
-	Vincenzo Sospiri	Italy	Jordan Racing	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	28	NQ
-	Philippe Gache	France	Apomatox	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	20	9	27	NQ	21	R	6	14	18	R	23	R	18	R	-	-	-	-
			Galaxy Racing	Lola	Ford Cosworth																			3	R	9	R
-	Phil Andrews	United Kingdom	Superpower	Reynard	Mugen Honda	25	14	18	R	30	NQ	29	NQ	28	NQ	24	R	16	12	4	R	23	R	26	12	20	19
-	Philippe Favre	Switzerland	Leyton House Racing	Leyton House	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	12	26	NS	23	15	30	NQ
-	Alain Menu	Switzerland	CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	12
-	Giovanni Aloi	Mexico	GA Motorsports	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	24	R	24	15	26	NQ	22	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Giovanna Amati	Italy	Roni Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	26	R	33	NQ	27	NQ	31	NQ	30	NQ
			CoBRa Motorsports	Reynard	Mugen Honda											27	NQ	26	15	30	NQ	29	NQ	33	NQ	-	-
-	Thierry Delubac	France	Galaxy Racing	Lola	Ford Cosworth	31	NQ	30	NQ	23	NQ	32	NQ	29	NQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
			GA Motorsports	Reynard	Ford Cosworth																			19	17	26	17
-	Paolo Delle Piane	Italy	Roni Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	29	NQ	24	R	26	R	30	NQ	27	NQ	31	NQ
-	Domenico Gitto	Italy	Becsport	Lola	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	R	22	R	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Marco Greco	Brazil	Pacific Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	27	NQ	28	NQ	-	-	-	-	-	-
			GA Motorsports	Reynard	Ford Cosworth											22	R	27	NQ	28	NQ	-	-
			First Racing	Reynard	Ford Cosworth																			28	NQ	32	NQ
-	Claude Bourbonnais	Canada	Pacific Racing	Lola	Mugen Honda	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	29	NQ	34	NQ
-	Vittorio Zoboli	Italy	GA Motorsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	32	NQ	33	NQ
-	Otto Rensing	West Germany	Becsport	Reynard	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27	NQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Ellen Lohr	West Germany	RSM Marko	Lola	Ford Cosworth	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	31	NQ	-	-

References

1. ↑ Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, pages 241-242
2. 1 2 3 1991 FIA Yearbook, Red section, page 71

External links

• Unofficial F3000 Information - International F3000 1990
• 1990 F3000 season review
• 1990 F3000 images
• 1990 F3000 video - Birmingham