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NURBURG, 27 June 2010 – For the second time in seven days, New Zealand
driver Chris van der Drift has won the Superleague Formula by Sonangol
super final. Just as at the last rounds super final at Jarama in Spain a
week earlier, the 24 year old Kiwi driving for Greek football club
Olympiacos had a brilliant start from fourth place in the weekends Super
Final at the Nurburgring, diving down the middle of front row starters
AC Milan and Galatasaray and leading into turn one.
This superb move gave the Superleague Formula rookie a lead which he
never relinquished, improving his two second lead after lap one to over
5.8 seconds at the chequered flag, and becoming the first driver to win
two Super Finals this season.
The basis for the weekends success
commenced in race one, the Kiwi starting from grid five and holding this
position from the rolling start until his pitstop on lap 10.
The tyre
change was expertly done by the Kiwi’s team, GU Racing, picking up a
position and then another spot the following lap when another driver
pitted, leaving him in third place for the remainder of the 45 minute
race. “In comparison to two drivers in front of me I continued for an
extra lap”, said Van der Drift.
“This lap was very important to me in
that I wanted to pick up some time and after a great pitstop it was
enough to give me third on track after all the pitstops were
completed.”
Under the race format, start positions for the second race
are determined by the reverse order of the first race results, meaning
Van der Drift would start from 16th place, and leaving the New Zealander
a challenge to gain as many points as possible to qualify for the super
final, with only the six best scoring drivers over the weekend being
eligible.
“As we had a brake problem in free practice my old tyres
weren’t as good as they normally are, so I got a lot of vibration in the
race meaning I found it difficult to make a passing move on those cars
in front of me”, explained Van der Drift. Despite this problem the Kiwi
finished race two in eleventh position, with enough points scored
enabling him to start the Race three Super Final in fourth place.
In
contrast to the first two races, the super final begins as a standing
start. As the lights were extinguished, Van der Drift shot up between
the two front row starters and led going into turn one with grid three
starter, Anderlecht, following him through.
The New Zealander kept his
lead, increasing his first lap advantage of over two seconds to over 5.8
seconds at the finish line, and picking up his second Super Final win
in seven days.
“A standing start is always good. Just wish we had more
of them”, said Van der Drift laughing. “The lights went on and went out
really quick. I had good traction and was able to drive between the cars
of AC Milan and Galatasaray to lead into the first corner, had the
quickest race lap, and won with a great margin.
It is fantastic to be
able to win the Super Final twice in a row. I could get used to
this!”
The sixth round of the Superleague Formula by Sonangol calendar
is to be held at the Zolder circuit in Belgium over the weekend of 16-18
July 2010. As fifth in the championship and best rookie, Van der Drift
is hoping to get a pole position soon, and to repeat his super final
victories.
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Results Race 1 :
Superleague Formula, Nurburgring - Germany, Sunday 27
June:
1 Yelmer Buurman (NED), AC Milan, 26 laps in 46:36.469s
2 Davide
Rigon (ITA), RSC Anderlecht, +7.724s
3 Chris van der Drift (NZL),
Olympiacos, +11.562s
Results Race 2 : Superleague Formula, Nurburgring -
Germany, Sunday 27 June:
1 Alvaro Parente (POR), FC Porto, 25 laps in
45:03.384s
2 Frank Montagny (FRA), Girondins de Bordeaux, +0.826s
3
Tristan Gommendy (FRA), Galatasaray, +5.515s
11 Chris van der Drift
(NZL), Olympiacos, +47.536s
Results Race 3 Super Final : Superleague
Formula, Nurburgring - Germany, Sunday 27 June:
1 Chris van der Drift
(NZL), Olympiacos, 5 laps in 8.57.984s
2 Davide Rigon (ITA), RSC
Anderlecht, +5.807s
3, Yelmer Buurman (NED), AC Milan, +8.462s
4 Max
Wissel (GER), FC Basel, +16.488s
5 Tristan Gommendy (FRA), Galatasaray,
+34.273s
Retirements:
Franck Perera (FRA), Flamengo - 0
laps
Championship Overall : Superleague Formula by Sonangol (after five
rounds):
1 Craig Dolby (ENG), Tottenham Hotspur, 370 points
2 Yelmer
Buurman (NED), AC Milan, 340 points
3 Max Wissel (GER), FC Basel, 297
points
4 Davide Rigon (ITA), RSC Anderlecht, 294 Points
5 Chris van der
Drift (NZL), Olympiacos, 273 points
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Kiwi driver Chris van der Drift welcomes VisionRacer as new sponsor
Nürburg, June 28, 2010 - After winning two super finals within seven
days in Superleague Formula by Sonagol, Kiwi driver Chris van der Drift
is pleased to welcome a new sponsor; VisionRacer, an organisation
specializing in sim racing and simulators.
With the help of the
VisionRacer model VR3, VisionRacer is able to bring the race world into
everyones living room. The VisionRacer VR3 is a polished stainless
steel, racing simulator chassis system. It uses a Logitech steering
wheel, pedals, gear lever and 5:1 audio system. Used along with PS3 (or
PC) and LCD Screen the VR3 becomes a realistic racing simulator.
VisionRacer is able to supply the VR3 over the entire world, and can
soon be ordered directly from the website of Chris van der Drift
(www.chrisvanderdrift.com).
Chris van der Drift is currently fifth overall in the Superleague
Formula by Sonagol standings with 3 race wins, a racing class that
brings the two most popular sports car racing and football together.
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