2000 German Formula Three Championship Explained

The 2000 German Formula Three Championship (German: 2000 Deutsche Formel-3-Meisterschaft) was a multi-event motor racing championship for single-seat open wheel formula racing cars that held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in two-litre Formula Three racing cars built by Dallara and Martini which conform to the technical regulations, or formula, for the championship. It commenced on 22 April at Zolder and ended at Hockenheim on 29 October after ten double-header rounds.

Opel Team KMS driver Giorgio Pantano became a champion. He grabbed the title, winning opening race at Zolder and Oschersleben. Alex Müller finished as runner-up with wins at Zolder, Sachsenring, Lausitz and Hockenheim, losing 14 points to Pantano. Pierre Kaffer was victorious at Norisring, Lausitz, Nürburgring and finished third. André Lotterer became a champion in the Rookie's standings with a fourth place in the main championship. The other race winners was Stefan Mücke, Patrick Friesacher, Enrico Toccacelo and Toshihiro Kaneishi, who completed the top eight in the drivers' championship.^[1]

Teams and drivers

2000 Entry list^[2] Team Driver Chassis Engine Status Rounds Opel Team BSR 1 Patrick Friesacher Dallara F300/028 Opel All 2 André Lotterer Dallara F399/021 All 3 Sven Heidfeld Dallara F399/023 1–8 Bernhard Auinger 9–10 Opel Team KMS 4 Giorgio Pantano Dallara F300/011 Opel All 5 Martin Tomczyk Dallara F300/010 All GM Motorsport 6 Tony Schmidt Dallara F399/073 Opel All 7 Zsolt Baumgartner Dallara F399/042 All 8 Toshihiro Kaneishi Dallara F300/019 1–4, 6–10 JB Motorsport 9 Val Hillebrand Dallara F399/041 Opel 1–4, 6–7, 9–10 10 Nicolas Stelandre Dallara F399/003 1–4, 6–7, 9–10 Van Amersfoort Racing 11 Jeroen Bleekemolen Opel 1–4, 6–10 12 Tom van Bavel Dallara F399/058 All Team Rosberg 14 Kari Mäenpää Dallara F399/074 Renault All 15 Hannu Viinikainen Dallara F399/065 All ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg 16 Stefan Mücke Dallara F300/001 Opel All Josef Kaufmann Racing 17 Thomas Mutsch Opel All 18 Andreas Feichtner Martini MK79/01 1–2 Klaus Trella Motorsport 19 Frank Diefenbacher Dallara F300/012 Opel All 20 Marc Caldonazzi Dallara F399/009 All team hms f3 21 Pierre Kaffer Dallara F300/022 Opel All 22 Andreas Gülden Dallara F300/023 1–2 Swiss Racing Team 23 Giorgio Mecattaf Dallara F399/068 Opel 1–4, 6–10 24 Armin Pörnbacher Dallara F399/054 1–4, 6–10 Patrick Hildenbrandt 25 Patrick Hildenbrandt Martini MK79/05 Opel All AIL Team Kolles Racing 26 Marc Hynes Dallara F300/026 Mugen-Honda 1 Peter Sundberg 2–4, 6 Andreas Feichtner 7–10 27 Elran Nijenhuis Dallara F300/013 1–4, 6–7, 10 Peter Sundberg 8–9 Team Ghinzani 28 Alex Müller Dallara F300/025 Mugen-Honda All 99 Björn Wirdheim Dallara F300/029 All Prema Powerteam 30 Enrico Toccacelo Dallara F300/018 Opel All 31 Philip Cloostermans Dallara F300/021 1–4, 6–10 Team VOX / TV Spielfilm 32 Ken Grandon Dallara F300/034 Fiat 2–8 Roberto Toninelli 9–10 33 Marino Spinozzi Dallara F300/033 2–10 Jo Zeller Racing 34 Mirco Schrepfer Dallara F399/020 Opel 9–10

Calendar

With the exception of round at Zolder in Belgium, all rounds took place on German soil.

Round		Location	Circuit	Date	Supporting
1	R1	Heusden-Zolder, Belgium	Circuit Zolder	22 April	New Race Festival
	R2			23 April
2	R1	Hockenheim, Germany	Hockenheimring	27 May	AvD/MAC-Rennsportfestival
	R2			28 May
3	R1	Oschersleben, Germany	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben	17 June	ADAC-Preis der Tourenwagen von "Sachsen-Anhalt"
	R2			18 June
4	R1	Nuremberg, Germany	Norisring	8 July	ADAC Norisring Speedweekend
	R2			9 July
5	R1	Saxony, Germany	Sachsenring	5 August	ADAC Sparkassenpreis Sachsenring
	R2			6 August
6	R1	Nürburg, Germany	Nürburgring	19 August	ADAC Großer Preis der Tourenwagen
	R2			20 August
7	R1	Klettwitz, Germany	EuroSpeedway Lausitz	2 September	ADAC-Rundstreckenrennen Lausitz 200
	R2			3 September
8	R1	Oschersleben, Germany	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben	23 September	ADAC-Preis von Niedersachsen
	R2			24 September
9	R1	Nürburg, Germany	Nürburgring	7 October	62. ADAC-Eifelrennen
	R2			8 October
10	R1	Hockenheim, Germany	Hockenheimring	28 October	ADAC-Preis Hockenheim
	R2			29 October

Results

Round		Circuit	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team
1	R1	Circuit Zolder	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Pierre Kaffer	Giorgio Pantano	Opel Team KMS
	R2		Alex Müller	Giorgio Pantano	Alex Müller	Team Ghinzani
2	R1	Hockenheimring	Frank Diefenbacher	André Lotterer	André Lotterer	Opel Team BSR
	R2		Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	André Lotterer	Opel Team BSR
3	R1	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben	André Lotterer	Frank Diefenbacher	André Lotterer	Opel Team BSR
	R2			Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Opel Team KMS
4	R1		Sven Heidfeld	Pierre Kaffer	Pierre Kaffer	team hms f3
	R2		Stefan Mücke	André Lotterer	Pierre Kaffer	team hms f3
5	R1	Sachsenring	Patrick Friesacher	Alex Müller	Patrick Friesacher	Opel Team BSR
	R2		Patrick Friesacher	Alex Müller	Alex Müller
6	R1	Nürburgring	Stefan Mücke	Giorgio Pantano	Stefan Mücke	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg
	R2		Alex Müller	Patrick Friesacher	Toshihiro Kaneishi	GM Motorsport
7	R1	EuroSpeedway Lausitz	Enrico Toccacelo	Pierre Kaffer	Pierre Kaffer	team hms f3
	R2		Enrico Toccacelo	Frank Diefenbacher	Alex Müller	Team Ghinzani
8	R1	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben	Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Opel Team KMS
	R2		Giorgio Pantano	Pierre Kaffer	Patrick Friesacher	Opel Team BSR
9	R1	Nürburgring	Pierre Kaffer	Pierre Kaffer	Pierre Kaffer	team hms f3
	R2		Enrico Toccacelo	Toshihiro Kaneishi	Enrico Toccacelo	Prema Powerteam
10	R1	Hockenheimring			Stefan Mücke	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg
	R2		Frank Diefenbacher	Patrick Friesacher	Alex Müller	Team Ghinzani

Championship standings

Championship

Pos	Driver	ZOL		HOC1		OSC1		NOR		SAC		NÜR1		LAU		OSC2		NÜR2		HOC2		Points
1	Giorgio Pantano	1	2	10	2	4	1	2	Ret	7	2	Ret	10	3	5	1	2	8	11	4	3	205
2	Alex Müller	6	1	5	7	5	13	5	9	2	1	4	Ret	8	1	5	6	9	26	2	1	181
3	Pierre Kaffer	11	8	2	10	17	3	1	1	5	4	11	7	1	Ret	3	3	1	22	7	Ret	164
4	André Lotterer	3	Ret	1	1	1	4	14	13	6	7	5	2	12	2	6	Ret	3	25	Ret	Ret	151
5	Stefan Mücke	2	7	Ret	19	6	7	3	Ret	4	8	1	Ret	7	9	2	5	7	Ret	1	20	136
6	Patrick Friesacher	8	Ret	3	11	8	18	DNQ	Ret	1	10	8	5	5	13	4	1	5	DNS	6	2	126
7	Enrico Toccacelo	14	DNS	7	Ret	21	2	8	DNQ	3	9	2	4	2	3	25	9	6	1	28	13	125
8	Toshihiro Kaneishi	18	9	6	6	19	12	7	6			Ret	1	14	16	9	8	4	2	5	19	82
9	Sven Heidfeld	Ret	22	11	16	Ret	16	4	2	14	3	20	16	4	4	15	7					64
10	Frank Diefenbacher	10	17	16	Ret	2	5	19	DNQ	8	DSQ	14	Ret	9	6	14	10	2	12	13	Ret	57
11	Tom van Bavel	5	14	20	5	Ret	Ret	11	11			3	3	19	8	7	Ret	18	7	10	12	52
12	Martin Tomczyk	23	12	9	Ret	11	15	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	5	13	8	6	12	8	4	10	6	12	4	49
13	Zsolt Baumgartner	7	5	4	Ret	22	8	9	4			7	14	18	19	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	15	11	41
14	Björn Wirdheim	16	4	13	4	Ret	DNS	13	DSQ	Ret	6	Ret	6	10	15	19	Ret	9	14	8	Ret	38
15	Tony Schmidt	15	10	12	Ret	Ret	20	6	Ret			6	Ret	16	24	11	14	21	4	3	9	37
16	Jeroen Bleekemolen	4	Ret	18	8	DNS	DNS	12	5			15	12	Ret	7	18	Ret	17	24	18	5	36
17	Nicolas Stelandre	9	DNS	Ret	3	3	10	Ret	10			Ret	Ret	16	24			15	Ret	22	10	29
18	Elran Nijenhuis	19	3	Ret	Ret	DNS	Ret	DNQ	Ret			Ret	11	15	27					14	6	18
19	Armin Pörnbacher	12	15	21	15	18	6	Ret	DNS			9	15	13	20	28	Ret	12	5	19	15	16
20	Val Hillebrand	Ret	18	15	Ret	16	22	Ret	8			21	23	26	26			Ret	3	11	Ret	15
21	Kari Mäenpää	17	6	8	9	7	11	17	Ret	Ret	Ret	17	18	17	14	13	12	20	Ret	17	14	15
22	Thomas Mutsch	13	11	Ret	17	9	17	10	7	9	DSQ	Ret	Ret	27	11	16	15	13	14	16	Ret	9
23	Philip Cloostermans	DNS	13	DNQ	Ret	14	9	DNQ	Ret			12	9	11	10	24	16	16	13	9	16	7
24	Andreas Feichtner	22	19	Ret	14									Ret	22	21	18	28	17	23	7	4
25	Peter Sundberg			DSQ	12	13	14	Ret	Ret			DNS	DNS			10	Ret	26	8			4
26	Marc Caldonazzi	21	20	19	DNQ	15	Ret	16	12	11	13	16	17	25	25	26	Ret	19	16	20	8	3
27	Giorgio Mecattaf	20	Ret	17	Ret	12	19	Ret	DNQ			10	13	Ret	18	17	13	11	10	29	Ret	2
28	Ken Grandon			DNQ	DNQ	Ret	21	18	15	10	12	Ret	20	22	Ret	20	Ret					1
29	Hannu Viinikainen	Ret	16	14	13	10	23	15	14	12	Ret	18	19	20	23	27	Ret	24	18	Ret	Ret	1
30	Marino Spinozzi			DNQ	18	23	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	11	Ret	21	23	Ret	23	19	22	15	26	18	0
31	Patrick Hildenbrandt	24	21	DNQ	DNQ	20	24	DNQ	DNQ	13	14	19	22	21	21	22	17	27	19	25	17	0
32	Bernhard Auinger																	Ret	20	27	Ret	0
33	Mirco Schrepfer																	25	21	21	Ret	0
34	Roberto Toninelli																	23	23	24	Ret	0
	Andreas Gülden	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ																	0
	Marc Hynes	DNS	DNS																			0
Pos	Driver	ZOL		HOC1		OSC1		NOR		SAC		NÜR1		LAU		OSC2		NÜR2		HOC2		Points

Junior-Pokal (Rookie) standings

	Driver	Points
1	André Lotterer	231
2	Frank Diefenbacher	138
3	Tom van Bavel	135
4	Martin Tomczyk	116
5	Björn Wirdheim	98
6	Zsolt Baumgartner	92
7	Val Hillebrand	64
8	Philip Cloostermans	57
9	Armin Pörnbacher	37
10	Giorgio Mecattaf	21
11	Marc Caldonazzi	20
12	Hannu Viinikainen	18
13	Marino Spinozzi	9

Notes and References

1. Web site: Formula 3 Germany 2000 standings. driverdb.com. Driver Database. 23 September 2016.
2. Web site: STARTERLISTE 2000 DEUTSCHE FORMEL-3-MEISTERSCHAFT. formel3guide.com. German. 23 September 2016.