SEPTEMBER 24, 2002

Petrobras reconsiders

There has been talk for some time about whether or not the Brazilian petrol company Petrobras would be continuing in Formula 3000. The company has supported a two-car team for the last four years and won the title with Bruno Junqueira in 2000. This year the team ran Antonio Pizzonia but without much success and it seems that the Brazilians have now decided to stop the sponsorship. The big question is what happens now.

According to reports the company is pulling back for economic reasons but this makes little sense as the F3000 budget is minimal in the overall scheme of things.

There have been rumors for some weeks that the company might be planning to put all of its racing budget into ensuring that Pizzonia gets an F1 drive in 2003. There were hopes that he would be racing with Toyota but that fell through. Pizzonia did however test for Jaguar Racing last week and could be in line for a deal alongside Pedro de la Rosa. A little bit of backing from Petrobras would probably not go amiss although there might be problems with Jaguar's relationship with Castrol, which is owned by BP.

Petrobras also have arrangements with Williams (using the Petrobras logo) and Jordan (with the Lubrax brand).