2001 International Formula 3000 Championship

They were the inclusion of a season-opening round at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Brazil to bring the series to South America for the first time in the modern era and a year-ending race at Italy's Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

The runner-up was Super Nova Racing driver Mark Webber, who was 32 points behind Wilson, after a series of accidents eliminated him from title contention in the final third of the season.

[1][8] Fortec Motorsport were included on the initial entry list before the team withdrew from the championship because they could not locate any suitable drivers to sign and they wanted to focus on other junior series.

[11] His teammate Jaime Melo left the team to join Durango on a one-year contract with the option to extend by another season afterwards,[12] partnering series debutant Gabriele Lancieri, who progressed from the Italian Formula 3000 Championship.

They signed the German Formula Three (GF3) champion Giorgio Pantano to drive his first season in the championship and the WRT driver Ananda Mikola joined him.

[22][23] Antonio García graduated from the World Series by Nissan to join the Red Bull Junior Team to pair with GF3 driver Patrick Friesacher.

[27] European Minardi employed David Saelens from Super Nova,[28] to partner Andrea Piccini, who left Kid Jensen Racing (KJR) after two seasons.

[31] Financial concerns meant Jeffrey van Hooydonk was unable to secure a seat in the championship and he went to drive in Belcar; his compatriot Yves Olivier and Christijan Albers of European Arrows entered the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.

[1][10] KJR employed the Formula Palmer Audi driver Justin Keen and Yann Goudy from Italian F3000 to fill the seats vacated by Piccini and Leinders.

The team later withdrew from the championship before the Circuit de Catalunya event due to ownership problems and Calcagni driving for them in Imola, which created tension with the series' governing body.

[1] Stéphane Sarrazin made a one-off appearance for Prost at the Monaco round as a replacement for Filiberti, who was absent due to "personal issues".

[37] Prost later replaced the underperforming Filiberti with Zsolt Baumgartner for the rest of the year from the Nürburgring round and the French Formula Three champion and Porsche Supercup driver Jonathan Cochet drove Variano's car.

[38][39] Prost backed the initiative of one of its major sponsors to promote Latin American drivers in its team and the GF3 series winner Norberto Fontana was drafted in place of Cochet for the season's final three rounds.

[41] European Minardi was represented by the Formula Nippon racer and Jaguar test driver Tomas Scheckter in one of its cars for the Hockenheimring race after Saelens sustained an injury in an accident during the Silverstone event.

[48][58] At the lap four restart, Wilson overtook Melo into the first corner,[48] and moved into first when Pizzonia, Rodrigo Sperafico and Enge each incurred ten-second stop-and-go penalties for their earlier transgressions.

[58] The stewards later imposed a 25-second time penalty on Webber for passing David Saelens before the start/finish line after the safety car entered the pit lane for the restart.

[62] Webber took his first Formula 3000 pole position in qualifying for the Imola round by leading both sessions with Patrick Friesacher second and Darren Manning third.

[65] A crash for Varano after losing control on the kerbs on the exit of the Tamburello chicane caused him to become dizzy and prompted the safety car's deployment.

[69] A first-lap collision between Bourdais and Friesacher at Castrol Kurve corner caused eight cars to retire and allowed Leinders to move into the lead, just as Wilson progressed to second.

After a safety car period to clear the area, Wilson passed Leinders on the outside on the fifth lap and he held off the latter to win for the second time in International Formula 3000.

Two safety car periods for a first lap five-car accident at a hairpin and for separate crashes involving Darren Manning and Antônio Pizzonia slowed the race.

Webber pulled away from the rest of the field to claim victory and drew to within one championship point of Wilson, who finished second after Enge ran wide at a hairpin on the final lap.

[79] Enge took another pole position when he set the fastest lap, ahead of his teammate Wilson and Bourdais at the Silverstone round in the United Kingdom.

A major airborne accident at Becketts corner involving Saelens in qualifying caused a long stoppage to allow for him to be extricated from his car with FIA doctor Sid Watkins supervising.

A second-place result for Wilson and a non-finish for Webber after hitting the rear of Darren Manning's car increased his lead to ten points in the championship.

[91] An accident for Webber at Eau Rouge corner early on saw his car destroyed and him taken to a hospital in Verviers for a precautionary x-ray scan that discovered knee ligament damage and no fractured bones.

[92] Wilson finished second to clinch the drivers' title with one race remaining as Sperafico led every lap of the event to achieve his first career win.

[93] At the season-ending Autodromo Nationale di Monza race, a deluge caused localised flooding and strong winds blowing natural debris onto the circuit forced the postponement of qualifying.

Pantano emerged a Formula 3000 race winner for the first time in his career after he overcame being put onto the grass by Pizzonia at the start, a manoeuvre which entailed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for the latter.