2000 – D2 Super Nova F3000 – Summary - November 28th 2000

Minassian and D2 Super Nova

Teaming up with D2 Super Nova, three wins and five podium positions came to Nicolas Minassian in 2000. The enthralling season was all about the Frenchman’s championship fight with Brazilian Bruno Junqueira. The dominant duo recorded no less than seven of the ten wins throughout the season.

The season started on a high note as Minassian took the victory at Imola giving the Frenchman the lead in the championship, but an 11th place finish at Silverstone was a setback.

Minassian bounced back with the runner up spot in Barcelona with Junqueira driving smoothly to pick up a fortunate victory in at Monaco. Minassian then took dominant back to back wins at both Magny Cours and then the A1-Ring in Austria.

This brought Minassian back to the head of the Championship with Junqueira. The next race in Hockenheim also saw Minassian miss out on valuable championship points by less than two-tenths of a second, while Junqueira then put in a faultless drive to take the Hungarian victory with Minassian losing ground with fourth position.

The final race of the season was critical for Minassian as he needed the victory to claim the championship. The Frenchman qualified in eighth position at the stunning Spa Francorchamps circuit, for the season finale. Come race day Minassian pushed hard throughout the race to take third position with Junqueira back in ninth position.

Despite the strong race, this left Minassian second in the Championship race with a deficit of three points to the Petrobas Junior driver.

It was the break-though year for Minassian and one that propelled him into the international lime-light and Minassian was gracious in defeat and ensured that he was one of the first drivers to congratulate his rival Junqueira on his Championship success.

So close yet so far...

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