The 1990 International Formula 3000 Championship was a motor racing competition organised by the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

for

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

cars. It was the sixth running of an FIA Formula 3000 Championship.

Érik Comas Érik Gilbert Comas (born 28 September 1963) is a French former Formula One driver. He was French Formula 3 champion in 1988, and then Formula 3000 champion in 1990, after scoring the same number of points as Jean Alesi in 1989, but losing on a ...

won the eleven-round championship.

Season summary

The season began on a damp

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

track. On the second lap,

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...

and

Emanuele Naspetti Emanuele Naspetti (born 24 February 1968) is a racing driver and entrepreneur from Italy. Career Karting He made his racing debut at the age of 12 and spent seven years in karting (1980-1986), participating in more than 200 races and achievi ...

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 Andrea Montermini (born 30 May 1964) is an Italian racing driver. Career Montermini raced in Formula 3 in 1989, taking second place in the Monaco GP support race and 4th in the Italian F3 Championship. He then moved up to Formula 3000, racing ...

, spun off in the damp conditions. McNish’s

DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola (fo ...

teammate

took the victory. At the next round at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

Damon Hill Damon Graham Devereux Hill, (born 17 September 1960) is a British former professional racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg, one of two sons of a Formu ...

overtook the two DAMS cars at the start, but suffered the same rear tire failure that had earlier claimed his teammate

Gary Brabham Gary Thomas Brabham (born 29 March 1961) is a former professional racing driver and a convicted child sex offender from Australia. He is the son of three-time World Formula One Champion Sir Jack Brabham and the brother of Le Mans winners Geof ...

. 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 Marco Apicella (born 7 October 1965 near Bologna) is an Italian professional racing driver. He competed in one Formula One Grand Prix for the Jordan team in the 1993 Italian Grand Prix. He later won the 1994 Japanese Formula 3000 Championship dr ...

took a commanding lead, but slid off into a tire barrier, leaving

Eric van de Poele Eric van de Poele (born 30 September 1961) is a Belgian racing driver and former Formula One driver. He participated in 29 Grands Prix, in 1991 and 1992. He is a three-times class winner at 24 Hours of Le Mans, and won three Formula 3000 races i ...

to take the win. Érik Comas won the next round at

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

, with Apicella coming second. Comas won at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

as well, this time pursued by

Eddie Irvine Edmund Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002, and finished runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers' Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He b ...

. At

Enna Enna ( or ; grc, Ἔννα; la, Henna, less frequently ), known from the Middle Ages until 1926 as Castrogiovanni ( scn, Castrugiuvanni ), is a city and located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering ...

, 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 Gianni Morbidelli (born 13 January 1968) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the T ...

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 Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

after polesitter Hill had spun off early. Allan McNish won on a drying

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

track as the series returned to England. Van de Poele took his second win of the year at the

Birmingham Superprix Birmingham Superprix was a motor racing meeting held on a street circuit in Birmingham city centre, England, from 1986 to 1990. The principal event was a round of the FIA Formula 3000 Championship, but support races included BTCC and Thunderspo ...

, a race in which

Fabrizio Barbazza Fabrizio Barbazza (born 2 April 1963) is an Italian former Formula One driver who raced for the Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives, AGS and Minardi teams and was the 1987 Indianapolis 500, 1987 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Career Ear ...

walked away from a spectacular accident. On the

Bugatti Circuit The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport Race track, race course, chiefly known as the venue for ...

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. Van de Poele won in the wet at

Nogaro Nogaro (; Gascon: ''Nogaròu'') is a commune in the Gers department, Southwestern France. It is the site of a distillery of Armagnac brandy. Geography The commune is bordered by six other communes: Caupenne-d'Armagnac to the northwest, Sain ...

to take second in the championship. The final round, scheduled to be held at

Dijon-Prenois Dijon-Prenois is a motor racing circuit located in Prenois, near Dijon, France. The undulating track is noted for its fast, sweeping bends. Opened in 1972, Dijon-Prenois hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix five times, and the Swiss Grand Pr ...

was cancelled. An official statement cited the

Gulf crisis The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and French talks on tobacco sponsorship as the reasons behind the cancellation.Dijon F3000 cancelled, Autosport, 18 October 1990, page 10

Teams and drivers

Calendar

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.

Complete Overview

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

References

External links

Unofficial F3000 Information - International F3000 1990

1990 F3000 images

1990 F3000 video - Birmingham
{{Formula 3000 years

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

International Formula 3000 seasons