When Gene came to F1 in 1999, his previous racing successes had been limited to the Japanese Opel Fortuna championship, together with relatively minor success in FFord and F3.
When he joined Minardi for 1999, many believed that like some of his predecessors he would be content to run with the other back markers. However, Gene was one of the true finds of the season, and as a result was ranked 10th in the Grand Prix 2000 Top 10 drivers for the season.
For 2000, Marc stays with Minardi, and the fact that the poular little Italian team is using the uncompetitive 1998 Ford engine means that he'll struggle once again. However, there's no doubting that the Spaniard is a very capable driver.