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Single Seater Showcase by IFM Drivers |
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Sunday, 26 August 2007 |
Today’s action-packed round 12 of the International Formula Master (IFM) series has reignited the points battle as series leader, Jerome D’Ambrosio, scored just one point and J.D. Motorsport’s Chris Van der Drift took his second win of the year.
After a frantic start, that saw Mattia Pavoni and Giuseppe Terranova come together on lap four and Oliver Campos Hull crashing out three laps later after skidding at the chicane and rolling the car, drivers had a breather with four relatively calm laps. In that time, however, the eight leading cars formed a tight pack with race leader Luca Persiani just 2.7 seconds ahead of eighth-place Kasper Andersen. The building tension culminated in a flurry of action at the mid-point of the 28-lap race as Van der Drift made his bid for second place triggering a series of passing manoeuvres amongst the leading group. Van der Drift kept his momentum up, passing Persiani for the lead on the following lap and then driving away from the battling Formula S2000s to pull out an incredible 14-second lead by the chequered flag. The fight for podium places continued in his wake as Persiani slipped down the order making way for Marcello Puglisi in second and Ragues snatched third from his team-mate Marco Bonanomi with two laps to go.
The result means Van der Drift is now second in the points table with a gap of 25 points from D’Ambrosio, who finished the race in eighth. The result was an achievement for the Cram Competition driver who lost his rear wing when De Bruijn ran over the back of his car in the closing laps. |
 Podium celebrations |
Chris Van der Drift, J.D. Motorsport“With four races left and 40 points to go, you never know what’s going to happen. You always push the same and see what you get out of it and today we got a win.
“I was quicker than Persiani and he made a mistake coming into turn one, so I made a run on him coming down the straight and it worked out quite nicely. From then I just started to pull away.”
Marcello Puglisi, Promotorsport“I am getting better with every race. This is my third podium now so I hope to be a winner before the end of the season.
“This was a very exciting race and I started well, overtaking two people. In the beginning I wasn’t that fast because that’s the way we set up the car, to last the distance.
“There were some fights going on in front of me and they looked like they were faster than me. I made some mistakes but in the end I raced well and it’s the result that counts.”
Pierre Ragues, Euronova Racing“It’s my first podium and it’s very nice to be here now! The preparation of the car was always good but here everything went really well with starting second in the grid.
“I felt extra pressure because I was battling with my team-mate. It’s very hard because we are very good friends as well.”
International Formula Master – OscherslebenRound 12 results1. Chris Van der Drift (NED), J.D. Motorsport2. Marcello Puglisi (ITA), Promotorsport3. Pierre Ragues (FRA), Euronova Racing4. Marco Bonanomi (ITA), Euronova Racing5. Kasper Andersen (DEN), J.D. Motorsport6. Luca Persiani (ITA), Scuderia Fama7. Salvatore Gatto (ITA), Promotorsport8. Jerome D’Ambrosio (BEL), Cram Competition |
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