Podium positions also for Minardi's Nunes and Rigon, now leading the standings

Pastor Maldonado entered F.3000 in the best way, dominating Race 1 at Hungaroring. After the fastest time inpractice, pole position, he led every lap and set the fastest time during the race. The Venezuelan G-Tec driver put theicing on the top of his debut in the series organized by Coloni Motorsport, taking the most points available in a race,12, which put him in fifth position in the standings. Maldonado stormed off the grid, taking the lead ahead of DiegoNunes (Minardi by GP Racing), who finished in second place with a 5"7 gap. Oliver Martini (RC Motorsport) didn'tmake such a smooth start, completing the first lap in seventh position. Davide Rigon (Minardi by GP Racing), instead,was chasing the two leading drivers, Maldonado and Nunes, just from the start of the race and mantained the thirdposition until the chequered flag, ahead of Danielsson who as always been close to him throughout the race. With thethird podium spot, the Italian driver took the provisional lead of the Championship overtaking Martini, seventh in Race1 and now runner up in the Championship. In the second half of the race, Rigon was marginally faster than his teammate Nunes, but he decided not to risk.

The Swedish Alx Danielsson (Elk Motorsport) finished just off the podium, ahead of the Brazilian Luiz Razia (FisichellaMotor Sport) and the Ecuadorean Sebastian Merchan (Elk Motorsport), who did a great performance today. Eightplace for the other G-Tec's rookie, Jason Tahinci, who will start from pole position tomorrow.The Bulgarian Arabadzhiev (Auto Sport Racing), involved in an accident with Leal during the first half of the race, thenended his race against the wall on the eighth lap.

Race 2 will start tomorrow (Sunday) at 1:00 pm, with Tahinci and Martini starting from the first row, followed byMerchan and Razia.

Pastor Maldonado (1st): "I had immediately a great feeling with the car. I think I have already learnt the track, too: I likeit very much. That's a great training for the GP2 race which will be held on the same circuit. In the end I had acomfortable lead, so I tried different lines, to learn all the secrets of Hungaroring."Diego Nunes (2nd): "In the middle of the race I attacked Maldonado and this makes me think we are on the right path.In the end I was very hot and tired."

Davide Rigon (3rd): "The bad qualifying position, due to a set-up which wasn't perfect, affected my race. I was able toimprove in the second part of the race, I had a good pace and got close to my team mate, but I decided not to risk andto be satisfied with my result."

RACE 1 – Budapest1. Pastor Maldonado (Lola B02/50) – G-Tec – 26’24’’7972. Diego Nunes (Lola B02/50) – Minardi Team by GP Racing – at 05’’7383. Davide Rigon (Lola B02/50) – Minardi Team by GP Racing – at 06’’8824. Alx Danielsson (Lola B02/50) – ELK Motorsport – at 07’’3075. Luiz Razia (Lola B02/50) – Fisichella Motor Sport – at 15’’1746. Sebastian Merchan (Lola B02/50) – ELK Motorsport – at 24’’4347. Oliver Martini (Lola B02/50) – RC Motorsport – at 26’’0098. Jason Tahinci (Lola B02/50) – G-Tec – at 36’’3929. Mehdi Bennani (Lola B02/50) – ELK Motorsport – at 40’’67910. Omar Leal (Lola B02/50) – Durango – at 1’38’’53311. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Lola B02/50) – ASR – at 8 laps12. Davide Amaduzzi (Lola B99/50) – Paragon/Dueppì – at 15 laps13. Andrea Fausti (Lola B99/50) – Paragon/Dueppì – not started