In Pursuit of Perfection 'In Pursuit of Perfection' is a phrase borrowed from American racing icon Roger Penske. A close personal and business relationship which developed between Penske’s Detroit Diesel Co. and the Van Hool coach company led to a sponsorship participation by Roger Penske in Team Astromega. This relationship to a large extend also created the oppurtunity for our star driver Gonzalo Rodriguez to show his skills to the Penske Team. At the end of the ’98 F3000 season an impressive test in Champcars at Sebring led to a part time race deal in the ’99 Champcar Series with Team Penske. Gonzalo did a second season of F3000 with us (victory in Monaco) as well as selected races in Champcars that year.

Highlights Throughout our years of history, we have had some great races with great drivers. Here's a summary of Team Astromega's highlights.

Gonzalo Rodriguez’ wins in 1998 at Spa-Francorchamps and the Nurburgring At Spa that year, Gonzalo was chasing a certain Juan Pablo Montoya around untill JP made a small mistake and Gonzalo shot by him in the blink of an eye. It happened under braking for Les Combes at the end of the long Kemmel straight. There really was no time for hesitation for it was only a small mistake by JP, but Gonzalo got him and stayed ahead to take the win. A fortnight later at the Nurburgring Gonzalo dominated the race from start to finish and won by over 30 seconds. Gonzalo’s victory at Monaco in 1999 When early leader Jason Watt made a vital mistake at Casino Square under pressure from Gonzalo, the victory was there for the taking. Gonzalo continued to drive brilliantly through the streets of the Prinipality to take the chequered flag with over 30 seconds on P2. Onlookers were stunned by Gonzo’s car control as he kept it on the limit over the distance of the (very) long race.

1-2 finish at Spa with Fernando Alonso and Marc Goossens in 2000 After they had monopolised the front row of the grid Fernando and Marc finished first and second respectively. Fernando led all the way pulling out a huge lead over P2 by the end of the race. Fernando got what he deserved at the end of this season having shown at several occasions earlier on in the season that here we really had a special kid in our team. He finished second at the previous round at Budapest. Marc had made a come-back with the team a couple of races earlier and through his great knowledge of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit put in an equally great performance. Having chanllenged Fernando for the lead going down the old pits straight and into La Source, he found himself in P5 at the end of the first lap. He set about overtaking his opponents one by one and finished second.

Marc Goossens winning at Enna-Pergusa and Magny-Cours in 1996 Team Astromega won it’s only third ever race at Enna having started from pole-position with a 17 sec. lead at the end of the race. An almost indentical scenario (pole-position and 17 sec. lead) saw us take our second win later that year at Magny-Cours.

14 October 2007 - What a day ! Sunday, 14 October turned out to be a beautiful day for Team Astromega with Karline Stala taking the Belgian F.Renault 1.6 title after a thrilling last race of the championship. Round about the same time Frankie Cheng put in a brilliant performance in the A1 Team China car at Brno, Czech Rep. by setting the fastest lap of the feature race, finishing just outside the podium.

Raffaele Giammaria's P2 in qualifying Monza 2005 The last 2 seasons of International F3000 in ’03 and ’04 were for Astromega arguably the worst in terms of results. However, the team was able to demonstrate at the very last round ever of this highly competitive championship that it was still as good as ever. The main reason for the sudden upturn in performance must have come from our new driver for this last race, Raffaele Giammaria. Raffaele put in some very quick laps in qualifying at Monza in his first ever run with our car. He ended P2, only beaten by the untouchable Liuzzi and splitting up the Arden-duo Liuzzi-Doornbos. A fantastic result for Raffaele and the team which caused a huge sense of relief throughout the team; we obviously weren’t that bad ... Unfortunately, as too often happened to most teams in that first year with the compulsary pit-stops, a sticking wheel nut at the wrong time comprimised our chances of a podium finish although we still ended up P4.

First podium finish with Ho Pin Tung in Eastern Creek, Australia in season 2, '06-'07 After a spectacular move round the outside in a figth over P3 at the very fast first corner at Eastern Creek, A1 Team China got it's first ever podium finish. Podium finish with CongFu Cheng at Zhuhai, China in season 3, '07-'08 After a great drive with a car that was right on the pace 'Frankie' got a fantastic third place in front of the A1 Team China home crowd. We also got no less than 4 'quickest lap in the race' in the '07-'08 season.

Hall of fame Throughout the years we also had some great drivers in our cars. Here's Team Astromega's hall of fame.

Fernando Alonso (F1) Justin Wilson (ChampCar) Mario Haberfeld (ChampCar) Jeffrey Van Hooydonk (Midland F1) Jan Heylen (ChampCar) Fernando ALONSO (2000) Fernando did his only season in F3000 with Astromega in 2000. A promising start to the season resulted into a stylish dominant win at the daunting Spa-Francorchamps circuit. He of course went on to become F1 World Champion in 2005 and 2006. Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ (1998-1999) The very sympathic Uruguayan was a real pleasure to work with. Always cheerful he was the total package as a driver. Very fast in the car he was also very good at setting up the car and working with the engineers. His main rivals were JP Montoya and Nick Heidfeld both of whom he regularly out-paced. After a strong ’98 F3000 campaign, he was signed up as a third driver by the great Penske Team to combine a second season of F3000 with ChampCars in the USA. Unfortunately, during practice for his second ever ChampCar race at Laguna Seca, Gonzalo suffered a fatal accident. Gaston MAZZACANE (1998) Gaston arguably had has his best seaon of racing at international level in ’98 with Team Astromega when he signed with Prost Grand Prix in F1 in 2000. Gaston started his second year in F1 in 2001 untill his sponsorship contribution could not be maintained and Gaston was replaced with another driver during the season. Justin WILSON (1999) Justin was “rookie of the year” in ’99 in F3000 in an extremely competitive field of 42 cars and eventually got into F1 in 2002 with Minardi and later Jaguar. He is now a well-respected ChampCar driver. Giorgio PANTANO (2001) Another young driver whose talent we spotted and who did his first season of F3000 with Team Astromega. Giorgio got to F1 in 2004 with Jordan. Mario HABERFELD (2002) After his third and most successful season of F3000 with Team Astromega Mario went to the States and established himself as a well-respected driver in ChampCars. Marc GOOSSENS (1996 and 2000) 2 wins in F3000 in ’96 and a successful come-back in 2000 enabled Marc to establish himself as a well-respected GT and Le Mans-driver. Soheil AYARI (1997) Soheil seemed destined for F1, unfortunately due to circumstances the dream never came through. He is now a successful GT and Touring Car-driver. Jeffrey VAN HOOYDONK (2003) Having done the 2003 F3000 season with Team Astromega Jeffrey finally achieved his goal of getting a taste of F1 with a test for the Midland F1 team at the end of 2005. Jan HEYLEN (2007) Jan started the '04 season with Team Astromega untill his sponsor unfortunately withdrew his support early on in the season.  Jan didn't give up and managed to get a drive in ChampCar in '07.