27.09.2003 (lil), Press release Team Coloni, Formula 3

Formula 3 – Monza – Qualifying
September 27th ’03

A record-time lap gave today the pole position to Coloni Motorsport and Christian Montanari on Monza circuit, during the qualifying of the penultimate race of the Italian F.3 Championship.

Christian Montanari scored yet in the Friday free practice important times, taking the front row, and in the first qualifying session he set immediately a great time, missing the pole only because of a misunderstanding with a slower car at the Parabolica corner.

But in the afternoon Christian –with adequate track conditions- pushed to the max his Lola-Dome F106 / Mugen-Honda and he was able to score an outstanding time of 1.48.199, which gave to the Sammarinese driver a wonderful pole position, with a lead of nearly six tenths on the second in grid (in the second session Montanari was lapping a second faster than his opponents!).

The excellent work done by the Italian team was fulfilled by the fifth time achieved by Marco Bonanomi, a 1.49.299 worth of the third row: also Marco exploited the good results of the free practice and what has been done by the Coloni’s drivers confirms that the Lola-Dome is the most competitive car on the prestigious Monza track too.

Christian Montanari, 1st : “We were very competitive from Friday, in fact I was always on front row and today too we repeated that result. This morning I missed the pole, but in the afternoon all went really good. Coloni’s single-seater is excellent and so I’m confident in sight of the race”.

Marco Bonanomi, 5th : “The result is good and I could have done even better. In the second session I improved my time and the car was going good. I could also work for the race and I could have taken a second or third place easily, but I was unlucky and I couldn’t improve again. Sunday the start and the first two laps will be very important, I’m ready for an aggressive race”.

Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: “We are trying to the best of our abilities to reopen the fight for the Championship. We know that tomorrow we will have a demanding race, but the excellent job done by the team, both in the car setup and in the development of new aerodynamic solutions, gave us a good lead. We are confident, considering also the grid position of our opponents in the title chase”.