(Nogaro, France) ﾖ Despite three days of successful testing last week, a technical problem with the new racecars has forced the cancellation of the first race weekend at Nogaro.

Everything had been going well for the first race weekend. Two days of testing preceded the official weekend meeting, during which a small problem was discovered on some of the new racecars, which caused some oil loss during right-hand corners. The engineers quickly discovered a solution, and put this solution in place on all of the racecars. By the time the first qualifying session came around on Saturday, everything appeared to be well for all twenty-four competitors.

Unfortunately, late during the first qualifying session and during the second session, a technical problem arose which prohibited several racecars from finishing all of their qualifying laps. This terminal problem meant that the second race would only have 18 competitors (drivers who were able to complete at least one qualifying lap during the second session), rather than the twenty-four drivers that were entered.

The mechanics and engineers worked late into the night on Saturday to resolve this problem, but unfortunately, no solution could be found that could guarantee equality among the drivers in terms of reliability and performance. Consequently, for the first time in Formula Campus history, it was decided to cancel the race weekend, with another meeting to be scheduled later in the year to replace the two races at Nogaro.

Full results have been posted at the FFSAﾒs website , accessible via www.ffsa.org. In summary, Julien Menard was quickest during the first timed practice session, while Malo Olivier captured the pole for the first race, and Romain Despres the pole for the second race. Emmanuel Crouvisier finished the second qualifying session with the 5th fastest time of the day, and was very eagerly anticipating the two races.

As is the case for the other twenty-four Formula Campus drivers, Crouvisier will have to wait one more month for the start of the 2002 season, which will take place at the French Formula 1 track at Magny-Cours.