2002 Gold Cup

The 2002 Gold Cup competition was a special event which took place between the 4th and 9th of September, 2002. The venue was Spa-Francorchamps and although the race was not called the "Gold Cup" at the time it was held, it became the first in series of annual events which came to bear the name.

The race took place towards the end of the GPVWC 2002 season (based on the GP3 game), shortly after the release of the GP4 game, with the race providing an early test of the new game for the GPVWC teams and drivers. Those taking part were not solely limited to GPVWC Drivers and Testers and the teams were as per 2001 F1 mirrored in the GP4 game. The race itself took place over 30% of full race distance (13 laps) and all cars were set to have the same BHP and no reliability issues.

Report

Joe Consiglio took pole position as the Maltese driver was clearly the fastest man around the Spa circuit in his Arrows-Asiatech. Daniel Wilkinson went 2nd quickest for Benetton-Renault whilst the second Arrows of Francois Dupart made it into 3rd place on the grid. 2002 Champion Mikko Jakonen set the 4th fastest time in the second Benetton whilst Williams-BMW's filled the third row with Dan Lawrence in 5th, minutely faster than Danny Regan in 6th.

Only 7 competitors from the 14 who qualified took part in the race, which was won by Daniel Wilkinson in a Benetton. Consiglio was took 2nd place having fallen almost 6 seconds behind the leader at the end of the race, but he was comfortably ahead of Andy Graydon's Jordan and the other Benetton of Mikko Jakonen.

Qualifying

Pos	Driver	Team	Engine	Inter 1	Inter 2	Lap Time	Gap
1	Joe Consiglio	Arrows	Asiatech	32.046	1:10.945	1:44.529	-
2	Daniel Wilkinson	Benetton	Renault	32.342	1:11.486	1:45.118	+0.589
3	Francois Dupart	Arrows	Asiatech	32.553	1:11.684	1:45.654	+1.125
4	Mikko Jakonen	Benetton	Renault	33.130	1:12.038	1:46.497	+1.968
5	Dan Lawrence	Williams	BMW	32.322	1:12.078	1:46.687	+2.158
6	Dan Regan	Williams	BMW	32.785	1:12.282	1:46.692	+2.163
7	Andy Graydon	Jordan	Honda	32.700	1:12.322	1:46.952	+2.423
8	Mark Wicks	McLaren	Mercedes	33.167	1:12.904	1:47.659	+3.130
9	James Davidson	Prost	Acer	33.154	1:12.617	1:47.709	+3.180
10	Bas Van Sambeek	McLaren	Mercedes	32.748	1:14.281	1:48.452	+3.923
11	Peter van Oostende	Sauber	Petronas	32.979	1:13.603	1:48.655	+4.126
12	Pablo Arteaga	Minardi	European	33.582	1:14.141	1:49.491	+4.962
13	Guilio Paparelli	Minardi	European	33.920	1:14.001	1:49.903	+5.374
14	Tim Williams	BAR	Honda	34.153	1:14.684	1:50.854	+6.325

Race results

Pos	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pitstops	Fastlap	Gap
1	Shiro Ryong	Ferrari	44	1:19:13.597	2	3 (12/24/36)	1:45.861	—
2	Antonio Irisarri	Williams	44	1:19:23.738	1	3 (9/21/33)	1:45.843	10.141
3	Daniel Wilkinson	Jaguar	44	1:19:26.587	7	2 (16/32)	1:45.993	12.990
4	Kari Koski	Benetton	44	1:19:47.811	4	2 (13/28)	1:46.510	34.214