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Picture: insight F1 |
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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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