# 2003 International Formula 3000 Championship

The 2003 International Formula 3000 season was the thirty-seventh season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also nineteenth season under the International Formula 3000 Championship moniker. It featured the 2003 FIA Formula 3000 International Championship with titles awarded for both Drivers and Teams. The championship was contested over ten events from 19 April to 13 September 2003.
The Drivers Championship was won by Björn Wirdheim and the Teams Championship was awarded to Arden International Ltd.

## Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers contested the 2003 FIA Formula 3000 International Championship.
| Team | No. | Driver | Rounds |
| Arden International | 1 | Björn Wirdheim | All |
| Arden International | 2 | Townsend Bell | All |
| Coloni Motorsport | 3 | Ricardo Sperafico | All |
| Coloni Motorsport | 4 | Zsolt Baumgartner | 1–9 |
| Coloni Motorsport | 4 | Christian Montanari | 10 |
| Super Nova Racing | 5 | Enrico Toccacelo | All |
| Super Nova Racing | 6 | Derek Hill | 1–6 |
| Super Nova Racing | 6 | Nicolas Kiesa | 7 |
| Super Nova Racing | 6 | Sam Hancock | 8–10 |
| Den Blå Avis | 7 | Nicolas Kiesa | 1–6 |
| Den Blå Avis | 8 | Robbie Kerr | 1 |
| Den Blå Avis | 8 | Philip Giebler | 2–6 |
| Durango | 9 | Giorgio Pantano | All |
| Durango | 10 | Raffaele Giammaria | All |
| Team Astromega | 11 | Tony Schmidt | All |
| Team Astromega | 12 | Jeffrey van Hooydonk | 1–2, 4–6, 10 |
| Team Astromega | 12 | Michael Keohane | 7–8 |
| Superfund ISR – Charouz | 14 | Jaroslav Janiš | All |
| Superfund ISR – Charouz | 15 | Yannick Schroeder | 1–8 |
| Red Bull Junior Team | 16 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | All |
| Red Bull Junior Team | 17 | Patrick Friesacher | 1–2, 5–10 |
| Red Bull Junior Team | 17 | Bernhard Auinger | 3–4 |
| BCN F3000 | 18 | Rob Nguyen | 1–3 |
| BCN F3000 | 18 | Will Langhorne | 4–8 |
| BCN F3000 | 18 | Ferdinando Monfardini | 9–10 |
| BCN F3000 | 19 | Valerio Scassellati | 1, 5–6, 8 |
| BCN F3000 | 19 | Alessandro Piccolo | 2–4, 10 |
| BCN F3000 | 19 | Marc Hynes | 7 |
| BCN F3000 | 19 | Giovanni Berton | 9 |
| Brand Motorsport | 20 | Nicolas Minassian | 1 |
| Brand Motorsport | 21 | Gary Paffett | 1 |
| Sources: ||||

## Calendar

The 2003 FIA Formula 3000 International Championship was contested over a ten event series. The round at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was cancelled due to the FIA banning tobacco advertising, which cancelled the F1 race.
| Event | Circuit | Date | Distance | Pole Position | Fastest Lap | Winning Driver | Winning Team | Report |
| 1 | Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari | 20 April | 31 laps / 152.686 km | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Arden International | Report |
| 2 | Circuit de Catalunya | 3 May | 33 laps / 152.565 km | Giorgio Pantano | Giorgio Pantano | Giorgio Pantano | Durango | Report |
| 3 | A1-Ring | 17 May | 35 laps / 151.410 km | Ricardo Sperafico | Björn Wirdheim | Ricardo Sperafico | Coloni Motorsport | Report |
| 4 | Circuit de Monaco | 31 May | 45 laps / 150.3 km | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Nicolas Kiesa | Den Blå Avis | Report |
| 5 | Nürburgring | 28 June | 30 laps / 154.423 km | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Enrico Toccacelo | Super Nova Racing | Report |
| 6 | Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours | 5 July | 35 laps / 154.201 km | Giorgio Pantano | Giorgio Pantano | Giorgio Pantano | Durango | Report |
| 7 | Silverstone Circuit | 19 July | 30 laps / 154.125 km | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Arden International | Report |
| 8 | Hockenheimring | 2 August | 33 laps / 150.942 km | Ricardo Sperafico | Björn Wirdheim | Ricardo Sperafico | Coloni Motorsport | Report |
| 9 | Hungaroring | 23 August | 35 laps / 153.440 km | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Patrick Friesacher | Patrick Friesacher | Red Bull Junior Team | Report |
| 10 | Autodromo Nazionale Monza | 13 September | 26 laps / 150.353 km | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Björn Wirdheim | Arden International | Report |
| Source: |||||||||

## Drivers' Championship

| Pos | Driver | IMO | CAT | A1R | MON | NÜR | MAG | SIL | HOC | HUN | MNZ | Points |
| 1 | Björn Wirdheim | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 78 |
| 2 | Ricardo Sperafico | 3 | Ret | 1 | DSQ | 14 | 3 | 4 | 1 | Ret | 3 | 43 |
| 3 | Giorgio Pantano | Ret | 1 | 3 | Ret | 16 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | Ret | 41 |
| 4 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 4 | Ret | 4 | Ret | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 39 |
| 5 | Patrick Friesacher | 2 | Ret | | | Ret | 11 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 36 |
| 6 | Enrico Toccacelo | 5 | 3 | 5 | Ret | 1 | 13 | 6 | Ret | 7 | 8 | 30 |
| 7 | Nicolas Kiesa | 12 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | Ret | 8 | | | | 20 |
| 8 | Jaroslav Janiš | DNS | 4 | 9 | 4 | 6 | Ret | 10 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
| 9 | Townsend Bell | 9 | 12 | 7 | 6 | Ret | 12 | 7 | 5 | 3 | Ret | 17 |
| 10 | Raffaele Giammaria | 7 | Ret | 14 | 3 | 7 | 8 | Ret | 10 | 6 | Ret | 14 |
| 11 | Tony Schmidt | Ret | 6 | Ret | Ret | 10 | 5 | Ret | 6 | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| 12 | Yannick Schroeder | 6 | 8 | Ret | 7 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 11 | | | 13 |
| 13 | Jeffrey van Hooydonk | Ret | Ret | | 8 | 8 | 6 | | | | 5 | 9 |
| 14 | Zsolt Baumgartner | 10 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 9 | DNS | | 6 |
| 15 | Rob Nguyen | 8 | 5 | 13 | | | | | | | | 5 |
| 16 | Derek Hill | 15 | 11 | Ret | DSQ | 5 | 10 | | | | | 4 |
| 17 | Phil Giebler | | Ret | 8 | Ret | 9 | DNS | | | | | 1 |
| 18 | Alessandro Piccolo | | 9 | 12 | DNS | | | | | | 11 | 0 |
| 19 | Bernhard Auinger | | | 11 | 9 | | | | | | | 0 |
| 20 | Christian Montanari | | | | | | | | | | 9 | 0 |
| 21 | Will Langhorne | | | | 10 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 12 | | | 0 |
| 22 | Ferdinando Monfardini | | | | | | | | | Ret | 10 | 0 |
| 23 | Giovanni Berton | | | | | | | | | 10 | | 0 |
| 24 | Sam Hancock | | | | | | | | 13 | 11 | DNS | 0 |
| 25 | Nicolas Minassian | 11 | | | | | | | | | | 0 |
| 26 | Michael Keohane | | | | | | | 12 | Ret | | | 0 |
| 27 | Valerio Scassellati | 13 | | | | 15 | 15 | | 14 | | | 0 |
| 28 | Marc Hynes | | | | | | | 14 | | | | 0 |
| 29 | Gary Paffett | 14 | | | | | | | | | | 0 |
| – | Robbie Kerr | DNS | | | | | | | | | | 0 |
| Pos | Driver | IMO | CAT | A1R | MON | NÜR | MAG | SIL | HOC | HUN | MNZ | Points |
| Sources: |||||||||||||
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |
* All drivers used Lola B02/50 chassis with Zytek-Judd KV engines and Avon tyres.
* Championship points were awarded on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis to the first eight finishers at each event. If two or more drivers had the same number of points (including 0 points), their positions in the Championship was fixed according to the quality of their places. Under this system one first place was better than any number of second places, one second place was better than any number of third places and so on.

## Teams Championship

Points for the 2003 FIA Formula 300 International Championship for Teams were awarded on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for the first eight places at each event. Results from both team cars were taken into account.
| Position | Team | IMO | CAT | A1R | MON | NUR | MAG | SIL | HOC | HUN | MNZ | Total |
| 1 | Arden International Ltd | 10 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 95 |
| 2 | Red Bull Junior Team F3000 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 75 |
| 3 | Durango Formula | 2 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 55 |
| 4 | Coloni Motorsport | 6 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 49 |
| 5 | Super Nova Racing Ltd | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 35 |
| 6 | ISR – Charouz | 3 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 33 |
| 7 | Team Astromega | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 23 |
| 8 | Den Blå Avis | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 20 |
| 9 | BCN F3000 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 | Brand Motorsports | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |